The Visual Cultures of Childhood: Film and Television from The Magic Lantern To Teen Vloggers

The twentieth century's most famous images of children include Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother, Ruby Bridges, and Hu?nh Công Úts photograph of Phan Thi Kim Phuc. These images have a powerful impact on the spectator, demanding a response from them. This book examines the representation of children in visual public culture, addressing two core questions: What difference does it make to the message who the producer is? and How has the place of children and youth changed in visual public culture?

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Some of the most iconic images of the twentieth century are of children, such as Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother, depicting farm worker Frances Owens Thompson with three of her children; six-year-old Ruby Bridges, flanked by U.S. marshals, walking down the steps of an all-white elementary school she desegregated; and Hu?nh Công Úts photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc fleeing a South Vietnamese napalm bombing. These iconic images, with their juxtaposition of the innocent figure of the child and the guilty perpetrators of violence, are arresting. The power of the image of the child to arrest the spectator, to demand a response from her, has given the representation of children a central place in the history of visual culture for social reform. This book analyses a range of forms and genres from social reform documentary through feature films and onto small and mobile media to address two core questions: What difference does it make to the message who the producer is? and How has the place of children and youth changed in visual public culture?

Weight: 449g
Dimension: 229 x 161 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538148235