1st Edition
Film Landscapes of Global Youth Imagining Young Lives
This book explores the dynamic landscapes of global youth through spatially grounded chapters focused on film and media. It is a collection of incredible works concerning children and young people in, out, and through media as well as an examination of what is possible for the future of research within the intersections of geography, film theory, and children’s studies.
It contains contributions from leading academics from anthropology, sociology, philosophy, art, film and media studies, women and gender studies, Indigenous studies, education, and geography, with chapters focused on a spatial area and the representations and relationships of children in that area through film and media. The insights presented also provide a unique and eclectic perspective on the current state of children’s research in relation to the ever-changing media landscape of the 21st century. Film Landscapes of Global Youth approaches the subjects of children and young people in film and media in a way that is not bound by genre, format, medium, or the on-/off-screen binary. Each chapter offers an insightful look at the relationships and portrayals of children and young people in relation to a specific country, culture, or geographic feature.
This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersections between geography, young lives, and the power of film, television, social media, content creation, and more.
Chapter 1
Introducing the Film Landscapes of Global Youth
Stuart C. Aitken & Jacob Rowlett
Chapter 2
Anita: Journeying through Landscapes of Loss and Hope in Buenos Aires
Fernando J. Bosco
Chapter 3
Two Girls, Two Islands, Two Images: New Cinema in the Faroe Islands
Firouz Gaini
Chapter 4
Becoming a Filmmaker, an Adult, and an Italian?: Shooting the New Italian Youth and Their Rites/Rights of Passage
Laura Lo Presti
Chapter 5
Leaves on a Pillow: The Representation of Street Children in the Indonesian Film Daun di Atas Bantal
Harriot Beazley and Wiryo Warisno (Heru)
Chapter 6
Portraying Genocide through the Eyes of Children: The Troubled Geographies of Authenticity in Loung Ung’s First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
James A. Tyner
Chapter 7
Cinematic Counter-Cartographies of Black and Brown Girlhood in the French Banlieue
Pascale Joassart-Marcelli
Chapter 8
Toward a Deterritorialized Nomadism: The Transversal Role of Children in Abbas Kiarostami’s Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987) and Life and Nothing More… (1992)
Colin Gardner and James Craine
Chapter 9
Indigenous Children in Canadian Cinema: Ethnographic Explorations and National Narratives in the Early Films of Harlan Ingersoll Smith and Alanis Obomsawin
Ann Marie Murnaghan and Tyler McCreary
Chapter 10
Hope through Creation: Celtic Kids and Tomm Moore’s The Secret of Kells
Stuart C. Aitken
Chapter 11
The (Common) Worlds of Dragons: Nature, Humans, and the Anthropocene in Children's Films
Susana Cortés-Morales
Chapter 12
“A Futuristic Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer?”: Race, Class, and Boyhood in Star Trek’s 24th Century
David K. Seitz
Chapter 13
“Why Are You Here, Rey from Nowhere?”: The Hero’s Journey, Island Storytelling, and the Gendered Roles of Heroes in the Star Wars Saga
Jacob Rowlett
Chapter 14
Finland Extended: Encounters with Top Gun Films and the Emerging Post-Social Landscapes of Youth
Raine Aiava and Noora Pyyry
Chapter 15
Cinema Out of Sight: The Role of Film Halls for Street Youth in Harare, Zimbabwe
Lorraine van Blerk, Wayne Shand and Janine Hunter
Chapter 16
'What Do You See Guys? Comment Down Below' Children Becoming YouTubers in the Park: Experimentation with Digital Content Creation
Polly Jarman and Peter Kraftl
Chapter 17
History, Memory, Media: Revisiting the Films from My Research on Children’s Work and Play in Sudan
Cindi Katz
Chapter 18
Musings and Reflections: Children, Young People, Film
Tracey Skelton
Bibliography
Biography
Stuart C. Aitken has worked in the fields of film and children’s geographies for over three decades. In 1994 he published two books – Putting Children in Their Place (Association of American Geographers, Washington DC) and Place, Power, Situation and Spectacle: A Geography of Film (edited with Leo Zonn, Rowman & Littlefield) – that are considered foundational. He has since published 16 books and over 200 articles that relate to film, media, children’s geographies, child rights, and youth activism.
Jacob Rowlett is a PhD candidate whose dissertation focuses on film and media geographies. He is particularly interested in the impact of film in relation to human environments. His research spans across the fields of critical geography, tourism studies, and film theory and history.
