Language techniques as mediation strategies for complex and sensitive themes in selected children's animated films

Inviolata Naliaka Wekesa; Lencer Ndede; Robert Wesonga

doi:10.51867/AQSSR.3.4.20

Authors

Inviolata Naliaka Wekesa Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9653-2524
Lencer Ndede Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya Author
Robert Wesonga University of Kabianga, Kenya Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3513-6990

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51867/AQSSR.3.4.20

Keywords:

Animated Film, Audience Reception, Complex Themes, Mediation Strategies, Semiotics

Abstract

Children's animated films routinely carry complex and sensitive themes, including death and loss, coercion and social exclusion, inside entertainment made for young audiences, yet the language techniques through which such content is managed remain insufficiently specified, particularly for African audiences. This study examined the language techniques employed in mediating complex and sensitive themes in Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), Shrek (2001), and The Secret Life of Pets (2016). This study was guided by semiotic theory. A convergent mixed methods design, qualitative-dominant, combined semiotic content analysis of the three films with a descriptive survey of 50 purposively selected respondents and interviews with 10 key informants in Webuye, Bungoma County, Kenya. Four coordinated techniques were identified: humour, dialogue, symbolism, and fantastical and supernatural events. The analysis indicated cultural variation in the form and deployment of these techniques, alongside convergence in their mediating functions, each technique managing the same order of themes through the resources of its own tradition. Field evidence corroborated the textual analysis, with 42% of respondents identifying humour as the principal feature making difficult content approachable and 72% reporting strong or moderate engagement. The study concludes that language techniques constitute a deliberate mediation system enabling animated film to address difficult content within age-appropriate entertainment, and it recommends their intentional deployment by animation artists, guided co-viewing by parents and curricular use by educators.

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