Our discussion of spirituality in children's media this week had a lot in common with one of our first discussions in class about morality. A key difference between morality and spirituality are that morality is about actions and consequences, while spirituality has more to do with mercy and forgiveness. Additionally, morality deals with right and wrong, while spirituality deals with beliefs that dictate our actions and agency.

According to my beliefs, and the beliefs of my church, the family unit is central to this life, and throughout eternity. Everything the church teaches is centered on family, and how we can live as eternal families. The subject of family is really close to my heart because of my religion, and also because I was blessed with a really amazing family.


Not only do we care about current family and friend relationships, we also tend to be interested in the lives of our ancestors. "My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts" is one woman's family history story that means a lot to her. So many of our relationships are strengthened through storytelling and togetherness, and stories from our own families often have an even greater impact. I liked this short film because it felt like this woman's home movie in a way. We record our lives and the lives of our families because we feel it's important and brings us together. This filmmaker probably felt an even stronger bond to her grandmother after learning about this story and making a film about her. This is a good example of a piece of media about families, but how also media production with and about family can build and strengthen relationships, which makes us stronger, more loving people.

Often in media, children are used as an instrument to demonstrate problems and other conditions of society. Filmmakers are able to bring up their ideologies, and by portraying children, they are able to emphasize their message, whether they are exploiting children or not. This can present a problem, especially because this takes away the children's voice, and the adults are saying what they want to say through the children. We viewed "Munro," a short cartoon, as one of our pre-class viewings. I think this is a great commentary on this issue of children's issues being ignored. Munro is four years old, and is drafted into the military. He is expected to be a soldier and perform intense work, but he is only a toddler. The other adults are blind to this fact, even though he repeatedly tells them "I'm only four!" This great cartoon illustrates how adults overshadow children, taking away their agency, and ignoring the fact that children have their own problems that make it hard for them to function in society, apart from bigger societal issues. Children don't need to be instruments in portraying disfunction in society for a filmmaker's benefit.

An example of a piece of media with societal issues is Happy Feet. In my opinion, this movie is a little manipulative. At least, I felt like I was being manipulated when I saw it. The first half of the movie has a nice story about penguins and families and singing and dancing. But as the plot progresses, it becomes more focused on the environment and the need to preserve this ecosystem. I thought it used the penguins (could be considered children in this case) as a way to show problem, and it manipulated the audiences' emotions. This is my opinion, though, because I have heard of other people who didn't feel the same way about the film.


Then how are we supposed to portray children in media without exploiting them, and giving them their own voice? I feel that Princess Mononoke does a good job of portraying children who are entangled in social problems, but they aren't used unfairly. The film has several important ideological themes, mainly how humans are hurting the environment, and how important it is to preserve it. I think this film treats the characters fairly. The film avoids character stereotypes, especially regarding gender, many different parties are represented, and the child characters have their own opinions and concerns regarding the issues. I understood from the film that although there are going to be inevitable societal conflicts, we can all coexist while still maintaining our beliefs. Additionally, children can be agents rather than victims.

This was one of my favorite weeks of Children's Media so far, because I realized that most of my very favorite movies deal with the idea of nostalgia, and returning to childhood, or to days of relative ease, in order to deal with the present. 

We watched the film Hook (1991) which I feel is a good example of returning to the past and being able to benefit from it. Peter Banning is a grumpy workaholic who doesn't spend time with his wife and kids, and is letting life pass by him. When his children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, he is forced to confront his past life. The Lost Boys teach him to embrace his childhood identity as Peter Pan so he can face Hook and rescue his children. Through this process of becoming like a child again, Peter realizes why he left Neverland in the first place. He wanted to be a husband and father. After this realization, he becomes the man his family deserves, and he is happy in his adult life. This is a great example of being nostalgic and returning to childhood as a way of facilitating growth and maturation.

For me, watching Hook is a nostalgic experience in itself. This was one of my very favorite movies as a child. Just like the clip from Radio Days we watched in class, media is strongly tied to our memories. What we bring to our participation with media, like our past experiences or circumstances, can have a huge impact on how we feel about that certain piece of media. Rewatching Hook took me back to all the different stages of my life when I watched this film, and are mostly fond memories. I always was fascinated by the imagery and loved the jokes. This time, unlike earlier viewings, I was able to more fully process the need for Peter to revisit his childhood in order to make amends in his adult life.

Though being nostalgic has its benefits, it can also damage the individual. Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite is obsessed with his "glory days" in 1982, and is in a state of stunted development because he is so obsessed with returning to the past. He even tries to buy a time machine in order to take him back. At the end of the film, when he finally accepts that he can't relive his past, he is able to continue on with his life, and can progress.


Midnight in Paris (2011) fits in well with our discussion of nostalgia. Gil is struggling with his waking life, and is only happy when he is in an alternate universe, rubbing shoulders with famous writers, thinkers, and artists from 1920s Paris. When he meets a woman from the 20s who thinks that 1920s Paris actually isn't the best time, but 1800s Paris is, Gil is able to come to terms with his thought process, and realize that living in the past won't help anyone. He says, "Adriana, if you stay here though, and this becomes your present then pretty soon you'll start imagining another time was really your... You know, was really the golden time. Yeah, that's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life's a little unsatisfying." This is a really poignant thought in the context of our discussion. We can't live in the past, but we can use it as a tool to help us cope with our present.



I think nostalgic films are my favorite because I have really fond memories of my childhood. I also love the media that is tied to certain memories of mine. Additionally, I have always been a big history nerd, and I love the idea of studying the past. We study history in order to learn, so we can then experience a more successful present and future.

In previous weeks, we talked about definitions of childhood. During morality, we discussed how children are either good or evil, and need media to assist them. We have also discussed how they are blank slates, and need to be filled with information. This week, the week of play, we talked about how childhood doesn't really have a definition. Childhood is plural.

Structuralism is the idea that everything belongs to some over-arching structure. Signs and signifiers are within these structures, and are where we derive meaning. Signs and signifiers aren't set in stone. They are loose and subject to change. When we make changes, or change how something is perceived, that is called play. "Playing" is what defines childhood. When we think of children, or of our own childhood, we immediately think of playing. Children are the original meaning-makers, because their understanding of signs is so fluid and subject to change. They don't know about any existing structures.

Intertextuality is an example of play, because it is the actual manipulating of signs, and signs relying on other signs. Intertextuality is when a text relies on other texts. We watched a clip from Rango, which was absolutely full of references to other texts. The Heroes exhibit in the Museum of Art is also full of examples of Intertextuality. One of my favorite works in the exhibit was a painting called "Anakin Padawan." This painting formally looked like traditional portraiture. The subject stands in the middle, holding some object. The background is often a landscape, and there is a larger object in the foreground at the subject's feet. "Anakin Padawan" followed all of these formal techniques, except that it was a painting of a young jedi, instead of a young 17th century aristocrat. The background is obviously not a traditional French or English countryside, but Tatooine instead. This painting relies on Star Wars, and also on traditional portraiture to make sense, or to be considered funny.







Children are sort of the originators of intertextuality. Kids are always mixing their toys when playing, they put themselves into different contexts when playing "pretend games," etc. When I was about 8, I wrote a 30-notebook-page book about myself attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Kids like role-playing, and putting themselves into other worlds. This fills in gaps that we feel are missing in our real lives. It is also good inspiration for creating new things. There is so much fan art and fan fiction, and I think it's great that other texts inspire people to just produce new creative things.

We played the game Ni No Kuni in class. Video games are interesting, and playful, because you get to put yourself into a story, especially in the case of role-playing games. I hadn't ever really played a video game like this before. You are the character Oliver, and you are determining what happens to him. There is an over-arching plot, but the player is choosing the character's course.

The Velveteen Rabbit fits into our discussion nicely. In the book, the Rabbit asks the Skin Horse what it means to be real. The Horse says, "Real isn't how you are made. It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you then you become real... Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." Play is important, because we are inserting part of our souls into something else. Children are good at playing, and play a lot, because of their ability to make things "Real," as well as let themselves become "Real."