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Between the Hero and the Shadow: Developmental Differences in Adolescents’ Perceptions and Understanding of Mythic Themes in Film

Childrens Digital Media Centers Digital-Kids Lab in the School of Communication.

Sandra L. Calvert

Childrens Digital Media Center;Georgetown University.

This study engages theories of film and myth in culture through an experimental study of high school and college students’ perceptions of a forty-three-minute edited episode of a heroic action film. Participants were tested for their understanding of program themes as well as for their selection of role models. The authors find significant differences in younger and older adolescents’ understanding of heroic themes, mythic archetypes, and other abstract program messages about the duality of human existence (i.e., we have both good and evil qualities). This study provides a developmental perspective to the semiology of myth, thereby contributing to theories of media, culture, and child development.

Key Words: media theory • child development • Jung • myth • psychology • critical cultural theory • media psychology • Batman

Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 28, No. 2, 122-137 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0196859903261797


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