How the Influence of Media Has Nourished Children's Literature Nicole L

Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2010 From Baby Formula To Solid Food: How The Influence Of Media Has Nourished Children's Literature Nicole L. Wilson Wayne State University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Nicole L., "From Baby Formula To Solid Food: How The nflueI nce Of Media Has Nourished Children's Literature" (2010). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 122. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. FROM BABY FORMULA TO SOLID FOOD: HOW THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA HAS NOURISHED CHILDREN’S LITERATURE by NICOLE L. WILSON DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSPHY 2010 MAJOR: ENGLISH Approved By: _______________________________________ Advisor Date _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ DEDICATION S.D.G. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. John Reed, for willingly reading all of the drafts I sent him. I would also like to thank my advising committee—Drs. Renata Wasserman, Richard Marback, and Ian Wojcik-Andrews—for all of their feedback and input. I would also like to thank my husband, parents, and in-laws for all of their support and help watching my children so I could finish this project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ………………………………………………………………………………………. ii Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………...…iii Chapter 1 “Formula—The Foundational Theory of Children’s Literature and Media”…..1 Chapter 2 “Sweet Potatoes—Traditional Children’s Literature Comforts, Educates, And Entertains” .…………………………………………………………………..42 Chapter 3 “Peanut Butter and Jelly—How Children’s Literature and Media are One” ....85 Chapter 4 “Soup, Salad, and Dessert—The Growing Up of Children’s Literature” .……136 Chapter 5 “Seven-Course Filet Mignon Meal—The Multi-Dimensional Full Experience Of Children’s Literature” ……………………………………………………. 191 References …………………………………………………………………………………….. 239 Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 251 Autobiographical Statement …………………………………………………………………... 253 iv 1 CHAPTER ONE: FORMULA—THE FOUNDATIONAL THEORY OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE AND MEDIA Children‘s literature is no longer simply books. This idea manifests itself as I walk into the children‘s section at a bookstore and see books that come with stuffed animals or necklaces. It screams as I watch television and see the trailer for a new film based on a best-selling text or view commercials for video games and toys based on characters originally found in books. It shouts as I search Amazon for merchandise and films based on books and read multi-modal texts created as propaganda for upcoming films. Hence, I accept that media influence literature creation as much as, if not more than, literature influences media. Children‘s literature is a part of youth culture. The easy access most westernized children have to books and the emphasis schools place on reading makes literature a piece of mass culture for children and young adults. However, as media become more engrained with the traditional forms of literature, the mass participation of youth makes literature an active piece of their popular culture. Because, as Henry Jenkins argues, ―Popular culture is what happens to materials of mass culture when they get into the hands of the consumers‖ (Jenkins, Culture 136), in this instance children. Children do not limit their interaction with books to reading; they engage with the characters. They play Nancy Drew and Harry Potter. By embodying characters, readers perform literary analysis to a degree many traditional readers do not. Therefore, the cultural experience of children with literature deserves our attention. Another piece of youth culture is technology. Western culture encourages children and especially young adults to engage with technological media whenever possible. James Paul Gee, in What Video Games have to teach us about Learning and Literacy, argues that video games are valuable to a child‘s education because they emphasize the importance of socialization. I agree and add that the increasing number of supplementary media components created for literature are 2 compelling readers to engage in the social aspects of reading, even to the extreme extent in some cases where the media are becoming primary methods of delivery, rather than supplementary. The idea that literature and education are more social is evident in the work of Henry Jenkins who researches media and culture, and his work often finds its way to the subject of children because they are some of the most active participants with media; therefore, as creators of literature seek to remain culturally relevant, they too must participate with media. At the inception of children‘s literature, the primary objective of literary work was education. Seventeenth century primers, especially The New England Primer, strove to teach children their letters and Biblical lessons through rhyme. Early works of fiction for children, from the eighteenth and early ninetieth centuries, had a didactic tone, often emphasizing educational or moral improvement. Slowly, in the later nineteenth century, children‘s literature evolved to include elements of entertainment. Stories lost their didactic tone, and children read about other children going on quests and experiencing life. The early twentieth century furthered this evolution as the genre of fantasy became more prevalent throughout children‘s literature. Fantasy, such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, allowed for the introduction of secondary worlds and increased imagination, and it allowed for a secondary time continuum and more complex plotlines. Now, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as media and technology enter the picture, children‘s literature is again altering, and new adventures are more complex than ever before. Nevertheless, education cannot be completely disregarded as a purpose for children's literature. Henry Giroux argues, ―Children‘s culture is a sphere where entertainment, advocacy and pleasure meet to construct conceptions of what it means to be a child occupying a combination of gender, racial and class positions in society‖ (qtd. Jenkins, ―Innocence‖ 4). 3 Therefore, as a piece of children's culture, even primers with their educational focus sought also to help children understand their roles regarding gender, race, and class. So, while some would argue that modern children‘s literature falls solely into the sphere of entertainment, I argue that education should be added to Giroux‘s spheres. While cultural constructs of gender, race, and class position have altered over the last 300 years, children's literature still helps children and young adults learn to maneuver their way through these constructs while also being entertained. The juxtaposition of entertainment and education becomes evident in children's literature as technology makes many formerly inaccessible parts of the world knowable. Many authors now write, especially realistic and historical fiction, with the intention of sharing adventures that not all children experience. Through this sharing of adventures, children can learn about different races, classes, lifestyles, and periods of time that enhance their cultural capital. In addition, when media allow for an interactive aspect to the experience, the child participants not only learn about the different experience, but they can experience it virtually as well. This multi- media experience completes Giroux's spheres as children and young adults learn about culture while they are being entertained, gaining advocacy, and experiencing pleasure. Although there are technology-based media geared to younger children, such as the Sesame Street franchise‘s collection of books, television shows and specials, movies, plays, toys and clothing, I will be using these examples as a backdrop for setting up expectations in readers. For textual examples I will be looking primarily at novels for ages nine to eighteen. Young children often have an interest in books because their parents encourage that interest, and they have exposure to media extensions because their parents willingly participate. While children express independent desire and interest before the age of nine, the media-literature juxtaposition happens primarily because of marketing for educational purposes. When considering nine to 4 eighteen year olds interest in the media‘s influence on text, I will discuss three aspects. The first is that many children and young adults are addicted to the supplemental material. They have been exposed to media tie-ins since birth, and now they expect to find them. The second is that in texts for young adults, the media demonstrate a more complex extension of the literature. Finally, the third is where I believe this addiction to media is taking children‘s literature, trans- media storytelling. Because of advances in technology, I will also focus my attention on texts published in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. There are numerous theorists affiliated both with children‘s literature and with new media. While both of these fields are

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