ARE CARTOONS BENEFICIAL TO TEENAGERS? LION KING VIEWERS’ PERCEPTION OF THE BENEFITS OF ANIMATED CARTOON PROGRAMMES

Abstract

This paper examined Junior Secondary School Students’ perception of animated cartoon programmes: A Study of viewers of Lion King Cartoon Series in Anambra State. It adopted focus group discussion approach to find out the frequency of students exposure to lion king cartoon series, the rate at which students can recall what they watched, and to find-out the benefits which teenagers derive from watching cartoons. This paper was anchored on Social Learning Theory which explains the effectiveness of media programmes in stimulating children’s development and learning process. The focus Group discussion method was adopted for the study. Twenty students were purposively selected from three secondary schools in the three senatorial district of Anambra State to participate in the discussion. The study found that teenagers who participated in the study are frequently exposed to ‘Lion King cartoon series, that the students can recall and discuss freely among themselves what they have learnt from the cartoons; and that there is a relationship between exposure to lion king and students’ learning process. This settled the doubt on whether lion king cartoon series is among the television programmes that Peters (1987) categorized as aggression pack programmes that effect children negatively or one out of numerous good animated cartoons that Barclay (2013) categorized as good ones that are effective Social Learning Tool in educating children. Some cartoons are therefore beneficial This paper recommended the introduction of animated cartoon concepts in teaching curriculum for most primary education since it improves students’ skills and competencies in storytelling and use of language.