Interviewer: 'If you could reach inside your TV set, could you touch
the people and things you see?'
Child: 'No, 'cos the set would break. And besides, all the people on
TV are dead.'
Interviewer: 'They are? How do you know that?'
Child: 'My father's a scientist and he knows everything, and he said
TV used to be live but it's not any more, so that's how I know
they're all dead.'
This project, fieldwork for which began in January 1995, is a pilot study of children's understanding of what is 'real' on television. The realism of television programmes and the ability of child viewers to distinguish real from fantasy programmes are often seen as important factors to be considered in assessing such issues as children's comprehension of TV and any influence which watching TV may have on children.
This study aims to map out and illustrate some key features in the development of children's 'modality judgements' of TV realities, focusing on their use of 'internal' criteria, such as knowledge of TV production (e.g. acting, make-up, stage-sets, scale models) and of formal features of the medium (e.g. animation, 'camera tricks'), and also on their use of 'external' criteria (both lived experience and indirect knowledge of the world). Such modality judgements become more complex and flexible as children mature, and this study will involve children in three age-ranges (4-5, 7-8 and 10-11) in order to chart key differences in emphasis.
A fieldwork report on this pilot project has been published.
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