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- Volume 4, Issue 3, 2013
Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture - Volume 4, Issue 3, 2013
Volume 4, Issue 3, 2013
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1001 markets: Independent production, ‘Universal Childhood’ and the Global Kids’ television industry
Authors: Lindsay Hogan and Matt SienkiewiczAbstractThis article critically analyses the independent Vancouver-based animation company Big Bad Boo Studios and its programme 1001 Nights (Van de Keere, 2010). Placing Big Bad Boo Studios in the context of the global animation industry, the article considers the strategies that the small producer employs in order to compete against multinational corporations such as Disney and Turner. Using 1001 Nights as a case study, the article argues that Big Bad Boo offers a unique vision of global childhood founded on the common experiences of multicultural modernity that impact the lives of children across the world. Ultimately, Big Bad Boo puts forth this unique perspective in order to appeal to a wide swath of potential programme buyers, including both public and commercial broadcasters.
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Disney’s High School Musical: Music makes the world go ‘round’
More LessAbstractThis article examines the Walt Disney Company’s contemporary globalization strategies, primarily focusing on Disney’s customization efforts for the media franchise, High School Musical, in various parts of the world, including the customization of songs and the soundtrack(s); the customization of the marketing and promotional campaign in India and South East Asia; and the customization of the musical itself in Latin-America and China. The article concludes that perhaps for the first time, Disney’s musical-based multimedia global franchises allow the company to customize its brands to appeal even more to teen fans across the world cost-effectively while further contributing to the standardization and commercialization of children’s mediated cultures worldwide.
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Neither here nor there: Consumption of US media among pre-adolescent girls in Ecuador
More LessAbstractThrough in-depth interview research, this article examines how pre-adolescent Ecuadorian girls who are avid consumers of US media and material culture negotiate their national and gender identities. Exploring media consumption, gender and class in the specific context of Ecuador and its history of mestizaje, this article brings an audience-specific case study to debates concerning cultural imperialism and cultural hybridity in the role of media in Latin America. It argues that middle-class girls in Ecuador engage with American media content in ways that produce a hybrid brand of girlhood – one that illustrates the complexities of postcolonial identities in a globalized media environment.
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Engaging, critical, entertaining: Transforming public service television for children in Denmark
More LessAbstractThis article offers a critical periodization of the children’s programming offered by Denmark’s primary public broadcaster, Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). Through a careful analysis of content produced by DR and its youth section since 1951, the article argues that four distinct periods of children’s television can be identified, leading up to today’s competitive period. The article shows how Danish public service children’s TV has played an important role in the modernization of the view of children, serving as an experimental platform for putting the perspective of active and independent children on the agenda. The argument is that this agenda has been contested by the increased demands for entertaining content due to increased competition among TV channels and due to obeying demands for ever more content to complete programming schedules.
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Representing children and childhood in Yoruba Nollywood
More LessAbstractThis article offers the first in depth consideration of representations of children in West African ‘Nollywood’ cinema. Through textual analyses of a subset of video films that feature children, the article considers the extent to which Nollywood offers representation of local youth that can stand in opposition of the global stereotype of the helpless African child. Ultimately, it argues that Nollywood, by choosing to embrace only the more conservative elements of Yoruba cultural traditional, fails to offer well-developed depictions of African children and childhood.
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