Gratification of Film Viewing in Children

Abstract

The present study was conducted to understand children’s gratification of the English films 1. Saving Private Ryan (SPR) and 2. E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (ET). The study consisted of a sample of 93 school children of grade XI aged between 15-17 years. A film gratification instrument was designed drawing insights from the research studies conducted by Oliver and Bartsch (2010) and Teasley and Wilder (1997). The sample selected for pilot study was 40 school children taken from a government school of Shamshabad district, Telangana. For the film ET the statistical exploration showed that the mean score was 42 and the standard deviation was 2.2 during the first pilot testing. In the second phase of pilot test the values are: mean score 43 and standard deviation 2.1. The reliability coefficient (r) was found to be 0.74. Since the reliability coefficient (r) was found to be significant the test was finalized for the main study. For the film SPR during the first pilot testing the statistics calculated are: mean score 45 and standard deviation 2.7. In the second phase of pilot test the mean score was 47 and the standard deviation was 2.5. The reliability coefficient (r) was found to be 0.77. Since the reliability coefficient (r) was found to be significant the test was identified for the main study. The research study was quantitative in nature. It was found that the percentage of boys is more in the gratification of films SPR and ET in comparison to girls. The reason as to why the boys experienced high gratification in comparison to girls may be, both the films are male centric and not much of women and gender roles presented.