SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 320-4

CHILDREN, MEDIA AND CULTURE

Prerequisite:

CMNS 220; and either CMNS 260 or 363.

Overview:

This course introduces students to the issues arising from the evolving role of communication media in children’s lives. The course will provide a historical perspective on the development of children’s media, including books, films, television and video games, with a focus on the current debates and research analysis of children’s media. The course will also examine and evaluate a variety of policy and program initiatives in the area of children’s media and media literacy.

The course will direct itself to the following three objectives:

i) provide historical and theoretical background of the analysis of children’s culture;
ii) survey research related to the critiques of children’s media; and
iii) examine the social policy and intervention approaches that are being adopted in the area of children’s media.

Lecture Topics:

Background and Policy

1. History of Childhood.
2. Debates about Children's Culture.

Children's Cultural Industries

3. Books, Education and Literacy.
4. TV: Stories and Entertainment.
5. Toys and Play.
6. Video Games and Multimedia.

Controversies and Prognosis

7. Media Effects.
8. Violence , Imagination and Aggression.
9. Fictional Sociality, Conflict and War Play.
10. Children's Marketing and Commercialization.
11. Media Literacy and Media Criticism for Kids.
12. The Promotional Child: Prognosis for the Future of Childhood.

Required Texts:

(available from the SFU Bookstore)
Stephen Kline, Out of the Garden. London: Verso, 1993. ISBN 1-85984-0590
Tannis MacBeth (ed.), Tuning in to Young Viewers. Sage, 1996.

Evaluation:

Final Exam 25%
Review Essay (due week 7) 25%
Research Report 35%
Participation and Presentation 15%

The School expects that the grades in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distributions of grades. The school follows Policy T10.02 with respect to intellectual honesty and academic discipline (see SFU Calendar, General Regulations).