This book explores the results of a focus group study about how young people grasp the messages about friendship and love communicated through the stories they read, how these concepts influence their own values, and how they assess a piece of literature.
On September 24th and 25th, 2021, at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, the literary discussions recommenced, which were initiated by Educating Young People through the Classics. Love, Friendship and Storytelling—and temporarily suspended by the Covid pandemic—with focus groups examining books, movies, and TV series popular with young people. The works had been chosen based on a representative study, done two years prior, with a sample of 3,700 subjects ages 18-29 from five European countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain) and four countries from the Americas (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States).
There were focus group discussions regarding the most popular works of fiction (according to the survey responses): for the conversation on books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; for the conversation on movies, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Titanic; for the conversation on TV series, The Big Bang Theory and Thirteen Reasons Why.
Research leaders of the discussions present the focus groups’ results in chapter two and three, and the book’s editor has contributed an introductory essay—Storytelling and character formation. Talking with young people about books and movies—about the relationship between literature and character formation, outlining the theoretical framework for the whole project.
Norberto González Gaitano, PhD completed his doctoral studies at The University of Navarra’s School of Communication in Spain, 1991. He has been a Professor of Public Opinion at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome) since 1996 and is Director of the University’s Family and Media Chair (Elina Gianoli-Gainza). He has authored numerous books and articles on media issues—his last one having been published in Family and Media’s Educating Young People through the Classics. Love, Friendship and Storytelling (2020).
Gema Bellido completed her PhD degree in audiovisual communication at The Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, 2014. She is an Assistant Professor in the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross’s School of Communications (Rome) and works also as a communications consultant. She has recently edited A Church in Dialogue. The Art and Science of Church Communication (2022).
Cecilia Galatolo graduated from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross’s School of Church Communications in 2016. She has published six novels, as well as essays and biographies of young witnesses of the Catholic faith. Her best-known book is You Were Born Original. Don’t Live as a Photocopy (“Sei nato originale non vivere da fotocopia,” 2017), dedicated to Blessed Carlo Acutis. She collaborates with various websites that explore topics regarding family and is a researcher for the international research group Family and Media.
