Of the assigned reading from "The Children's Culture Reader" and "Childhood in America" I was most interested in 'The Case of Peter Pan' by Jacqueline S. Rose, the passages by Karen Calvert from both books, and 'The New Childhood:Home Alone As a Way of Life' by Joe L. Kincheloe.
'The Case of Peter Pan'
What I found most interesting about 'The Case of Peter Pan' was that I completely disagreed with the author. I did not think that she provided reasonable support for her argument regardiingthe underlying sexual inuendos and adult themes from Peter Pan. It seems as though Rose is of the opinion that since children's stories are often written by adults that they are ridden with clandestine adult messages. It's my understanding that the tale of Peter Pan was taken as part of a longer, much more detailed and inappropriate 'Little White Bird' and maybe as a complete text the story of Peter pan would better fit into Rose's stereotype of children's stories, but, as is, i can't concur with her view. I think its naive to think that I am too pure of heart, mind, and soul to recognize adult implications, thus I am inclines to think that it was her lack of evudence ans a convincing argument that made 'the case od Peter Pan' no tmuch of a case at all.
Karen Calvert
'The case of Peter Pan' requires so much speculation, whereas the passages by Karen Calvert rely mostly on observation. Calvert's field of study seems to focus mainly on the progression of Children's maerial posessions throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. She discusses in both "Childhood in America" and "The Children's Culture Reader" how, over time, the idea of children as small adults has evolved and given way to the notion of childhood and adolescense as play filled stepping stones nescessary to become productive, well functioning members of adult society. With these adaptations in mind sets came the need for changes in youth fashion as well as toy production. Although there were still very clear gender boundaries that distinguished which items were appropriate for which sex, this advancement in thinking about children was a milestone revelation that we still adopt today.
'Home Alone'
In direct contrast to my views of Jacqueline Rose's piece are my opinions on Joe Kincheloe's 'Home Alone.' I thought the way that he addresssed the growing population of 'latchkey' kids by bringing in Hollywood as a means of support was spectacular. It was so good I thought, that it convinced me to change my research topic from one of children in leisure activities to the impact and roles of children in Hollywood, more specifically the horrors of Hollywood. KIncheloe's focus was that of the relationships between Children and Parents and the changing roles that each one plays in today's society, but he approaches this by bringing to light some underlying themes in film.
Its interesting that unless you watch films with a critical eye you might never notice the racial, class, gender, and age stereotypes that are depicted via character roles, and had Kincheloe not pointed them out in 'Home Alone' they would have probably gone unnoticed. That's what I want my research project to do...to open someone's eyes to a deeper, unknown, consistency about the characters kids play and why. In order to truly pursue this as a research topic, I am going to have to narow down my field by placing some boundaries of guidelines for what types of horror films I want my research to encompass.
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