In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Films for Children

  • Introduction
  • Mapping the Field
  • Family Films
  • Children’s Film and Adaptation
  • The Fairy Tale Film
  • Representation in Children’s Films
  • Femininities
  • Masculinities
  • Queerness
  • Disability
  • Parenting
  • Ethnicity
  • Nationhood
  • Children’s Cinema Histories
  • Consumerism and Globalization
  • Death and Darkness in Children’s Films
  • Children’s Films and Ecology
  • Children’s Engagements with Children’s Film
  • Children’s Film Industry Associations

Childhood Studies Films for Children
by
Becky Parry, Sonia Ghalian
  • LAST REVIEWED: 28 August 2018
  • LAST MODIFIED: 24 October 2024
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0207

Introduction

For many children, films continue to be a primary means of introduction to the “world of stories,” and thereby to the world. Despite competition for attention from television, games, and social media, film continues to receive high ratings in surveys of children’s cultural participation, and many of the highest grossing films each year are made for young audiences. Today, children’s films feature in children’s talk and play and are aspects of their emerging literacies and identities. Usually, in film, media, and cultural studies, much of the focus of research and analysis has been on children in film or the representation of childhood in film, rather than on children’s films themselves. Where studies on Hollywood and Disney in particular have been undertaken extensively, positioning children’s films as instruments of ideological socialization, film is usually constructed as a cause for concern in relation to children’s behaviors and values in a way that children’s books are not. In the last decade there has been an expansion of scholarship in relation to children’s film, indicated by the publication of two new edited books that both contribute valuably to a mapping of the discipline and defining children’s film. In Sweden, a new edited book on Swedish films for children is in the final stages of production, exemplifying the Scandinavian commitment to children’s film in terms of production, distribution, and exhibition. A need remains for further research focused not just on films in which children are characters or as examples of representations of childhood, but also on films made for children and on children’s engagements with them. Interest in children’s film emerges from a range of disciplines, including the field of children’s literature, which predominantly focuses on adaptations, or literacy, where children’s film is researched as a significant cultural resource in relation to children’s play, literacy, and identity practices. In psychology, children’s films are studied in terms of their impact on behavior, whereas film and media studies focuses on issues of gender, race, and class. Two additional categories of representation, namely Disability and Queerness that are still finding their deserved space in the popular children’s screen culture have been added to bridge the gap in scholarship in the recent past. The aesthetics of children’s films needs to be a stronger feature in their study, in parallel with studies of children’s literature. Further opportunities are needed for the study of children’s film: an annual conference, a journal, and new empirical research. In the spirit of this aspiration, this article aims to contribute to the building of that academic community interested in understanding, researching, and impacting this important medium for children. Importantly, the bibliography has been prepared to be as inclusive as possible, recognizing important and innovative national cinemas for children. We may well stray into the realm of other highly useful bibliographies listed here, particularly those focused on Disney, children’s media cultures, children’s television, and children in film. However, in collating this bibliography we look beyond work that constructs the child as an entirely passive consumer of problematic ideologies. We do not shy away from critique of children’s film but select works that are, at least in some way, from the perspective of children. We have not included research focused on film education or children’s film production, as we are aware that these are features of other exciting bibliographies. We also acknowledge the importance of looking at other moving image texts for children, including games and social media, and we believe these warrant their own specialist listing.

Mapping the Field

Notable contributions to the field of children’s film studies have been made over the past five years, reflecting a lasting national interest. Jansen 2024, an upcoming volume, along with Brown 2022 and Hermansson and Zepernick 2019 highlight these significant developments. These volumes collectively represent the emergence of a distinct scholarship focused on children’s film, attempting to establish definitions, histories, genres, and national approaches. Although emerging from different disciplines, these volumes take the study of children’s film seriously and distance themselves, to differing degrees, from the emphasis of existing psychological and sociological studies of films for children that characterize children as passive victims of either consumerism or ideology. An edited collection of essays, Beeler and Beeler 2015 focuses on the changes that have occurred in the children’s film industry in response to the digital age. In contrast, Mallan and Bradford 2011 features scholars employing various theoretical lenses to interpret children’s literature and films. Brown 2017 defines and examines national approaches to children’s film, while the edited collection Brown and Babington 2015 analyzes non-Disney family films. Herhuth 2017 looks at the productions of the popular Pixar Studio, and Ratelle 2015 makes a case for both animal and children’s rights and agency as represented in films.

  • Beeler, Karin, and Stan Beeler, eds. Children’s Film in the Digital Age: Essays on Audience, Adaptation and Consumer Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015.

    Chapters in this volume deal with the impact of changing children’s film industry production and marketing practices in an increasingly global context. The volume usefully contributes to debates about the dual audiences of children and adults in contemporary times in relation to transmedia experiences of narrative and convergence cultures.

  • Brown, Noel. The Children’s Film: Genre, Nation, and Narrative. New York: Wallflower Press, 2017.

    DOI: 10.7312/brow18269

    The first systematic and highly useful attempt to define children’s film, identifying genres and subgenres and examining distinct national approaches to children’s cinema. The work draws predominantly on a critically engaged approach based on film theory and perspectives, and it represents a significant breakthrough in scholarship in this area.

  • Brown, Noel, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Film. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

    This edited collection offers a wide-ranging study of children’s film, expanding the field with an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses contributions from scholars in film studies, children’s education, children’s media studies, children’s literature studies, animation studies, and fandom studies. There is a strong focus on Hollywood (including Disney), alongside contributions which focus on films from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Iran, and Kenya. A range of critical approaches to children’s film are offered, including genre, ideology, narrative, stardom, music, industry studies, and primary research on audiences and reception. Valuable discussions are found in a number of chapters, defining both children’s film and the boundaries of the discipline.

  • Brown, Noel, and Bruce Babington, eds. Family Films in Global Cinema: The World beyond Disney. London: I. B. Tauris, 2015.

    A well-researched examination of films for children and families in the global context, but focusing on non-Disney live action and animated film productions from countries such as England, Australia, East Germany, Russia, India, Japan, and Brazil.

  • Herhuth, Eric. Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination: Animation, Storytelling, and Digital Culture. Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.

    DOI: 10.1525/9780520966055

    An examination of Pixar Animation Studios’ films, since the release of Toy Story, to appraise the aesthetic experience they have on audiences with respect to the changes in culture, environment, and technology. The author utilizes relevant theories from philosophy, animation, and film in order to argue that the computer worlds in these films problematize the domain of aesthetics.

  • Hermansson, Casie, and Janit Zepernick, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Children’s Film and Television. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

    This recent handbook is a comprehensive resource on children’s film and television drama, offering a detailed exploration of various aspects related to children’s film and television as well as the new directions exhibited by these medias in the twenty-first century. Going beyond the shadow of Hollywood, the volume includes a broad spectrum of examples reflecting various national perspectives with international impact (Iranian, Indian, Chinese, East European, Israeli, French) as well from other Western countries like Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Strongly informed by the editors’ expertise in adaptation, the collection focuses on contemporary pedagogical and representational themes in a rapidly changing media culture.

  • Jansen, Malena, ed. Swedish Children’s Cinema: History, Ideology, Aesthetics. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024.

    This volume makes a considerable contribution to the field, indicating key areas of study for children’s film, including important chapters on gender, queerness, and ecological themes in children’s films. The important contribution made by Sweden in terms of supporting and investing in children’s film production is evident in each chapter.

  • Mallan, Kerry, and Clare Bradford, eds. Contemporary Children’s Literature and Film: Engaging with Theory. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

    Integrating the voices of many scholars, this collection offers perspectives from across disciplines, including feminism, postcolonial studies, ecocriticism, and post-structuralism, that emphasize the significance of theory in order to read and interpret children’s texts. This work primarily focuses on children’s literature rather than film.

  • Ratelle, Amy. Animality and Children’s Literature and Film. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

    This work brings into focus the rights and agency of children as well as animals through its focus on representation of animals and children in popular works of children’s culture. The book employs both a post-humanist and animal studies lens and revolves around questions of identity construction with regard to both child-adult and animal-human binaries. Popular texts like Black Beauty and Charlotte’s Web are analyzed.

  • Wilson, Bernard, and Patricia Sharmani Gabriel, eds. Asian Children’s Literature and Film in a Global Age: Local, National, and Transnational Trajectories. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.

    This volume addresses a long overdue gap in the scholarship on children’s film and literature by dismantling the “Western Orientalist” hegemonic domination on the discipline, and rather creates a dialogue between the cultures of East and West by drawing attention to the rich and diverse perspectives from the Asian context. The content and locations of the book chapters cover a broad scope with contributions from Asian American diaspora, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. The book makes an important contribution in asking critical questions related to children’s media culture treating the distinctive elements of local, national, and transnational nature within the broad Asian contexts and how these interact with the global perspectives and making the scholarship on children’s texts and media more diverse and inclusive.

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