Transgenerational Media Industries: Adults, Children, and the Reproduction of Culture PDF
Preview Transgenerational Media Industries: Adults, Children, and the Reproduction of Culture
Revised Pages Transgenerational Media Industries Revised Pages Revised Pages Transgenerational Media Industries Adults, Children, and the Reproduction of Culture Derek Johnson University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Revised Pages Copyright © 2019 by Derek Johnson All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the US Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by the University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid- free paper A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication data has been applied for. First published November 2019 ISBN: 978- 0-4 72- 07431- 0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN: 978- 0-4 72- 05431- 2 (paper : alk. paper) ISBN: 978- 0- 472- 12613- 2 (ebook) Revised Pages Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: The Next Generation 1 Chapter 1. Co-V iewing the Future: Transgenerational Marketing in Post- Network Television 23 Chapter 2. “Share Your Universe”: Generation, Gender, and the Marvel Dad 53 Chapter 3. Junior Executives: Producing Adult Professionalism in Children’s Media Industries 91 Chapter 4. “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket!” Adult Fans of LEGO in the Child- Centric Factory 123 Chapter 5. Child Labor: Testing the Limits of Transgenerational Media Industries 161 Conclusion: Reproducing the Future 197 Notes 211 Bibliography 217 Index 239 Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9894091 Revised Pages Revised Pages Acknowledgments I found the second book much harder to write than the first, and it is only thanks to a long list of very reliable colleagues, friends, and family that this project could be imagined. As part of the Media and Cultural Studies program at the University of Wisconsin, I am lucky to work with the best colleagues in the world. In the moments that I have felt lost in the direction of this project or unsure of its value, I could count on each of them to roll their eyes and remain confident on my behalf. Jonathan Gray continues to be the most generous friend and collaborator anyone could ask for. Lori Lopez is honest with her feedback, generous with her enthusiasm, and the best for sharing a laugh. Undoubtedly, the most hours of support were logged by Jeremy Morris, who musters wise responses to work and life issues alike, all while maintain- ing a good biking or running pace. Meanwhile, Jason Lopez plays many roles— philosopher, bartender, game master, therapist— always teaching me something in each of them. Eric Hoyt reminds me to be bold and not worry about the risks of trying something new. Very much missed in her retire- ment, Michele Hilmes remains my role model for intellectual sophistication and leadership. Whether it is discussing business over Wednesday lunches, engaging with our students’ research, or inevitably revealing myself to be a Cylon, I treasure every moment with this group. Even with all this support close by, I remain equally in debt to many colleagues beyond the city of Madison who have encouraged and inspired me— far more than I can list here. Sarah Banet- Weiser, John Caldwell, Michael Curtin, Tim Havens, Henry Jenkins, Amanda Lotz, and Serra Tinic have been invaluable in their brilliant advice and their willingness to help me find and pursue new opportunities. Just as he did during grad school, Revised Pages viii Acknowledgments Aswin Punathambekar continues to remind me what to focus on, what dis- tractions to avoid, and how to enjoy life while doing so. My graduate students have also been a crucial source of inspiration. Ca- milo Diaz- Pino, Caroline Leader, Wan-J un Lu, Taylor Miller, Jenna Stoe- ber, Tony Tran, and Drew Zolides all contributed to my initial attempts to wrap my head around this project during our 2013 seminar on cultural studies and kids’ media. Since then I have also benefited from rewarding collaboration with advisees like Nick Benson, Caroline Leader, and Jen- nifer Smith, who share many of the interests in this book. As research as- sistants, Caroline and Jennifer deserve special mention for helping to lay the foundation for much of chapter 2; without them that chapter would be far less rich in detail. Research assistance is not free, however— nor are trips to industry events and international sites of fan tourism. I am therefore extremely grateful for research support provided by the University of Wisconsin-M adison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. I have also been lucky to be able to rely on the generosity of George and Pamela Hamel, whose commitment to supporting faculty research in the Department of Commu- nication Arts made a huge difference to this project. So too have department chairs Mike Xenos and Kelley Conway been instrumental in helping me find resources. I am also grateful to Camilla Torpe, Ryan Greenwood, and many of their colleagues at The LEGO Group for permitting me to do on- site research in Billund and providing useful feedback. Indeed I would not have been able to turn this research into a deliverable manuscript without all the helpful feedback I received along the way. My editor at University of Michigan Press, Mary Francis, patiently listened to me stumble through my ideas for this book over the course of many meet- ings and many years, but I left each one with more focus and direction. I appreciate her persistence, excitement, and confidence in what this book could be. Dan Herbert shared his expert thoughts on early drafts of this project, and I continue to enjoy every opportunity I get to collaborate with him. Opportunities I have had to share this work with colleagues across the globe also provided vital insights. I am especially grateful for Tim Havens from the University of Iowa, Ben Aslinger from Bentley University, Sébas- tien Francois from the CoCirPE Project at Université Paris 13, and Jianbin Guo from Yunnan University for generous invitations to deliver talks based on works in progress. My colleague Zhongdang Pan was also particularly in- strumental in facilitating that latter trip. Each of these intellectual exchanges significantly evolved and refined my ideas. Revised Pages Acknowledgments ix All that said, a book about media and the transformative, overlapping identities of kids and parents obviously owes much to my family. As this book often focuses on the pleasures of sharing media with the next genera- tion, I must acknowledge a debt to my grandmother, Liz Johnson; decades later, I still remember her zeal in enabling me and my siblings in our earli- est explorations of consumer culture and in taking us to movies for which we were certainly too young. My grandparents Donald and Milly Swanson were the complete opposite of this, but they are missed just the same. I am also grateful for the considerable time spent with my two daughters by their own grandparents Carol Johnson, Jeff Johnson, Steve Blomgren, and Mar- die Blomgren (without which this book still would not be done). It is with Colleen, however, that I share the pleasures and responsibilities of raising, loving, and sometimes just dealing with our girls; I am in awe of how much she does, not just to give our kids the world, but also to make that world a better place. In bringing our girls into that world, she has already given me the entire universe— and I love sharing it with her. It is a rather odd and mediated universe, though: one full of LEGO bricks, family movie nights, trips to the comic book store, nightly Harry Potter chapters, and co- viewings of Deep Space Nine and Full House alike. And in that sense, my daughters Dahlia Lucille and Annika Roslin were collaborators in the research for this book, as well as co- producers of the experiences and identities in play for me as an author. I dedicated my last book to Dahlia, so it is perhaps fairest and most appropriate to give this one to Annika, who came into our lives just as this project began. The process of writing this book brought the twin joys of trying to share that universe with her and slowly realizing that it was her universe to share all along. I look forward to seeing what else this wild, strong, independent girl will do to change it.
The list of books you might like
