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MWF 2:30-3:20pm York 2622 |
E-mail: tgillesp@weber.ucsd.edu Office: MCC 248 -- hours TBA |
Course Synopsis
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major debates surrounding the role of media in the lives and development of children. Popular claims about the effects of media on children will be investigated and deepened, with a communication perspective that gives weight to the complex interplay between media texts and audiences, between lived experience and symbolic representation. Reading will be combined with viewing of various child-oriented media materials -- to ground our discussion in the particular media that surrounds children today. Some questions we will consider: How has the "child" become such a powerful symbolic icon in contemporary cultural discourse? How has the very notion of "childhood" changed historically? How is the interaction between child and media related to the expectations of family, the dynamics of school, the agendas and organization of entertainment industries, the shifting dynamics of media technologies, and the regulatory efforts of government and parents? How can we successfully study children and their media consumption to trace these complex contours?
Course Requirements
The most important assignment is to complete all of the reading assigned; comprehension of the arguments is crucial to your success in this course. Three brief writing assignments will be due throughout the quarter, where students are asked to pay particular attention to how "the child" is represented in the media they encounter around them. But the majority of the course grade will be based on an in-class midterm in the fifth week, and a final exam during the scheduled exam period. The midterm will cover the basic concepts introduced in the first half of the course; the final will require students to draw from the materials of the course to assess and contribute to the arguments about the complex relationship of children and media. Further explanation for these assignments will be provided in class. Attendance will also be a factor in grading.
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Attendance: 10% Midterm: 30% |
Writing assignments: 10% each Final Exam: 30% |
Your work will be graded by the TAs, Carrie Sloan and Lisa Tripp, who will also be helping out with the course. If you have questions for either of them, they can be reached by e-mail at csloan@weber.ucsd.edu and ltripp@weber.ucsd.edu. They will also have office hours, which will be announced during the first week of class.
Books (available at Groundworks Books)
Anne Haas Dyson, Writing Superheroes: Contemporary childhood, popular culture, and classroom literacy (1997)There is also a required course reader, which will be sold at the end of the first six classes (by University Printing Service).
Viviana Zelizer, Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing social value of children (1985)
Course Schedule
I. THEORIZING THE CHILD
To begin, it is crucial to think broadly about how we as a culture think about childhood, and how scholars have argued about the child. What we will find are some recurring assumptions commonly made about childhood, and some problematic omissions.
January 12 -- Notions of childhood
II. THE CHILD IN HISTORY
How has the very definition of childhood changed over the last century? How do historical understandings of what the child is and what they represent still haunt modern media? Why does our understanding of the child's experience with media need to include the socio-historical context?
January 19 -- The history of childhood
III. MEDIA IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN
Media designed for children both shape children's activity and become resources for negotiating the complex symbolic environment around them. Dyson's book focuses on the use of stories drawn from popular culture in the negotiation of classroom, literacy, and the unofficial culture of the child. Media addresses children in two voices, appealing to them in terms of their place within adult contexts and to their sense of independence.
February 11 -- Screening: Toy Story (required)
February 14 -- Screening: Toy Story (required)
IV. CHILDHOOD ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES
How are entertainment industries structured? How does that structure inform the products they produce? When their producs are particularly targeted towards children, what kinds of assumptions are built into the texts that emerge? Has the rapid expansion of massive corporations and their intense colonization of children's material culture had an impact on American childhood?
February 23 -- Disney
Writing Assignment #2 DUE
IV. REGULATING CHILDREN'S MEDIA
How does our culture express its concern over children's media? Who's responsibility is it to regulate it, according to what criteria? How has the icon of the child been used in discussions about the Internet and new media? How are children actually engaging this new digital realm?
The FINAL EXAM will be held during the official exam period