A study from the University of Toronto Mississauga suggests that the frequent portrayal of villains with foreign or non-standard accents in children's media may be teaching young viewers to associate these accents with negative characters. Researchers analyzed over 100 popular children's films and television shows, finding that foreign accents were disproportionately assigned to villains.
Accents and Villainy in Media
The study, published in Child Development, involved three experiments designed to investigate the origins and development of language biases. In the first experiment, researchers compiled a list of 105 popular animated films and TV shows, identified by seven-to-nine-year-old children and their parents. The accents of characters were coded for goodness or evil. The findings indicated that foreign accents were consistently used for villains in both the children's and parents' preferred media selections. The researchers noted no improvement in this trend over generations, with children encountering similar levels of bias as their parents did.
Experimental Findings on Accent Perception
A second experiment involved 91 children aged seven to nine and their parents, who were played clips of the same actor using different accents. Participants were asked to select which voice would be more suitable for a hero and which for a villain. The results showed that both children and adults were more inclined to assign foreign accents to villain characters. The researchers observed that participants perceived foreign-accented voice actors as more suited for villainous roles compared to those with local accents.
A third experiment replicated the second with younger children (five to six years old) and older children (12 to 13 years old). This experiment revealed that children's language biases intensify with age, with older children being more likely to associate foreign accents with villains than younger children.
Implications and Recommendations
The study's authors described the findings as painting a "rather bleak picture," stating that children's language biases are widespread, strengthen with age, and may be exacerbated by media representations that underrepresent or misrepresent non-standard accents. They suggest that media could instead be a tool for promoting language diversity and tolerance. The researchers recommend that parents encourage their children to watch more inclusive films and TV shows where non-standard accents are depicted more positively. They conclude that by embracing mindful and inclusive programming, children's media could help mitigate, rather than worsen, language biases.