The “Winx world"

Abstract

The “Winx world”- made up of tv shows and cinema, dolls, and different gadgets- at the beginning was an Italian phenomenon. But now, because of its spread– in 131 Nations and about to widen in America- can be accounted as a multinational one. This paper deals with the behaviour of adults, educators and parents towards this phenomenon, through the analysis of participations posted on the internet forums and blogs. This analysis brings out different positions of cultural strictness and strong differences of pedagogical awareness. Through this complex analysis the author could find three dominant directions: the “apocalyctics”, who consider Winx phenomenon toxic and poisonous, something their children should be defended from in order to avoid educational and sociocultural corruption; the “conformers”, who consider the phenomenon just one of the many recreational and mediatic products without any dangerousness; the “dialectician” who see the phenomenon as something real and present in children daily universe and who think that a “critical balance” is the best way solve the problem. These different positions have been organized in a systematic and problematic proposal, with the aim of giving a picture of the possible educative interventions. The proposed model includes both preventive actions and alternative management of the problem. Preventive actions should be aimed to making children feeling comfortable, providing them with instrument of critical thinking and personal enterpreneurship. Alternative management instead could be focused on finding game modes different from that proposed by trade, with the aim of making the two typologies coexisting. The proposed actions refuse prohibitionist perspectives in order to encourage child’s critical and competent thinking, through game experiences which uderline his/her critical thinking.