UDC 37.034

Kargapolova E.V.¹ (Moscow, Russian Federation) – k474671@list.ru; Berezina P.A.¹ (Moscow, Russian Federation) – polinab2005@yandex.ru; Lutik A.A.¹ (Moscow, Russian Federation) – alutikk@yandex.ru; Mishin M.S.¹ (Moscow, Russian Federation) – 89629549027@mail.ru; Shumyatskaya M.Y.¹ (Moscow, Russian Federation) – shoomik156@gmail.com

¹Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

Abstract. Children’s animation has a huge impact on the socialization of the younger generation. It is a powerful means of education, the formation of spiritual and moral guidelines for personal development. At the same time, the image of the main character has the most significant identification potential. The purpose of this work is to analyze the moral qualities of the main characters of foreign, Soviet and Russian animated films popular among the modern audience. The procedure for selecting empirical objects by popularity allowed us to analyze children’s animated films released from 1937 to 2024. The main research method is content analysis. According to the results of the study, the predominance of positive qualities in the characters over negative ones is shown. It is recorded that most often the main characters show friendliness, responsiveness, determination, courage, politeness, curiosity, empathy. But at the same time, it was revealed that honesty and responsibility are not constants of behavior. Stubbornness is demonstrated more often than the desire to learn, intellectual education, generosity. It was determined that such negative qualities as selfishness and aggressiveness are constantly or situationally manifested by almost a third of the characters, touchiness – about 40% of the characters. It has been shown that antagonists most often show authority. The authority of positive characters is often offset by an illusory attitude towards the absence of hierarchy and social inequality. Contradictions in the translation of the image of representatives of the older generation are revealed: the older the hero, the more authoritative he is, but he is also less friendly, responsive and polite. This leads to further degradation of the fundamental basis of the social system – respect for elders as bearers of wisdom, experience, exemplary behavior and role models for younger people. Curiosity is more pronounced among female characters. With the year of the cartoon’s release, the proportion of purposeful, stubborn and aggressive characters increases, while the proportion of empathic ones decreases. Determination, responsibility, intelligence, empathy, gaiety, courage, and touchiness are more characteristic of the heroes of modern Russian and foreign films, honesty – Russian and Soviet, stubbornness – foreign.

Keywords: animation, children’s animation, moral education, main character, content analysis.

References:

1. Aleshkin N.I., Shchukina I.A. The influence of animated films with aggressive content on the behavior of preschool children Siberian Psychological Journal, 2002, no. 16-17, pp. 56-61. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/vubxaj
2. Bakhtin M.M. Towards the philosophy of action A man in the world of words, Moscow, Russian Open University Publ., 1995, pp. 22-67. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/yfkbxb
3. Glukhova M.E. Stereotypes of appearance in modern Russian children’s animation Bulletin of the Saint Petersburg University. Sociology, 2018, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 128-141. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/ywegyx
4. Golovkina E.M. The influence of modern Russian cartoons on the formation of gender stereotypes of behavior in children Scientific and methodological electronic journal “Concept”, 2014, vol. 20, pp. 3316-3320. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/sjezcb
5. Zubova A. Comparative analysis of the representation of cultural values of Russia and Japan on the example of the animated film “Puss in Boots”. Researcher, 2012, no. 1-2. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/ionrjr
6. Kozlov E.V. The main character of the entertainment narrative (archetype and identification potential) Questions of cultural studies, 2007, no. 12, pp. 21-25. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/kuyzob
7. Koreshkova M.N. The influence of modern cartoons on the culture of preschool children’s behavior Young Scientist, 2014, no. 21 (80), pp. 179-182. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/tcvdxb
8. Krivulya N.G. The main trends of author’s animation in Russia in the 60-90s. Doct. Diss. Moscow, 2001, 150 p. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/qdlcjd
9. Krivtsova E.V. The influence of modern cartoons on the development of aggressiveness in primary school children Bulletin of Science and Education, 2021, no. 21-3(124), pp. 80-84. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/aplffg
10. Kuzmina, A. S. Speech representation of sociotypic features of the wolf in Russian folk tales Philological sciences. Questions of theory and practice, 2018, no. 5-2 (83), pp. 281-285. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/pdbykv
11. Matveeva L.V., Anikeeva T.Ya., Mochalova Yu.V. Perception by children of preschool and primary school age of images of heroes of domestic and foreign cartoons Bulletin of the Moscow University. Series 14 Psychology, 2019, no. 3, pp. 105-123. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/modbcw
12. Nemova O.A., Burukhina A.F. Animated films as a means of forming family spiritual and moral values Bulletin of the Moscow University. Series 18: Sociology and Political Science, 2014, no. 1, pp. 152-173. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/rzjaip
13. Nikolaev N.I. On the issue of clarifying the concept of “Literary hero”. Bulletin of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Series: Humanities and Social Sciences, 2012, no. 3. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/pfzpcr
14. Petukhova E. S. The connection between animation and eating behavior in children of primary school age. Young Scientist, 2019, no. 51 (289), pp. 33-35. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/lrwvop
15. Kolosova T.A., Mezentseva A.R. Animated films as a socio-psychological phenomenon (using the dynamics of aggression scenes as an example). Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk State University, 2012, no. 36 (290), pp. 165-169. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/tehcda
16. Sigaev S.Yu., Kolosova E.V. Psychological analysis of the influence of modern multimedia products on the child’s psyche. Bulletin of scientific conferences, 2015, no. 1-4 (1), pp. 120-125. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/wmjbpf 
17. Sobkin V.S., Ryabkova I.A., Antufyeva N.E. The attitude towards cartoon characters in older preschoolers, depending on the identification of children with the main characters. National Psychological Journal, 2024, no. 4 (19). (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/skwpao
18. Sharikov A.V., Aigistova Yu.V. The place of animation in the life of younger preschoolers. Cultural and historical psychology, 2014, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 72-79. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/tdvkor

For citation: Kargapolova E.V., Berezina P.A., Lutik A.A., Mishin M.S., Shumyatskaya M.Y. Children’s animation as a means of forming spiritual and moral qualities of a person. CITISE, 2025, no. 2, pp. 715-728.