The Literature And The Individual Child - 1462 Words

†¢ Traditionally, the term popular culture has denoted the ‘culturedness’ of the lower classes as opposed to the fine arts or high culture, consumed by the wealthy. †¢ The distinction between ‘culturedness’ of the classes is a socially constructed distinction and is susceptible to change over time; based on the modern ability of all classes to enjoy any popular culture format they choose. The literature and the individual child †¢ Within most regions of the world, media and popular culture are an inevitable part of contemporary childhoods- children spend more and more time engaging with various types of media than with families and friends and often, school. †¢ The literature views popular culture as shaping children’s viewpoints through many†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Often as adults, we dismiss the culture that children see as valuable in opposition to what is perceived as superior, to adults. Adults often see children’s culture as dumbed down or innocent. Dismissing children’s pop culture as just entertainment or as fluff, misses the overt and covert messages embedded in the medium and the value these items can possess for literacy. Pop culture’s overt and covert messages †¢ Most reference literature is framed around the psychological perspectives of popular culture and argue that children are proceeding towards an adult state in their courses of thought. The focus being the impact of the interaction between the individual child and popular culture/ media and the domination of behaviours and attitudes such as: o Violence, most notably o Gender stereotyping o Notions of overt sexuality o Stereotypical representations of race and national identities o Class o Power o Exploitation- both of children and of parents †¢ Children’s popular culture icons and their messages: o The Disney Princess characters generate $4billion whilst sending out subtle messages about societal expectations relating to gender and sexuality. o Barbie indicates form fitting clothes and always full make-up where appearance seems more valuable than any professional knowledge an individual can possess. Linked to eating disorders and body image issues. o Cinderella cements role expectation where women either perform