Abstract
The examination of media and their audiences has, expectedly, resulted in a diverse body of disciplines, perspectives, paradigms, and research. Although the rapidly changing media landscape has shaped much of media studies, the unique forces of cultural discourse and ideology surrounding specific audiences and specific media platforms presents as a challenge to media researchers. In particular, the discourses surrounding children, animation, and media effects have complicated the understanding of children as media audiences and animation as a pedagogical force. This paper dissects this relationship by integrating cultural analysis into conversations about media and children. It uses systematic review to correlate the classification of animation as a “children’s medium” with the creation and dismissal of adulterated content in animated texts, and places this alongside the ritual behaviors of children concerning media made for them. By exploring how children engage in media rituals, including aspects of character identification, this paper advocates for the conceptualization of popular culture as deeply connected to society in order to properly evaluate the pedagogical nature of media as disseminators of ideology in children’s lives.
Presenters
Marissa LammonInstructor, Media Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Popular Culture, Audiences, Children's media, Identification, Animation, Media rituals
