Gender and description of the characters in children’s cartoons broadcasted in Spain

Abstract

Among the different facets which research in animation offers, this study focuses on the construction of the characters in cartoons most viewed in Spain throughout its audiovisual history. The bases are funded on the number of hours children spend watching television and the importance of such content in children’s lives. The objective of this research is to analyze the components which define the female and male image and its relationship with environmental factors such as nationality or the production year in which they were created. Using a methodology based on content analysis, through contingency tables and factorial analysis, the results show significant differences in the way which characters behave according to their nationality, age, gender, level of protagonist or decade of production.