Choice 评论

Bazalgette (British Film Institute) and Buckingham (Univ. of London) have assembled here a unique collection of superb essays on a wide range of entertainment produced for children--cartoons, films, computer games, comic books--and some of the forces at work in the manufacture of children's culture. Many of the essays address the problematic relationship between adult producers and child consumers, but unlike much of the current literature, In Front of the Children takes "children's audio-visual culture" seriously and examines the pleasures children find in these cultural products and the uses to which they are put. Although as a collection the book could use more organizational unity and clearer theoretical underpinning, the essays themselves are characterized by great clarity and readability, rigorous research and documentation, and well-reasoned argument. Special mention is deserved by Maire Messenger Davies on Sesame Street and Playdays, Jack Zipes on Disney, Stephen C. Kline on product-based animations, and Ellen Seiter on My Little Pony (excerpted from her Sold Separately: Parents and Children in Consumer Culture, CH, Mar'94). There are several helpful illustrations and each essay has useful endnotes. Highly recommended for general, undergraduate, and graduate collections in video and cinema, popular culture, and communications.