In this episode, we chat with Diana Leon-Boys— Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts—about her lifelong work examining the navigation of girlhood through a Latinx lens. Her book Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney’s Flexible Latina Girl extends conversations about minority representation and the complex relationship it has with child development. We host a dialogue between Diana’s research and Henry’s observations about boyhood in his book Where the Wild Things Were: Boyhood and Permissive Parenting in Postwar America. We discuss how both scholars pull from their own personal experiences growing up in America and how they interacted with their childhood media.
We explore how the proliferation and production of children's and family media shape ideas of adolescence. Diana and Henry relate this back to their roles as parents within an ever-evolving media landscape where funding for educational children’s content is dwindling. They further discuss how representation within media has changed over time and minority groups’ relation to it. This is where Diana brings in her newer projects about depictions of Quinceañeras and Día de los Muertos in TV and films. We are left to ask what the politics of childhood are and what reforms can be done with current children’s media.
Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:
Academic Texts
Diana Leon-Boys:
Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney’s Flexible Latina Girl
Quinceañeras: Latinidades and Girlhood in Popular Culture
Henry Jenkins:
Where the Wild Things Were: Boyhood and Permissive Parenting in Postwar America
The Children’s Culture Reader
“Just a Spoonful of Sugar: Permissive Child-Rearing and Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins”
“‘You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught’: The Whiteness of Permissive Culture”
MIT Salute to Doctor Seuss
Interview about the book
Others:
Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life
Kids in the Middle: How Children of Immigrants Negotiate Community Interactions for Their Families
Latina Teenhood: Intersectionalizing subjectivities in the post-network era.
Crafting Public Opinion: The Effectiveness of China’s Media Control Policies under Xi Jinping
Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, 1830-1930
Advice Books:
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
Dare to Discipline
People, Places, Toys, and Holidays
Philippe Ariès
Dr. Vikki Katz
Día de los Muertos
Quinceañeras
Benjamin Spock
Margaret Mead
Dr. Seuss
Fred Rogers
Stephanie Pérez
Raquel Reyes [American Girl Doll]
Samantha Parkington [Doll]
Julie Andrews
Walt Disney
Disneyland and Disney World
Paper Dolls
FDR
Sigmund Freud
Shows, Films, and Other Media
Pee-wee’s PlayHouse
Dennis the Menace [59-63’ show, Comics]
Leave It To Beaver
The Cosby Show
One Piece [Anime, Manga, Live Action]
Disney+
Encanto
Coco
Snow White [Animated, Live Action]
Little Mermaid [Animated, Live Action]
Chinese State Media sounded like Fox Media
Rogue One
Sesame Street
Gordita Chronicles
Baker and the Beauty
Bluey
Descendants film franchise
On My Block
Wednesday
Mary Poppins
Saludos Amigos
Harry Potter film series
Dora The Explorer
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.
Mad Magazine
Classic Illustrated
Gabby’s Dollhouse
Quinceañeras episodes
- Super Sweet 16
- Wizards of Waverly Place
- Dora the Explorer
News
Defunding of PBS
Quinceañeras in Protest
One Piece Flags in Indonesia
