Kidding Around

Alexander N. Howe is Associate Professor of English at the University of the District of Columbia, USA. He is the co-editor of Marcia Muller and the Female Private Eye: Essays on the Novels that Defined a Subgenre (2009) and author of It Didn't Mean Anything: A Psychoanalytic Reading of American Detective Fiction (2008). Wynn Yarbrough is Associate Professor and chair of the English Department at the University of the District of Columbia, USA. He is the author of Masculinity in Children's Animal Stories, 1888-1928: A Critical Study of Anthropomorphic Tales by Wilde, Kipling, Potter, Grahame and Milne (2011) and A Boy's Dream (2011).

A must for students and researchers in child studies, education, film studies, children’s media and children’s literature, Kidding Around: The Child in Film and Media features work by scholars representing a range of critical perspectives. Drawing on such diverse fields as education, cultural studies, film theory, literary theory, history and disability studies, this interdisciplinary collection offers new readings of the various ways that children’s bodies and identities are represented and constructed in contemporary mediums such as films, novels, public play spaces, news stories, advice manuals and cartoons. This collection is an important, thought-provoking and long overdue contribution to the scholarly study of children in the media.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: “Representations and Renegotiations: Childhood and Its Uses,” Wynn Yarbrough and Alexander Howe, University of the District of Columbia, USPart 1: Rites of Passage and Impasse Chapter 1: "Betwixt and Between: Reading the Child in M. Night Shyamalan's Films," Kevin Wisniewski, University of Pennsylvania, US Chapter 2: "The Monstrous Masculine: Abjection and Todd Solondz's Happiness," Adam Wadenius, San Francisco State University, USChapter 3: "Only a Child: Spectacles of Innocence in the Lolita films," Brian Walter, St. Louis College of Pharmacy, US Part 2: Childhood as Text Chapter 4: "The 'Rubbing Off' of 'Art and Beauty': Child Citizenship, Literary Engagement, and the Anglo-American Playground Movement," Michelle Beissel Heath, Tulane University, US Chapter 5: "The Studio World Surprised and Disturbed Ruth: The Diffident Stage Mother and the Difficult Child in a Post-War Novel by Noel Streatfeild," Sally Stokes, The Catholic University of America, US Chapter 6: "Building a Mystery: The 1990's Autistic Thriller," Chris Foss, University of Mary Washington, US Chapter 7: "Pundit Knows Best: The Self-Help Boom, Brand Marketing and The O'Reilly Factor for Kids," Michell Abate, The Ohio State University, USPart 3: Disney and Its Progeny Chapter 8: “Power to the Princess: Disney and the Creation of the 20th Century Princess Narrative,” Bridget Whelan, SOWELA Technical Community College, USChapter 9: "Surreal Estate: Building Self-Identity in Monster House," Michael Howarth, Missouri Southern State University, USChapter 10: "The Wild and the Cute: Disney Animation and Environmental Awareness," David Whitely, Cambridge University, UK Conclusion: Criticism and Multicultural Children’s Films, Iris Shepard, St. Gregory University, US and Ian Wojcik-Andrews, Eastern Michigan University, UKNotes on ContributorsIndex