1st Edition

Media and the Make-Believe Worlds of Children When Harry Potter Meets Pokemon in Disneyland

    244 Pages
    by Routledge

    244 Pages
    by Routledge

    Media and the Make-Believe Worlds of Children offers new insights into children's descriptions of their invented or "make-believe" worlds, and the role that the children's experience with media plays in creating these worlds. Based on the results of a cross-cultural study conducted in the United States, Germany, Israel, and South Korea, it offers an innovative look at media's role on children's creative lives.

    This distinctive volume:
    *outlines the central debates and research findings in the area of children, fantasy worlds, and the media;
    *provides a descriptive account of children's make-believe worlds and their wishes for actions they would like to take in these worlds;
    *highlights the centrality of media in children's make believe worlds;
    *emphasizes the multiple creative ways in which children use media as resources in their environment to express their own inner worlds; and
    *suggests the various ways in which the tension between traditional gender portrayals that continue to dominate media texts and children's wishes to act are presented in their fantasies.

    The work also demonstrates the value of research in unveiling the complicated ways in which media are woven into the fabric of children's everyday lives, examining the creative and sophisticated uses they make of their contents, and highlighting the responsibility that producers of media texts for children have in offering young viewers a wide array of role models and narratives to use in their fantasies. The downloadable resources provide full-color images of the artwork produced during the study.

    This book will appeal to scholars and graduate students in children and media, early childhood education, and developmental psychology. It can be used in graduate level courses in these areas.

    Contents: Preface. Part I: Studying Make-Believe Worlds. Children's Fantasy World and the Media: A Theoretical Introduction. Studying Children's Make-Believe Worlds: Methods and Processes. Part II: Research Findings: The Worlds, the Children, and the Media. The Worlds of Make-Believe. The Child in the Make-Believe World. Media Traces in Children's Make-Believe Worlds. Part III: Central Themes: Gender and Culture. The Gendered Nature of Children's Make-Believe Worlds. Cultural Traces in Children's Make-Believe Worlds. Part IV: Conclusion. Conclusion: Media and Children's Make-Believe Worlds.

    Biography

    Maya Gotz, Dafna Lemish, Hyesung Moon, Amy Aidman

    'This is a great and needed addition to the literature on children and media, perhaps one of the most creative approaches in the last decade.' - Communication Research Trends

    'The bulk of this monograph consists of a variety of analyses of the make-believe worlds the children conjure up. The authors explore how the characteristics of these worlds differ with particular focus on the way that prominent media content (e.g., Harry Potter and Pokémon, Princess Leia and Darth Vader) are appropriated according to the gender and cultural background of the children.' - PsycCRITIQUES

    'This is one of the most illuminating books about children and media, and further, about global and international media influences and flows, that has been produced for some time.' - Global Media and Communication