Between fantasy and reality: Analyzing the impact of selected films on children in Awka, Nigeria

Abstract

The scholarly dialectics on the impacts of fantasy and reality films on child development is a subject that has spawned interest in Nigeria and other parts of the world. The presumed proposition that inapt behaviours, nonchalant attitudes, moral decadence, and violence  among children are outcome in most fantasy films calls for serious examination. Hence, to examine the effects which fantasy film contents could have on educational development and character formation of a Nigerian child is the aim of this study. Aligning with Skolnick  Weisberg theory of ‘Mise-en place, the researcher adopted quantitative research method in examining the impact of fantastical and fictional reality film environments in child’s learning. The study discovered that most children films produced in Nollywood industry have the capacity of negative influence on the child’s mind that may lead to misconceptions of ideals that shape his views about the norms in the society and subsequently change his behaviour towards other members of the public. However, the study shows that fantastic film genre captures child’s attention more during learning. The researcher therefore recommends that Nollywood filmmakers explore the utilization of fantasy genre in children films, as this would go a long way in helping children distant their attention from the imitation of bad tenets as observed in most fictional reality films and help them understand their basic roles in the society as seen in a fantastic film environment used in this study. The researcher concludes that fantastic film environment creates and captures children’s attention more than fictional reality films, and is therefore capable of influencing the child’s development.