Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [Hardcover]

Marsha Kinder (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520075706 | ISBN-13: 978-0520075702 | Publication Date: October 1, 1991

How do children today learn to understand stories? Why do they respond so enthusiastically to home video games and to a myth like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? And how are such fads related to multinational media mergers and the "new world order"? In assessing these questions, Marsha Kinder provides a brilliant new perspective on modern media.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Parents who worry that playing video games will turn their kids' brains to mush may welcome Kinder's view that the games contribute to a "ripening process . . . by fostering equilibration, by demanding shifting identifications with a wide range of subjects and objects, by forcing children to use the inductive process." This academic treatise swings between claims for the ostensible benefits of kiddies' TV shows, cartoons, videos and video games, and an analysis of how these same media instill an illusory sense of empowerment in children, serve as substitute parents and transmit consumerist ideology. The author, a professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, psychoanalytically interprets the meanings of Muppet figures and applies semiotics to Garfield the Cat as one might hit a flea with a sledgehammer. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Kinder (critical studies, Univ. of Southern California) analyzes the effects of media (with emphasis on Saturday morning television and Nintendo games) on children, particularly in their cognitive development and growth as consumers. She studies children's roles as passive viewers and interactive players in the growth of media spinoffs, and in the role of multinational conglomerates in shaping the media. Extensive bibliographic notes and an appendix are included. Despite the timeliness and general interest of Kinder's subject, the book's scholarly tone places it beyond the general reader. Although the interpretations are often thought-provoking and original, public libraries would be better served by Patricia Marks Greenfield's Mind and Media ( LJ 4/15/84). For academic libraries only.
- Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, Md.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 277 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520075706
• ISBN-13: 978-0520075702
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,946,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant exploration of children's media culture., August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Paperback)

This highly original analysis of children's interaction with media combines detailed descriptions of shows like "Muppet Babies" and "Garfield" with a sophisticated commentary on the global economy. In an age when most authors writing about children and the media talk only about violence, this book presents a much more comprehensive account of how media shape the way children perceive the world. It includes a fascinating and at times humorous description of her own son's interaction with media (television, movies, and video games) from infancy to age eight. It provides the only convincing account of why the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were so popular. No wonder "Mother Jones" chose it as one of a hundred books recommended to President Clinton on his assumption of the presidency. What is so satisfying about this book is that it is as entertaining to the layman--a must for parents--as it is to the specialist in cultural studies. In clear prose, Kinder makes all her material entirely accessible, without jargon.