• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.669-677
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• 2008

Since the great success of the Disney animations like , the classification of audience target in animation according to an age group started a possibility of edutainment in the industry. Especially, a few animations for preschool children made by Korea have been largely successful in domestic and foreign markets. The study analyzed a distinguished structure of a story stressed by character by Greimas's theories in the educational animation. The animation for kids as this study target is one of successful contents in edutainment. It also analyzed as one of parallel contents in abroad. It is a meaningful study which considers a story structure of the animation as aspects of edutainment contents for preschool children.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.470-479
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• 2012

This study was designed to investigate and analyze children's preference on animation characters according to age and gender of the subjects, by surveying 255 children aged from 3 to 5. The animation characters were represented in pictures, and the reasons of preference were collected through individual interview with the children. The $x^2$ verification of SPSS 18.0 Window statistic program was used to verify the difference in preference. As a result, children aged from 3 to 5 showed higher preference on animations produced in foreign countries than the ones produced in Korea, as Korean animations and foreign-country animations had preference rate of 35.7% and 64.3%, and Korean characters and foreign-country characters had preference rate of 22.4% and 77.6% respectively. Depending on the age of children, there was significant difference among animation characters that the children prefer ($x^2=302.474^{***}$, P<.001), and it was shown that children at the age of 3 showed preference on 'Pororo' of Pororo the Little Penguin, children at the age of 4 on 'Tayo' of Tayo the Little Bus and 'Amu' of Shugo Chara, and children at the age of 5 on 'Shin Chan' of Crayon Shin Chan. It was also revealed that there was significant difference among animation characters according to the gender of children ($x^2=120.864^{***}$, P<.001); boys preferred 'Pororo' of Pororo the Little Penguin the most, followed by 'Doraemon' of Doraemon, 'Thomas' of Thomas and Friends and 'Tayo' of Tayo the Little Bus, and girls preferred 'Pororo' of Pororo the Little Penguin the most, followed by 'Apple' of Little Princess, 'Amu' of Shugo Chara and 'Loopy' of Pororo the Little Penguin. Through this study, it is hoped that the development of children animation would advance further, and that this study could be used as the preliminary resource.