Childhood and Obesity
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“Childhood is seen as a universal natural state of human development, epitomized by angelic purity and innocence” (Robinson and Davies 2007). This is what the authors of the article (Shes Kickin Ass, Thats What Dhes Doing! Deconstructing childhood innocence in media representations) wrote concerning the notions and representations of female childhood. When children in general are brought into the world they are seen as young, vulnerable beings that cannot care for themselves without the help of an older more experienced human. Everything surrounding these young children are dictated and mapped out for them to conform to the beliefs of what childhood should be like. Young female children in particular are brought into the world with certain expectations on how to behave and act. One may question the idea that childhood is socially constructed. The following essay will examine and critique Robinson and Davies article based on the two movies “Painted Babies” and “Little Miss Sunshine”. The essay will be broken down into four sections; the first being the introduction, the second being an analytical summary of the article itself, the third part will be a critical analysis of several particularly strong points in the article and finally will be all brought together in the conclusion.
The Article “Shes Kickin Ass, Thats What Shes Doing” was written by authors Kerry H. Robinson and Cristyn Davies, the article depicts how childhood but in particular how female childhood, is seen as a natural innocent time in a humans life. It explains how childhood is perceived as a “natural angelic state of human development” (Robinson and Davies, 2007) and when certain adult spheres become related to childhood, topics such as; politics, sex and death, there is a certain moral panic that occurs in order to protect the notion of innocence concerning the child. (Robinson, 2008) It provides explanations of the discourse of childhood purity and the way that it is conceptualized and represented within two different texts. The two movies that were used to explain this concept further was; “Painted Babies” (1995) and “Little Miss Sunshine.” (2006)
The movie “Painted Babies” followed two five year old girls as they continuously participated in beauty pageants in order to win certain lavish prizes for their parents. The underlying message concerning the relation to the movie with the theory of childhood was that there is a fine line concerning the beauty of a child with the sexuality of a child. The same went for the film “Little Miss Sunshine” a movie about a curious young girl named Olive who constantly questioned issues that were considered “adult topics”, the climax of the movie occurred when the Olive participated in a “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant and performed a very risqué sexual performance that was choreographed by her grandfather. Because Olive has been kept away from these adults notions, she is unaware of the sexuality and the constructed taboo of her performance; this was a moment in the film that tested the boundaries of what it means to be a child and what is socially acceptable in society and what is not.
The main point of the article was to convey the message that “childhood innocence and girlhood are discursively and materially constructed.” (Robinson and Davies, 2007) Those children are brought into a world that already tells them what it means to be a child and what is right and what is wrong. Throughout the article it was re-iterated that “the cultural power of childhood innocence is constituted and mobilized by adults for adults in order to maintain critical power relationships. (Robinson and Davies, 2007) The authors believe that “it is critical to deconstruct the cultural power invested in the notion of childhood innocence, which operates to fix understandings and perceptions of childhood and girlhood. (Robinson and Davis, 2007) This article focused on what is seen as normal and abnormal relating to gendered and linguistic vocabularies on the body of the child. It examined and questioned what it means to be a child in a society that is so often filled with adults longing for their own childhoods. It looked at the ways in which the child is “protected” from the territories of adulthood, and what happens when those territories are crossed.
The article was written in six sections, first introducing the authors main arguments and positions, the second was an analysis of the child and in what ways the child is socially constructed, the third part of the article was looking at the notion of girlhood what is and is not expected of the girl child, the fourth was a critique of the movie “Painted Babies” examining in what ways certain hegemonic discourses related to the child of the movie , the fifth part as well was a critique of the movie “Little Miss Sunshine” again examining the discourses and agencies that are contradicted when related to the innocence of the notion of childhood, and finally both authors tied the article together with a conclusion, summing up their main arguments of the article.
What is a resonating and recurring theme in the article (Shes kickin Ass thats what shes doing!) is that Childhood innocence is complex, constructed and contradictory, a concept that is manufactured by adults for adults (Gittens 1998) and consequently has critical impacts on childrens agency in their lives. (Robinson and Davies 2007) This is a very strong statement that has clear meaning and purpose. Childhood is indeed seen as a time of innocence and vulnerability, especially when it comes to the female child.
In the past women have had their fair share of discriminations concerning their bodies and the ways in which they carry themselves, and for centuries women did not have control over their bodies much less their own lives. Now the young female girls of our present generation are born into a world where sex sells, and they are taught at an early age that if they look appealing, sexy, wear makeup and essentially are walking