CMNS: 320 Children, Media and Culture

1
CMNS 320 Children, Media and Culture

• Lectures Thurs 1230 - 320 WMC
• Steve Kline kline_at_sfu.ca
• TA Masa miwase_at_sfu.ca
• Course list cmns320-d1_at_sfu.ca

http//www.sfu.ca/cmns/faculty/kline_s/320/08-Fall
/
2
Todays Line Up

• Review Objectives
• Defining the Field
• Introduce Course Pedagogy?
• Topics
• Assignments
• Grading
• Why Study Childrens Media/ Culture?
• Over view of course perspective (my biases and
  interests)
• Cultural-historical Approach to Childrens
  Socialization
• Critical Focus on Commercialization of Media
  Culture - formation of childrens cultural
  industries
• Critical Reflection on Media Discourses
• For the child - toys, books, films, TV shows,
  music, clothes
• About the child/ family in films and TV

3
Objectives

• The course adopts a cultural-historical
  perspective on the development of children's
  media industries with an eye to contextualizing
  the critical debates about media-saturated
  childhood.
• The course will direct itself to the following
  four objectives
•  To provide a historical perspective on modern
  childhood tracing the emergence of the children's
  cultural industries (publishing, movies, radio,
  tv, toys, video games and the internet) and their
  practices 
• To introduce students to academic writing on
  children's media culture including policy issues
  and critiques of commercialized cultural
  production
• To overview and evaluate research into children's
  media use and its impact on children's lives
•  To explore the key debates about media saturated
  childhood with an emphasis on consumerism and
  children's healthy lifestyles.

4
This course text provides a historical
perspective on the following key debates about
the role that communication media play in
childrens lives

• The debates surrounding the development of
  childrens cultural industries and marketing
  (publishing, movies, radio, tv, toys, video games
  and the internet)
• A variety of critical writing evaluating the
  quality of childrens media products and their
  aesthetics focusing on play and stories as the
  twin pillors of childrens culture
• The research literatures on childrens
  audiences, tastes, competences and the
  consequences of their media use (violence, gender
  identity, addiction, learning)
• The policy issues, debates and regulation
  emerging about childrens special status in the
  mediated marketplace (rights and restrictions)

5
Lecture Schedule
6
Texts
OTG Out of the Garden
7
Exercises Methods for study of children's media
cultures
8
Grading
Reading Log 15
Research Log 40 (cultural product review worth 10)
Participation 15
Cultural Research Project 25
9
Parsing the Course
children
Childrens Use of Media
culture
media
10
Children

• The Child an rhetorical and legal abstraction
  pertaining to young peoples status in life lt 18
  (family, rights, education,for the sake of the
  childrenetc.)
• Gender, ethnicity, maturation
• Childhood a cultural-historical construct which
  is ideological (ie childhood of the 1950s)
• Children an abstraction about the experiences,
  competences and expressions of specific
  individuals (children who play violent video
  games)

11
Media

• Channels of Mediated Communication
• Genres, Aesthetics and Culture Forms
• Cultural Industries
• Audiences and Market Segments

12
Culture

• Discursive practices, institutions and social
  relations - context of socialization (sociology)
• The creative products of the imagination - great
  works (literature and art criticism)
• The daily experiences and behaviours of children
  (social psychology)
• The myths, routines, roles and meanings that
  inform the performance of daily life
  (anthropology)
• The ability of children to construct their own
  identity (cultural studies)

13
Pedagogy and Approach

• Pedagogy
• self reflection on own experience
• critical analysis of examples and cases
• learning by writing and doing research
• option for video
• Viewings to provoke the critical analysis of
  important cultural texts
• Lectures to overview key debates, to analyze
  case examples and key research projects, and to
  provide a theoretical framework
• Readings to be familiar with key writers and
  research traditions
• Tutorials
• encourage debate about ideas in the readings,
  films and lectures
• To link readings with experience and observations
• To help explain options for the practice of
  childrens cultural research

14

• Reading Logs Critical Reflections on Readings,
  Lectures, Films
• The log is submitted in lieu of an exam to show
  us that you have become acquainted with the
  field. Your log will be reviewed and evaluated at
  least twice during the term by the TA so it is
  important to keep up with the readings. The
  purpose of the reading log is to provide us with
  evidence of your active intellectual engagement
  with the course texts (which include readings,
  lectures, films and weekly exercises). In this
  regard, the films you see as well as the ideas
  presented in lectures and seminars are as much a
  part of the course texts as the readings.
• A good reading log is not simply a set of notes
  showing us that you have read the material. It
  should also provide evidence of the mental work
  you do while reading, listening and watching,
  including your interpretations, critical
  reflections (evaluations) and ideational
  associations you make as you assimilate the
  theories, cases and evidence encountered on this
  course as you read, watch, listen to and
  discuss the course materials. We expect you to
  demonstrate that you understand and can define
  and paraphrase ideas/ arguments from these texts.
  We also expect you to provide a thoughtful
  commentary including situating these concepts in
  their cultural-historical context, explaining why
  you think they are relevant, providing other
  complex examples of these abstract concepts, as
  well as analyzing and evaluating arguments and
  assumptions. The application of a concept to a
  new example, or a refutation of it based on
  evidence or experience are strong evidence of
  active engagement. Remember your written
  comments and responses to these texts are
  intended to provide us with evidence of your
  critical reflections including your own
  understanding and analysis of these concepts/
  theories.

15

• Participation in Seminars
• You will be evaluated both for your attendance
  and contribution to seminars. To this end the
  seminars on this course have two purposes. The
  first is to encourage you to discuss the ideas
  presented in the lectures, films and readings
  with the TA and fellow students. You are expected
  to have read all the core readings specified for
  the prior week and can bring examples or
  questions to the discussion. Each week students
  will be required to be the seminar leaders
  overviewing the additional reading material
  found in the folder. Students will be evaluated
  for their presentation and discussion of the
  reading in the seminar.
• The other purpose of the seminars is to explore/
  apply in greater depth the key concepts, research
  approaches and arguments that are examined to
  this course. In order to focus these discussion
  we expect you to complete all the exercises
  listed below and be prepared to discuss your
  experiences and findings in the weekly seminars
  which follow the lecture. The exercise assigned
  for week 2 will be discussed in the seminar held
  in week 2. Each exercise should also be entered
  in the weekly log in note form for that week.
• We very much advise you to keep up with the
  readings and exercises in your course logs.

16
What we expect

• You will engage with childrens culture by
  reading, watching cartoons, playing with
  children, talking to children
• You will draw upon your own childhood
  experiences
• You will read and take an active part in seminar
  discussions.
• You will clarify your own perspectives and
  values
• You will learn to defend your own ideas and
  judgements about childrens media culture, its
  qualities and its effects on/ appeal to kids

17
Why study Childrens Media Culture?

• For those who want to work in Childrens Cultural
  Industries
• Practical not only media education but
  childrens cultural industries/ marketing are
  expanding rapidly
• J.J. Rowlings is richer than the Queen
• Research into childrens taste, preferences and
  audiences

18
Jobs that require you to know about childrens
culture

• Journalism Writing and Reviewing
• Education teaching, libraries, policing
• Marketing and retailing research, advertising,
  merchandising
• Clinical psychology, advocacy and social work
• Leisure industries, travel, sports
• Media

19
Researching the Childrens Cultural Industries
Political economy production and consumption of
childrens culture Genre and Cultural Form
Historical and comparative critical analysis of
childrens media products Understanding
Authorship biography and inspiration of
creatives Policy and Impact regulation and
research in mediated marketplace
20
Animation is big business 2.6 billion

• Lion King 504 mill
• Incredibles70 million in one weekend
• Polar Express23 M in opening weekend
• Finding Nemo
• Boxoffice865/ DVD324
• Shrek 2 880 mill box ancillaries
• Hasbros licensing of Marvel Characters205
  million

21
For those who want to understand why Winnie the
Pooh is superior to Teletubbies?

• Practical Parents and Teachers and the need for
  critical judgements on childrens culture
  products
• Some of the great works of cinema and literature
  are made for children
• Critical writing and teaching about the
  childrens cultural products

22
Wonderland! Childrens creatives as pioneers of
the imagination
Production Stream -meeting after the Class!
J.M. Barry and Peter Pan
Alice Liddel and Charles Dodson
23
Some questions we will debate

• What makes a story good to read?
• What kinds of marketing is acceptable?
• What do children learn in play?
• What did children do before TV?
• Havent boys always played war games?
• Do Spice Girls empower tweens through fashion
  and music?

24
And write about Thomas?
25
For those in search of identity and
self-understanding.

• Personal Growth Childrens culture as a point of
  departure for self reflection on ones own
  history, cultural identity and taste
• Maturation through reflection
• The love of play and stories (resisting
  maturation)

26
The Child Within?
Liberating the Child Within? Or knowing where
your own tastes and values come from
27
MEGHAN PLAYS BARBIE
28
For those who wish to study power and ideology in
contemporary culture

• Theoretical Childhood is a site of ideological
  struggle family values and consumer
  socialization
• Political Children and democratization
  movements/ canaries in the coalmines

29
Biases of this course

• Historical Perspective focus on change and
  continuity in the matrix of socialization ( the
  rise of the marketplace as an agency of
  socialization)
• Social-Psychological - belief in the importance
  of play, stories and imagination in the childs
  healthy maturation and learning.
• Consumer Culture - focus on consumer
  socialization and policy debates associated with
  the commericalization of media and the
  commodification of childrens culture
• Critical - examine issues of morality, policy
  and politics associated with childrens rights
  and well being in a media saturated world

30
A Childs Festival of Greed or a chance to
research childrens consumerism in the mediated
marketplace?
31
Pilot Research Project

• This pilot research project requires you to work
  in groups on some primary research either
  qualitative or quantitative using discourse
  analysis, surveys, interviews, focus groups, or
  ethnographic approaches. The main purpose of
  this pilot research project is undertake an
  empirical pilot investigation of one key issue/
  debate that has been identified in the course. A
  project requires you to 1) review what is known
  about the topic 2) to gather and analyse some
  evidence that relates to that topic 3) to
  explain the relevance of your finding to ongoing
  debates about children's cultural industries.
• You are welcome to propose your own pilot
  research project or you can elect to work on one
  of the five theme questions outlined for this
  years class TBA.

32
(10) On-line Review of a childrens cultural
product (1000 words or less)

• Although childrens books, toys and the latest
  blockbuster films are sometimes reviewed in the
  press, these are frequently part of the
  promotional spin. For this reason, this part of
  the assignment asks you to write an independent
  critical evaluation of a cultural product -- a
  toy, movie, video game, book etc.-- which might
  be useful to parents looking to make informed
  decisions about the merits, subject matter and
  appropriateness of the product. The assignment is
  first and foremost intended to get you reflecting
  on your evaluation of child appropriate
  judgements. Critical evaluation involves more
  than justifying your own taste by stating what
  you like and why you like it. It is also about
  you articulating your criteria for evaluating the
  qualities, experiences and values embedded in
  these cultural products for children by the
  childrens cultural industries that make them
  whether it be toys, TV shows, films or comics. In
  this sense the evaluation of a cultural product
  involves commentary on their design as objects
  for a purpose for communicating ideas and values,
  for educating and entertaining, or for supporting
  childrens maturation and adjustment. These
  reviews are intended to be read in the public
  domain as a resource which can be posted on the
  media lab website as an advisory to parents. The
  reviews should be submited as PDFs
• Townsend, J. (1980). Standards of Criticism for
  Children's Literature. In Nancy Chambers (Ed.),
  The signal approach to children's books (pp.
  192-207). London Kestrel Books/Penguin.
• Henri Giroux Are Disney Movies Good for Your
  kids? in S. Steinberg and J. Kincheloe (Eds.).
  Kinderculture The Corporate Construction of
  Childhood. (pp. 85-101). Boulder Westview
  Press.

33
Assignment 1 Managing Freedom

• Childrens leisure and cultural consumption
  stimulated a lively debate about growing up in
  the mediated marketplace. Analyze the system of
  family regulation you grew up with identifying
  the rules, rituals, and restrictions on your
  freedom, your leisure and your cultural
  consumption. What kinds of cultural activities
  were you required to undertake and what kinds
  were you restricted from.
• Method involves reflection on your own family
  patterns of socialization (try looking at old
  photos what are you doing in them?)
• Think about rules and expectations related to
• media use (books, toys, music, TV, video games,
  comics )
• allowances and spending
• leisure time and activities
• snacking and food consumption
• How did these change with age?
• Were they uniformly applied to siblings (gender,
  father mother)?
• How were conflicts of taste and preference dealt
  with? How did you respond?

34
Assignment 2 Family Oral History

• Is there a widening generation gap? Are there any
  major differences in childrens experiences today
  from yours? How do we understand changes in
  childrens culture?
• Method Oral history Interview
• Interview your parents (or better grandparents)
  about their own childhood experiences and
  culture what it was like when they were
  children. Ask them about the things they most
  liked to do, to play with, read watch and listen
  too etc in their leisure time. In what ways were
  their experiences similar to or different from
  yours. Are these just differences in general
  taste?
• Ask them about games and/ or leisure activities
  that they loved most -- and perhaps teach you
  about something that might otherwise be lost from
  their childrens culture -- a game, a joke, a
  trick, riddle or song etc.

35
Additional Refs.

• Cross, G. (2004) Wondrous Innocence Print
  Advertising and the Origins of Permissive
  Childrearing in the US. Journal of Consumer
  Culture. 4(2) 183-202.
• Zipes, J. (2001). Wanda Gags Americanization of
  the Grimms Fairy Tales. In J. Zipes, (Ed.).
  Sticks and stones the troublesome success of
  children's literature from Slovenly Peter to
  Harry Potter. (81-97). New York Routledge.
• Jenkins, H.(1999). "No Matter How Small" The
  Democratic Imagination of Dr. Seuss. In M.
  Kinder. Kids' media culture (pp. 251-276).
  Durham Duke University Press.
• Tolkein, J.R. (1964). Children and fairy
  stories. Tree and leaf (pp. 112-120). Boston
  Houghton Mifflin. Recommended
• Valkenburg, P. and Cantor, J. (2000). Children's
  Likes and Dislikes of Entertainment Programs. In
  D. Zillman and P. Vorderer (Eds.). Media
  Entertainment The Psychology of Its Appeal. (pp.
  135-152). Mahwah Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Jordan, A. Schmitt, K, Woodard, E. Developmental
  Implications of Commercial Broadcasters
  Educational Offerings. In Calvert et al. (Ed.).
  Children in the Digital Age Praeger. Westport.
  pp
• Mergen, B. (1995). Childrens Lore in School and
  Playgrounds. In B. Sutton-Smith et al. (Eds.).
  Childrens Folklore A Source Book. (pp.
  229-249). New York Garland Publishing Inc.
• Media Awareness Network (2005), Canadian Children
  Go Online II. (on-line)
• Cook and Kaiser Betwixt and Between Age
  Ambiguity and the sexualization of the female
  consuming subject. Journal of Consumer Culture.
  pp.203-228
• Beresin, A. (1995). Double Dutch and Double
  Cameras Studying the Transmission of Culture in
  An Urban School Yard. In B. Sutton-Smith et al.
  Childrens Folklore A Source Book. (Eds.). (pp.
  75-91). New York Garland Publishing Inc.
• Curry, D. (1999). Doing and Undoing The Everyday
  Experience of Subject-ivity. In D. Curry (Ed.).
  Girl Talk Adolescent Magazines and Their
  Readers. (pp. 207-246). Toronto University of
  Toronto Press.
• Lemish et. al (2003) The Role of Media in
  Childrens Make Believe Worlds. Televizion No 16
  2003. (on-line)
• Hobbs, R. 1999. The Seven Great Debates in the
  Media Literacy Movement EDRS. (on-line).
• Kline, S. 2005 Countering Childrens Sedentary
  Lifestyles An Evaluative Study of a Media-Risk
  Education Childhood Vol. 12, No. 2 . (on-line)