Document Type : Research Paper
Author
PhD Candidates in Persian Language and Literature of Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
There is a frequent pattern in the structure of the cinematographic works for children which seems to work against the nature of children’s cinema because, instead of institutionalizing the element of imagination in the children’s minds for the aim of freedom and the desire for discovery, it leads to children’s fear of imagination. The present research examines the category of childhood, the educational role of children’s works and the place of imagination in children’s films, and tries to depict the steps that the child hero goes through in the movie to neutralize the initial tension. To do so, the place of imagination in selected works of children’s films from before the revolution on 1979 to the decade of 1990s was investigated and the model of fantasy used in these works was identified. The findings show that the entrance and the exit of the hero to the world of imagination follow a pattern which, mainly because of its educational goal, prevents children from watching a work produced for them without being afraid of what is presented to them as imagination. By highlighting this pattern, which includes “initial tension, searching for a solution, and returning with regret to the original state”, the present research compares imagination to a juvenile correctional center built in an amusement park. Although this pattern is accepted all over the world and seems to help children to adapt to the real world, when looked at from the perspective of hero’s journey model, the hero’s return is not a “return with elixir”. After going through the steps that are in front of him/her, the child hero finally returns to the point of peace as if there was no journey at all! The only result of his/her so-called journey is regret. Such a pattern weakens the place of imagination in children’s films and prevents children from engaging in imagination.
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