Children, Cinema and Censorship From Dracula to the Dead End Kids

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Synopsis

Children have long been one of cinema's largest audiences yet, from its infancy, cinema has in the minds of moral watchdogs accompanied a succession of pastimes and new technologies as catalysts for juvenile delinquency. From 'penny dreadfuls' and comic books to television, 'video nasties' and computer games, and more recently, gangsta rap, mobile phones and the Internet - all have been seen as threats to children's safety, health, morality and literacy, and cinema is no exception. Writing with energy and wit and mobilising impressive original research, Sarah J. Smith explores recurring debates in Britain and America about children and how they use and respond to the media, focusing on a key example: the controversy and apparent moral panic surrounding children and cinema in its heyday, the 1930s. She shows how children colonised the cinema and established their own distinct cinema culture. And, considering films from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to "Scarface" and "King Kong", she explores attempts to control children's viewing, the underlying ideas that supported these approaches and the extent to which they were successful.

Book details

Series:
Cinema And Society Ser.
Author:
Sarah J. Smith
ISBN:
9781786729552
Related ISBNs:
9781850438120
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing
Pages:
N/A
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
Yes
Date of addition:
2019-03-07
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2005
Copyright by:
Sarah J. Smith 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Law, Legal Issues and Ethics, Nonfiction, Politics and Government