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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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