Lu Amy Shirong, Green Melanie C, Alon Dar
Health Technology Lab, Department of Communication Studies, College of Arts, Media, and Design, Department of Health Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Department of Communication, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
J Commun. 2023 Oct 25;74(2):160-172. doi: 10.1093/joc/jqad030. eCollection 2024 Apr.
Characters play an integral role in animated narratives, but their visual racial presentation has received limited attention. A diverse group of U.S. children watched a 15-min physical activity-promoting animated Sci-Fi narrative. They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, which varied the lead characters' racial presentation: realistic racially unambiguous (Original: White children, Black mother), realistic racially ambiguous (Ambiguous: All with brown skin without specified race/ethnicity), and fantastical racially ambiguous (Fantastical: All with brown skin with fantastical hair-and-eye color schemes). We assessed narrative engagement, wishful identification, and physical activity intention. Controlling for social desirability and multigroup ethnic identity, children who watched Fantastical characters showed significantly higher narrative engagement than those who watched Original characters, but they did not statistically differ from those who watched Ambiguous characters. Structural equation modeling indicated that narrative engagement and wishful identification fully mediated the racial representation effect (Fantastical vs. Original) on physical activity intention.
角色在动画叙事中起着不可或缺的作用，但其视觉上的种族呈现却受到了有限的关注。一群来自美国的不同种族儿童观看了一部时长15分钟的、促进身体活动的科幻动画叙事片。他们被随机分配到三种条件之一，这三种条件改变了主角的种族呈现：现实中种族明确（原设定：白人儿童，黑人母亲）、现实中种族模糊（模糊设定：所有人都是棕色皮肤，未明确种族/民族）以及奇幻中种族模糊（奇幻设定：所有人都是棕色皮肤，有着奇幻的头发和眼睛颜色搭配）。我们评估了叙事参与度、理想认同以及身体活动意愿。在控制了社会期望和多群体种族认同后，观看奇幻角色的儿童比观看原设定角色的儿童表现出显著更高的叙事参与度，但与观看模糊设定角色的儿童在统计学上没有差异。结构方程模型表明，叙事参与度和理想认同完全中介了种族呈现效果（奇幻设定与原设定）对身体活动意愿的影响。
