From Superman to Social Realism : Children's Media and Scandinavian Childhood.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (202 pages)
- Children's Literature, Culture, and Cognition Series ; v.6 .
- Children's Literature, Culture, and Cognition Series .
Intro -- From Superman to Social Realism -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction. Debating children's media, defining Scandinavian childhood -- Understanding historical debates about children's media: Message, not medium -- Understanding historical debates about children's media: Message, not medium -- Debates about children and media as 'consumption politics' -- Writing Scandinavian childhood history -- Children's media history: A Scandinavian perspective -- Public debates as socio-cultural struggles -- Consumption politics in action: Defining the arena and its agents -- Overview -- Chapter 1. The welfare state's children and their media consumption -- Studying children's reading habits -- Concerns and ideas: An international context -- The national committees and the comics problem -- The welfare state's leading professionals -- The comics debate: Perspectives on children and society -- Undemocratic superheroes and the ruin of educational efforts -- The undesirable culture of capitalism -- Chapter 2. Finding the right solution: The establishment's countermoves -- How to take responsibility: Censorship or information -- Defining the appropriate solution: Children's classics -- Catching children's interest -- Getting children into the library -- Reading at home: A question of parental guidance -- Children's own (useless) opinions -- The 1950s in conclusion: Educating the child for the future -- Chapter 3. The 1960s: A time of change and challenge -- Challenge and change -- Changing norms for children's literature in the mid 1960s -- Criticism of the establishment's institutional power from the left and right -- NORDEN and the nature of children's literature -- Trash Culture for Children -- Chapter 4. Revision of the appropriate -- Realism, politics and art for children. New fronts in the debate about children's media -- New agendas for 'children's culture' -- Challenging the boundaries of children's media and children's culture -- Chapter 5. Defining children's needs and wants -- Children's television: TV as children's spokesperson? -- Children's libraries: Ivory towers or playgrounds? -- The battleground revised: Between protection, politicisation and emancipation -- Chapter 6. Turning inwards: 'Children's culture' and the support of a true childhood -- Exploration of children's culture: A shared Scandinavian agenda -- Childhood and "children's culture" in modern society -- Culture shock for children in a new world -- New agendas for literature in children's lives -- The emancipating fantasy -- From ideology to psychology and the concern for children's wellbeing -- Chapter 7. Navigating children through a new media landscape -- The interests of the market and the interests of children -- Video and violence: Psychology and the fragile mind of the child -- Electronic media as an irrevocable part of children's lives? -- Media research and TV's influence on children's perception of the world -- Creativity, play, and television: A good childhood? -- The appropriate use of electronic media: A parental responsibility -- Childhood and electronic media: A compatible pair? -- Conclusion. Understanding past debates about children and media -- Understanding medium and message in debates about children's media -- Scandinavian childhood in light of debates about children's media -- Children, childhood, and media: The burden of innocence -- Bibliography -- Published primary sources -- Indexes, registers -- Digital catalogues -- Archives -- Unpublished sources -- Published secondary sources -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Appendix 3 -- Appendix 4 -- Index.
From Superman to Social Realism provides an exciting new approach to the study of children's media and childhood history, drawing on the theories of cross-media consumption and transnational history.