2013 - Jessica Marquis - Children's Media

4:18 PM

The Red Balloon

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE Read More

4:40 PM

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. In spiritual settings, especially when talking about scripture, we learn in the form of parables. We teach parables to children because they can be understood more easily than doctrine. They may...

5:18 PM

Week 12 - Family

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. my family! I understand families as eternal and sacred. But that isn't specific to the LDS faith. Most people and cultures regard families and close human relationships as the most important thing in life. Even people...

1:11 PM

Week 11 - Critique

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...

12:36 AM

Week 10 - Nostalgia

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...

4:52 PM

Week 8 - Play

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...

1:12 PM

Week 7 - Experimentation

Experimentation, or Modernism, is the act of trying out new things. Modern artists and filmmakers try to leave conventions behind and explore the new. Often this results in abstract works. Children are the perfect audience for experimental media, because children are experimenters themselves. Children don't have expectations of what they think something should be. They have no understanding of the "rules," and therefore will not reject a piece of experimental media. One main characteristic of Modernism is the exploration of the medium. Mark Rothko made several paintings that just consisted of flat planes of color. He was exploring...