Description
Book SynopsisPortrayals of Children in Popular Culture: Fleeting Images, edited by Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic and Debbie Olson, is a collection which examines images of children and childhood in popular culture, including print, online, television shows, and films. The contributors to this volume explore the constructions of children and childhood rather than actual children or actual childhoods. In the chapters that are concerned with depictions of actual, individual children, the authors investigate how the images of those children conform or trouble current notions of what it means to be a child engaged in a contemporary childhood. This is a unique volume, because of the academic discourse which is employedthat of Childhood Studies. The Childhood Studies scholars represented in this collection utilize an interdisciplinary approach which draws upon various academic fieldstheir methodologies, theoretical approaches, and scholarly conventionsfor the scholarly research in this collection.Together, the
Trade ReviewThis publication is an extraordinary collection of scholarly writing focusing mainly on the contemporary imagery of children over a range of formats, varying from print and online sources to television portrayals and studies of children in film. In some essays there is background from past times for the purposes of illustrating contrasting perspectives regarding children, but the dominant timeframe for analysis is contemporary. Many of the essays have been previously published while some are new. The authors present a rich diversity of backgrounds, expertise, methods of research and styles. ... it is a very engaging, thorough and stimulating collection of researched writing on the subject. It is highly recommended. * Australian Library Journal *
A much needed and very welcome addition to the childhood studies canon, this unique collection profiles state of the art scholarship on representations of children. Pursuing critical themes, this path-breaking volume demonstrates the significance of taking popular culture seriously. Chapters on print, television, and film written by leading academics in the field combine to create a comprehensive, thought-provoking and compelling account—an essential text for anyone with an interest in making sense of modern childhoods. -- Mary Jane Kehily, The Open University
Portrayals of Children in Popular Culture offers a set of impassioned and empowered interpretations how media culture speaks to and about children. Notable for the currency and comprehensiveness of its contributions, it offers fresh readings of magazines, movies, television, and the internet. International in scope, it opens insightful dialogues around gender, race, sentiment, desire, socialization, and citizenship. Deconstructing the uses and understandings of childhood, [this book] advances ongoing discussions in the field. -- C. Richard King, Washington State University
Table of ContentsPreface by Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic and Debbie Olson Part One. Print and the Web Chapter One. "The Girl You've Always Wanted to Be!" Girl Power and Commodification in Teen Magazines, Caryn Murphy Chapter Two. Children and Media in Parenting Magazines, Amy Franzini Chapter Three. Making Kids Sexy: Sexualized Youth, Adult Anxieties and Abercrombie and Fitch, Stephen Gennaro Chapter Four. Configuring Childhood on the Web, Katie Elson Anderson Part Two. Television Chapter Five. Pearly Whites: The Imagery of Teeth in Peter Pan, Elite Figure Skating, Gymnastics, and Toddler Beauty Pageants, Beth Nardella Chapter Six. Conceptualizing Childhood in the Korean Education Broadcasting System (EBS): The Critical Analysis of Pororo, Lena Lee Chapter Seven. Accidental Deaths: the Violence of Representing Childhood in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Morgan Genevieve Blue and Lena Lee Chapter Eight. "Better Multiculturalism" Through Technology: Dora the Explorer and the Training of the Preschool Viewer(s), Drew Chappell Part Three. Film Chapter Nine. "Making Mischief of One Kind or Another": Turning Literary Rebellion into Film Reminiscence in Where The Wild Things Are, Michelle Ann Abate Chapter Ten. "They Don't Really Care What Happens to Me": Divorce, Family Life and Children's Emotional Worlds in 1950s' British Cinema, Janet Fink Chapter Eleven. Representations of Children in Pixar Films: 1995-2008, Iris Shepard Chapter Twelve. Little Burton Blue: Tim Burton and the Product(ion) of Color in the Fairy Tale Films The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and The Corpse Bride (2005), Debbie Olson Chapter Thirteen. Childhood in War and Violence: Turtles Can Fly and The Kite Runner Lan Dong Chapter Fourteen. Spelling Out Racial Difference: Moving Beyond the Inspirational Discourses in, Akeelah and the Bee Kathryn E. Linder Chapter Fifteen. See St. Louis and Die: Wartime and the Morbid Child Psychology of Meet Me In St. Louis, Vincent Casaregola
