The Child Protagonist that Sells:
Repetition and Difference in Children’s Literature Classics
and Hollywood Children’s Movie Hits (2001—2005)
經典兒童文學的重複與差異：
近五年好萊塢兒童賣座片中的孩童主角形象
T. Sara Sun
National Hsinchu University of Education
Abstract
This project focuses on how the image of child protagonist shown in Hollywood children’s movie
hits from 2001 to 2005 resembles the features of archetypal characters constantly employed in
1
children’s literature classics.2 The discussions are initially concerned with the successive definitions of
what children’s literature classics, children’s movie hits, and child protagonist mean in the selected
context of the circumscribed community. The argumentation is then followed by the careful
examination on the characteristics of genre, theme, and eventually character exemplified in both
children’s literature classics and children’s movie hits from the previously chosen list. The poststructural analysis on the difference and repetition of these “popular kids” are associated with the
theoretical explanation of media studies to conclude this research. However, this paper offers the least
intention to provide any guideline for young cinemagoers, parents, and pedagogues, but rather to
furnish a cultural observation on how interwoven children’s culture can be and to serve a closing
remark to the numerous moments of pleasure and entertainment spending in movie theaters for the past
five years as well.
Keywords: child protagonist, repetition, difference, children’s literature classics, children’s movie hits
1
The resources of box office data: Box Office Guru. Ed. Gitesh Pandya. 2006. 7 May 2006.
<http://www.boxofficeguru.com/ > and Star Boulevard. TISNet Technology, Inc. 2006. 7 May 2006.
http://www.starblvd.com/.
2
Tim Morris, a university English teacher with a grade-school-age child, points in his You’re Only
Young Twice (Chicago: University of Illinois, 2000, 1-14) that the books that young children like are
less culturally important in the university than are the books that adults admire. He realizes that there
was a cultural dynamic almost completely ignored by scholarship—whether by the cultural studies
approaches to serious adult film that are increasingly important in English departments or by the
approaches to children’s literature specialists. However, my understanding is more optimistic to note
that most of the top box office hits for the past five years are children’s PG-13 because young
cinemagoers demand financing accompanies. Moreover, if going to movie has become one of the
favorite activities the whole family can fulfill together, children’s movies (G, PG or PG-13) have
already garnered enough attention from the general publics and marketing research.
Loved of wise men was the shade of my rooftree.
The true word of welcome was spoken in the door—
Dear days of old, with the faces in the firelight,
Kind folks of old, you come again no more.
--Robert Louis Stevenson3
This project focuses on how the image of child protagonist shown in Hollywood
children’s movie hits from 2001 to 2005 resembles the features of archetypal
characters constantly employed in children’s literature classics. The discussions are
initially concerned with the successive definitions of what children’s literature
classics, children’s movie hits, and child protagonist mean in the selected context of
the circumscribed community. The argumentation is then followed by the careful
examination on the characteristics of genre, theme, and eventually character
exemplified in both children’s literature classics and children’s movie hits from the
previously chosen list. The post-structural analysis on the difference and repetition4 of
these “popular kids” are associated with the theoretical explanation of media studies5
to conclude this research. However, this paper offers the least intention to provide
any guideline for young cinemagoers, parents, and pedagogues, but rather to furnish a
cultural observation on how interwoven children’s culture can be and to serve a
closing remark to the numerous moments of pleasure and entertainment spending in
movie theaters for the past five years as well.
When it comes to the debate as to what constitutes children’s literature, the
solution has never been precisely simple.6 In general, the term relates to any literature
3
“Home No More Home To Me” (Bloom 51).
The French post-structural philosopher Gilles Deleuze is well known as the author of Difference and
Repetition (1969), but his thought on interpretation and the production of signs has further developed in
Cinema I: The Movement-Image and Cinema II: The Time Image, his Bergsonian film project. As
Ronald Bouge summarizes in Concentric, a sign is a difference that unfolds itself, and its unfolding is
an ongoing repetition of its difference. The interpretation of signs proceeds via an unfolding of
differences, and the signs of art reveal the truth of difference and induce a retroactive reinterpretation of
all signs. The production of the signs of art entails the formation of a machine that emits repeating
difference. Such a machine creates unity as an after-effect through the invention of transversals, which
disclose connections between signs that the work of art alone can activate (Bourge 1).
5
I’ve questioned the dilemmas of media studies in one of my previously published articles (“Light and
Desire: Contemporary Literary Theories and Media—A Case-study on ‘Struggle for Hope’ of Yo-yo
Ma’s Inspired by Bach,” Hwa Kang Journal of Foreign Languages & Literature, Vol. 7, 174). Media
studies initiated in the 1960s to serve by and for the so-called “elite society,” its aim is to avoid cultural
degradation and audience entrapment, though the motivation itself executes another type of seduction.
In media studies, the study of signs includes a linguistic concern with how meaning is transmitted and
also how particular and preferred meanings are transmitted through signifying system. The dominant
ideologies in any society become broadcast through media dominated by ruling party and eventually
control the social order to keep things as they are. Mass-communication, therefore, becomes a form of
indoctrination in which the suppressed are forced to speak and think in the language of the oppressors.
6
The definition of children’s literature in the textbooks by Rebecca K. Lukens (A Critical Handbook of
Children’s Literature, 8-9), Perry Nodelman (The Pleasures of Children’s Literature, 191-215), and
David L. Russel (Literature for Children, 1-24) are diversified.
4
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that is enjoyed by children. More specifically, children’s literature comprises those
written and published for young people who are not yet interested in adult literature,
though most of the literary genres of adult literature appear in children’s literature as
well. Fiction in its various forms—contemporary realism, fantasy, and historical
fiction, poetry, folk tales, legends, myths, and epics—all have their counterparts in
children’s literature.7 However, when it turns to define children’s literature classics,
the answer is usually concluded with little hesitation. The selection of classics
sustaining from many re-reading in Harold Bloom’s Stories and Poems for Extremely
Intelligent Children of All Ages contain three features that share with the assertions of
Wallace Stevens, Rebecca J. Lukens, and Perry Nodelman: it must change, it must
give pleasure, and it must be abstract (18).8 Lukens and Nodelman both declare that
some of the children’s texts we’ve found ourselves returning repeatedly can be
addressed as classics (Lukens 29) or canon (Nodelman 247-248). According to
Lukens, what seems to keep classics in continuous circulation may be ratified at the
significance of theme, the credibility of character, the continuing reality of the
conflict, and the engaging quality of style (29). Simultaneously, some of the brand
names from Nodelman’s list of canons, which include Peter Rabbit, Treasure Island,
Anne of Green Gables, Charlotte’s Web, The Secret Garden, Little Women (248),
Peter Pan, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz9, involve the repetitive characteristics on
genre, theme, and character.
These above-mentioned books attract readers from one generation to the next.
They cross all genre lines; they are animal fantasy, adventure, realistic fiction, and
high fantasy. No matter where or when the respective authors settle their settings in
either a universal barn and garden, an imagined Neverland or a specifically historic
locale, their main characters are often described as being young and, in that way,
equivalent to the children who read about them (Nodelman 192). These child
protagonists are mostly orphans like Anne of Green Gables and Mary Lenox of The
Secret Garden. Even if they have families, some of them are raised by single-parent
or other relatives, such as Peter Rabbit and Dorothy Gale. These powerless kids and
their companions are usually as secluded as Anne Shirley or as embarrassedly poor as
the March girls. Their encounter with villain/mentor-like antagonists, such as Long
John Silver, Captain Hook, and even Charlotte the spider, appeal to provoke the
emotional involvement of the readers of all ages. On the other hand, talking animals
like Wilbur and the cowardly lion in fantasy, as well as the real boys and girls in
realistic narrative or high fantasy set their footsteps to explore the world, to escape the
http://education.families.com/childrens-literature-285-292-eoed.
Bloom furthermore explains, Stevens did not mean “abstract” as opposed to “real,” but “withdrawn
from,” taken out form something, from the stale coverings that masquerade as reality. Every lyric and
tale in Bloom’s volume has scrubbed the varnish off the commonplace in order to reveal hidden magic.
9
The last two are my additional choices.
7
8
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confining present, to discover them, to become someone else.10 They are mainly
stories of coming of age, or bildungsroman, mimic the current situation of their young
readers. As its focus on new and unfamiliar experiences revels, therefore, the central
themes that relate to children’s literature classics can be categorized as pairs of binary
oppositions. For instance, the structural patterns of themes of lost and found, dream
and adventure, defiance and authority, loyal and betrayal, leadership and friendship,
and the cooperation of the weak and the minor, are repeated in these stories.
Like the majority of other born leaders in the world, young King Arthur and
these child protagonists of children’s literature classics bore a wise mentor, a flock of
followers, a contrasting opponent, an enchanting wife or a betraying supporter. These
leading characters, or “popular kids,” persist in its legendary significance for a long
time because they embody some of the enduring features inviting readers to
remember. First of all, they become a leader because they have no choice. Jim
Hawkins, Joe March, and Wendy Darling, are forced to lead for the financial,
physical, and emotional deficiency of themselves and their peers. They defy to the
authorities because they are obliged to survive. Peter Rabbit needs run from Mr.
McGregor’s chasing, Jim Hawkins needs to run from Long John Silver’s treachery;
Peter Pan needs to run from his nemesis, Captain Hook, as well. Fortunately, these
young leaders attract wise mentors and collect loyal followers of their gang peers,
although some friendship is derived from compromise or detached by betrayal.
Dorothy can finally return home with the assistance of mentor-like Glinda the good
witch, and the companionship of her three friends—the scarecrow, the tin woodman,
and the cowardly lion. Even a good-for-nothing pig Wilbur has a spider mentor and
friends of humans and animals. The other possibility to ensure these popular kids to
be the center of the adventures for their wild imagination, ram unction spirit, and fiery
temper. Think of Anne Shirley, Mary Lenox, and Dorothy Gale, their congenital
leadership come along with their personalities. They are fearless, curious, and lucky
enough to explore their coming future, to retrieve something they lost at the beginning
of the plot, to solve the conflicts happening in their life, and eventually to become a
stronger, happier, healthier being at the resolution of the stories.
Children have always enjoyed good stories and adventures. They are
entertained, they learn how to understand and gain insight into the life to which they
one day will have to adjust, and in the most serious sense, stories and fairy tales help
them to survive.11 Literature serves children in four major ways: it help them to better
understand themselves, others, their world, and the aesthetic values of written
language. When children read fiction or other forms of narrative, they often assume
the role of the major characters. Through the character’s thought, words, and actions,
10
11
Lukens.
http://parenting.families.com/movies-608-610-ecc.
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the child develops insight into his or her own character and values. Frequently,
because of experiences with literature, the child’s modes of behavior and value
structure are changed, modified, or extended.12 However, today moving images are
among children’s favorite storyteller, and generally, children have had an inquisitive,
nonpleblmatical relationship to film as yet another useful, splendid source of
entertainment, knowledge, and insight.13 It is worth noting how film and television
now clearly provide the major vehicle for narratives. Media studies, the extension of
the traditional study of literature, will inevitably concentrate primarily on film or
television, and has to consider the issue of how the medium, in holding a mirror up to
society, reinforces ideology while, occasionally, questioning the values of society
(Peck and Coyle, 105-106). Even if the representation and value embodied by the
leading roles of Hollywood children’s movie hits have been evolving ever since, from
the perfectly innocent blonde Shirley Temple of the earlier times, to the lost misfit
Kevin in Home Alone of the nineties, these “popular kids” share certain memorable
remarks with the child protagonists of Children’s literature classics in terms of genre,
theme, and characterization.
Nevertheless, most good films for children have a number of characteristic
features. They have a child in the leading role, and this child has a mission to fulfill.
The mission may be tough but the child succeeds, because the message is that a
child’s action does make a difference.14 However, it seems difficult for Ian WojcikAndrews to verify the previously-mentioned definition. He admits in the beginning of
his lengthy Children’s Film: History, Ideology, Pedagogy, Theory that he spends six
areas of discussion—personal, pedagogical, critical, textual, institutional, and cultural
—and merely forays into the “idea of cinema for children” (1). He also mocks the
similar dilemma that Perry Nodelman encounters in his The Pleasure of Children’s
Literature by discussing eleven traits that typically yet problematically define
children’s literature (6) He then concludes that not all children’s films are just about
children and not all films children see are just children’s films. Defining a children’s
film, and thus the child viewer said films presuppose, is something of impossibility
(7). But his critical, textual, and cultural approaches do bring perspective to the
definition of children’s movie. Firstly, he introduces ideas in Douglas Street’s
Children’s Novels and the Movie (1983) to link children’s film as one adapted from a
classic work of children’s literature (4). For Street, there are three kinds of canonical
children’s fiction: those conceived for a child audience, those written for an adult
audience, and those seminal works “energetically adopted by young readers” (xiv). In
other words, Wojcik-Andrews paraphrases, for Street, canonical works of children’s
http://education.families.com/childrens-literature-285-292-eoed, 2
ibid, 9.
14
ibid, 9.
12
13
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literature attract filmmakers and are adapted into the movies. A children’s film is so
defined (5).
Additionally, Wojcik-Andrews then borrows Annette Kuhn’s definition on a
classic realist film to notify the textual significance of plot, setting, and character in
children’s films: “Plot and setting, for example, age subordinated to character
development and character development is subordinated to the requirements of the
narrative, itself subordinated to the coats of film production. Mainstream films reflect
the status quo, even when they least appear to support it. Produced by dominant
institutions of capitalism, they recapitulate capitalism’s dominant ideologies (7).”
Finally, Wojcik-Andrews adapt cultural concepts of Cary Bazalgett and Terry Staples
to connect children’s cinema to family film (17). Children in the United States see G,
PG, and PG-13. However, whether the film generates more box office receipts
internationally than in the U.S. depends on the commercial traffic in films and filmic
images of the child protagonist (19). Fortunately, it is less complicated to define
“Hollywood children’s movie hits” because there have distinct box office data on
plenty of websites. To remove the film which is not G, PG, and PG-13 from the top
50 highest grossing releases for the past five years, to focus on the film starring young
or childlike protagonist, and to drive the animation or animal films15 to the top, hence
the following figures are the chosen list according to the former debate:
Figure I: Box office data16
1.
Top 50 Highest Grossing Releases of 2001
http://www.boxofficeguru.com/top50gross01.htm
# Title
1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (HP)
哈利波特 I: 神秘的魔法石
Int’l US World Gross
(M) (M) As Of
wide
649. 317. 966.6 5/23/02
0
6
Distributor
Warner
Bros.
http://www.starblvd.net/cgi-bin/movie/euccns?film/2001/HarryPotter/HarryPotter.html
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
魔戒首部曲 (LOR)17
3 Shrek
史瑞克
552. 314. 867.7 12/18/03 New
Line
9
8
210. 267. 478.1 7/1/02 Dream
Works
4
7
http://shrek.kingnet.com.tw/
Two of the most enduring genres of children’s films are the children’s detective story and animal
film. These are also popular genres in literature. http://parenting.families.com/movies-608-610-ecc.
16
The resources of box office data: Box Office Guru. Ed. Gitesh Pandya. 2006. 7 May 2006.
<http://www.boxofficeguru.com/ > and Star Boulevard. TISNet Technology, Inc. 2006. 7 May 2006.
http://www.starblvd.com/. The movie database locates in True Movie. Ed. Albert (Fang Yang Ban).
2005. 7 May 2006. <http://www.truemovie.com/ and IMDB. 2006. Internet Movie Database Inc. 7
May 2006. <http://www.imdb.com/>.
15
17
http://movie.starblvd.net/cgi-bin/movie/euccns?film/2002/TheLordOfTheRings/TheLordOfTheRings.html
Sun 6
4 Monsters, Inc. (MI)
怪獸電力公司
273. 255. 529.0 8/29/02 Buena
Vista
1
9
http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/monstersinc/index.html
http://movie.starblvd.net/cgibin/movie/euccns?film/2002/MonstersInc/MonstersInc.html
2.
Weekend Box Office (Dec. 27-29, 2002)
http://www.boxofficeguru.com/123002.htm
# Title
Int’l US World Gross As DisOf
(M) (M) tributor
wide
1 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
581. 341. 922.9 12/18/03 New Line
2
7
魔戒二部曲：雙城奇謀
http://truemovie.com/2002moviedata/LordRings2.htm
2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
哈利波特 II:消失的祕室
604. 261. 866.3
4
9
4/17/03
Warner
Bros.
111.7 145. 257.4
7
3/23/03
Buena Vista
101. 64.7 166.0
3
12/19/02 SONY
http://truemovie.com/2002moviedata/HarryPotter2.htm
3 Lilo and Stitch
星際寶貝
http://truemovie.com/2002moviedata/LiloStitch.htm
4 Stuart Little 2 (SL)
一家之鼠 2
http://truemovie.com/2002moviedata/StuartLittle2.htm
3.
Top 50 Highest Grossing Releases of 2003
http://www.boxofficeguru.com/top50gross03.htm
# Title
Int’l US World Gross DisAs Of tributor
(M) (M) Wide
1 The Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King
741. 377. 1118.9 8/1/04 New Line
9
0
魔戒三部曲:王者再臨
http://www.truemovie.com/2003moviedata/LordRings3.htm
2 Finding Nemo (FN)
海底總動員
513. 339. 853.2 2/8/04 Buena
Vista
5
7
http://www.truemovie.com/2003moviedata/FindingNemo.htm
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black
Pearl (POC) 神鬼奇航
347. 305. 653.2 1/8/04 Buena
Vista
8
4
http://www.truemovie.com/2003moviedata/PiratesoftheCaribbean.htm
4 The Cat in the Hat (CIH)
魔法靈貓
32.7 100. 133.2 8/1/04 Universal
5
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http://www.truemovie.com/2003moviedata/CatintheHat.htm
4.
Top 50 Highest Grossing Releases of 2004
http://www.boxofficeguru.com/top50gross04.htm
# Title
Int’l US World Gross
As Of
(M) (M) Wide
1 Shrek 2
478. 436. 915.2 4/3/05
5
7
史瑞克 2
Distributor
Dream
Works
http://www.truemovie.com/2004moviedata/Shrek2.htm
2 The Incredibles
超人特攻隊
371. 261. 632.4 1/1/06 Buena
Vista
0
4
http://www.truemovie.com/2004moviedata/Incredibles.htm
3 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
哈利波特 3:阿茲卡班的逃犯
540. 249. 789.5 1/1/05 Warner
Bros.
1
4
http://www.truemovie.com/2004moviedata/HarryPotter3.htm
4 The Polar Express (PE)
北極特快車
123. 168. 291.8 1/19/06 Warner
Bros.
8
0
http://www.truemovie.com/2004moviedata/PolarExpress.htm
5.
Box Office Hits of 2005
http://www.boxofficeguru.com/top20gross05.htm
# Title
1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
哈利波特 4: 火盃的考驗
Int’l US World Gross As
Of
(M) (M) Wide
602. 290. 892.2 3/30/06
2
0
Distributor
Warner
Bros.
http://www.truemovie.com/2005moviedata/HarryPotter4.htm
2 The Chronicles of Narnia (CON)
納尼亞傳奇：獅子、女巫、魔衣櫥
447. 291. 738.8
1
7
4/27/06 Buena Vista
337. 193. 530.9
7
2
1/1/06
Dream
Works
266. 206. 472.5
0
5
1/1/06
Warner
Bros.
176. 135. 312.1
8
3
3/30/06 Buena Vista
http://www.truemovie.com/2005moviedata/ChroniclesofNarnia.htm
3 Madgascar
馬達加斯加
http://www.truemovie.com/2005moviedata/Madagascar.htm
4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (CCF)
巧克力冒險工廠
http://www.truemovie.com/2005moviedata/CharlieandtheChocolateFactory.ht
m
5 Chicken Little
四眼天雞
http://www.truemovie.com/2005moviedata/ChickenLittle.htm
Sun 8
6 Robots
機器人歷險記
132. 128. 260.7
5
2
1/1/06
http://www.truemovie.com/2005moviedata/Robots.htm
To generally analyze the above information indicated in the above figures, they
can be discussed in terms of genre, theme, and characterization. First of all, more
than half of these twenty-two children’s movie hits are adaptation from canonical
works of children’s literature. Moreover, they can be divided into three categories
which coincide with the favorite genres18 of children’s literature classics:
Figure II: Genre
Genre
Hollywood Children’s Movie Hits
high Fantasy/animal Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia,
fantasy
The Polar Express / Shrek, Monsters, Inc., Lilo and Stitch,
Stuart Little, Finding Nemo, The Cat in the Hat, Madgascar,
Chicken Little, Robots
adventure
Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo, Pirates of
the Caribbean, The Cat in the Hat, The Incredibles, Polar
Express, The Chronicles of Narnia, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, Robots
anti-fairy tale, antiShrek, Monsters, Inc.,
romance (mock
heroic)
Even the awareness of the similarities and differences in the genres of children’s
literature, as Rebecca J. Lukens points out in her textbook (30-35), may or may not be
useful, it is noticeable that children are hooked on certain genres—fantasy, for
example—may find their pleasure in craving for adventure and curiosity about
imaginatively created world. Similarly, Ronell invokes Deleuze in Difference and
Repetition when he claims that philosophy ‘ought to be a very particular kind of crime
story’ and that it should ‘resemble science fiction’. Clearly then we are in a tradition
which cannot separate the activities of creative writing and criticism.19 Furthermore,
Steve Neale views genres, in his “Extract from Genre” (1980), as ways of organizing
the relationship between repetition and difference. In this way, the differences
between films become little more than the “pseudo-individualism” of mass culture
theory. They are largely illusory, and function to permit a more fundamental
repetition. For Neale, then, films of a specific genre may have to appear to be
different—people are not going to pay repeatedly to see the same film over and over
again—but at some fundamental level the films of a genre still repeat certain
ideological functions.20 For instance, high fantasy, animal fantasy or even adventure
Two most enduring genres of children’s film are the children’s detective story and animal film.
These two forms happen to be popular genres in literature. http://parenting.families.com/movies-608610-ecc.
19
Currie, Mark. “Introduction: Criticism and Conceit” for Part 7 Post-structuralism of Literary
Theories: A Reader and Guide. Julian Wolfreys, ed. New York: New York University Pres, 1999, 326.
20
Mark Jancovich restates Steve Neale’s argumentation (“Extract from Genre,” Genre. London:
British Film Institute, 1980, 49-55) in The Film Studies Reader. Mark Jancovich and et al, eds. New
18
Sun 9
Fox
movies are diversified genres exemplified in the box office hits. They all function and
support the curiosity and pleasure of child protagonists as well as young cinemagoers
and their financed accompanies, though it is interesting to cast an eye on a
subversively mocking genre, demonstrated in Shrek and Monster, Inc., after the
millennium.
Steve Neale continues to argue21, that repetition and difference have firstly to be
understood in their relationship to desire, pleasure, and jouissance, i.e. as modalities
of the process of the subject. Desire is always a function of both repetition and
difference. It is founded in the difference between on the one hand the initial
experience of pleasure, the mark established by that experience and which functions
as its signifiers, and on the other hand, future attempts to repeat the experience, future
repetitions of the signifiers. Unsurprisingly in Children’s film, or films starring
children or childlike figures, the motif of a lightning bolt that completely disrupts
ordinary life and leas to extraordinary events. It allows the director to spilt the story
into three parts: those mundane, realistic events leading up to the lightning strike, the
dreamy, supernatural events that follow after the lightning strike, and the return to
everyday life (resolution) at the end of the movie—the “happy ever after” ending.22
Variations on this repetitive theme include an orphan Harry Potter is suddenly invited
to enter Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; or a young Hobbit named
Frodo is suddenly entrusted with an ancient Ring; or a green ogre Shrek is suddenly
assigned to rescue a princess for a tyrannical midget lord with a chatterbox donkey.
Moreover, variations on the theme of unusual affairs on the ordinary include a
Hawaiian girl Lilo adopts an unusual pet who is actually an notorious extra-terrestrial
fugitive from the law; an infamous but courageous Chicken Little rescues his fellow
citizens when alien start an invasion; and a suburban family of undercover
superheroes save the world. Thirdly, variations on the theme of initiation journey
recruit a doubting boy’s astonishing journey to the North Pole with many other
pajama-clad children; and the young robot Rodney’s way to meet his idol Bigweld in
the metropolis of Robot City; or even the comedic and eventful journey of two fish,
the fretful Marlin and his young son Nemo; and also the trip to the wild of four New
York’s Central Park Zoo animals in Madagascar. Finally, variations on the theme of
adventure display in poor Charlie Bucket’s footsteps to Willy Wonka’s chocolate
factory; or in the pirate Jack Sparrow’s route to reverse an ancient curse with Will
Turner and Elizabeth Swann; or through the wardrobe door to the snowy land of
Narnia.
All these children or the childlike characters find their way home with safety. In
York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 86-101.
21
Jancovich, ibid, 99.
22
Ian Wojcik-Andrews, 20.
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Campbell’s archetypal terms this represents an example of the mythological hero
answering call to adventure and confronting his first test. The protagonists reemerge
in the forms of rebirth or resurrection in imaginative and fantastic land from which the
must eventually escape in order to return home and turn out to be more sophisticated
and happier.23 Even though the image these children or the childlike protagonists
delineated in these Hollywood children’s movie hits are varied, they remind us some
of the unforgettable features in the characterization of children’s literature classics.
They are fascinating icons to remember. Visual signifiers are usually held to
constitute “icons” (i.e. signifiers of a particular genre) is they are subject to regular
occurrences, i.e. repetitions. Their function is generally considered to be the
establishment of a stable framework of signs in relations to which difference and
variation can be both produced on the one hand and read and understood on the
other.24 As Tim Morris once remarks, childhood is a form of Otherness, possibly its
archetypal form.25 These “popular kids” are “incredible” because they are not adults.
The repetitive characters in Children’s movie hits can be categorized into three types:
Figure III: Character
Character
Young or childlike
Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins (LOR), Nemo, Shrek, Princess
protagonist (orphan,
Fiona (Shrek), Sulley (MI), Lilo, Stuart & George Little,
single-parent, lonely or Nemo, Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann
poor)
(POC), Sally and Conrad (CIH), the doubting boy (PE),
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy (CON), Charlie Bucket
(CCF), Rodney Copperbottom (Robots)
accompany of the
Sam Gamgee (LOR), Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
weak/minor
(HP), Donkey (Shrek), Mike (MI), Margalo the Bird (SL),
Dory the Blue Fish (FN), the Incredibles, Aslan the lion god
(Narnia), Cappy and the misfit (Robots).
talking animals
Nemo, Shrek and Donkey (Shrek), Sulley and Mike (MI),
(real/imaginative)
Stitch, Margalo the Bird (SL), Marlin the Clownfish (FN),
The Cat in the Hat, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria
the Hippo, Melman the Giraffe (Madgascar)
Most of the leading characters are, like those child protagonists in children’s literature
classics, either as young as Harry Potter and Nemo or as childlike as Jack Sparrow
and Nemo’s father Marlin the clownfish. They are insufficient in physical and
financial ability to indicate the incapability of children in the real world as well as to
appeal to the sympathy of young cinemagoers. However, they are lucky enough to
meet mentor-like friends and peers of their groups to find their way to the destination,
no matter it is home or out. In The Lord of the Rings, for example, Frodo Baggins is
fortunate to avoid many dangerous encounters because he has Sam Gamgee to be his
Ian Wojcik-Andrews, 21. See also Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968)
24
Jancovich, ibid, 100.
25
You’re Only Young Twice, 9.
23
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Sancho Panza. The weak and the minor would cooperate together to defy the
authority, though it is interesting to see Nemo’s father as the weak one. Naturally,
Harry Potter finds his accompany in poor Ron Weasley and muggle Hermione; Stuart
Little makes friend to Margalo the Bird; and Marlin seeks comforts in Dory the Blue
Fish. However, it is subversively ironic to note some dramatic inventions in
postmodern production for the past five years. For instance, talking animals are
common devices for children’s movie, even an extra-terrestrial fugitive Stitch is
ordinary, but Shrek and his donkey certainly make their quixotic quest postmillennium hilarious. Moreover, two least amiable monsters Sully and Mike can
convert to lead friendly episodes in Monsters, Inc. They just want to make a
difference or not?
Harold Bloom26 once laments that the obstacles to reading are, to some extent,
merely a matter of fashion, or of inadequate examples set by parents for children.
What is read remains the pragmatic question, the difference that will make a
difference (16). Although the experience of reading children’s literature classics is
irreplaceably essential, we have to admit that the little detour of watching these
children’s movie hits is substantially entertaining. Especially when we find certain
fundamental resemblances and contrasts shared by the both counterparts, and the
pleasures the young cinemagoers constantly experiences again and again in every
encounter with these child protagonists that may lead them to further acquaintance
with these ‘popular kids’ via different verbal medium, it is worth it to repeat the
actions!
Works Cited
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Bloom, Harold. Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages.
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Box Office Guru. 2006. Ed. Gitesh Pandya. 7 May 2006.
<http://www.boxofficeguru.com/ >
26
Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages.
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Bonvillain, Nancy. Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of
Messages. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2003.
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摘要
近五年好萊塢的兒童賣座片，和暢(長)銷的英美經典兒童文學，就文體特徵、主題情節與角色型
塑，似有頗多雷同之處，甚至形成票房保證的內在心理模式(Archetype)。本計畫企圖以德勒茲
(Deleuze)的後結構文化理論與媒體研究(media studies)，從本質上來印證上述論調。逐年檢視近
五年(2001-2005)好萊塢名列前矛的兒童賣座片，奇幻文學佔大宗，冒險故事居次，再加上本世
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紀初的反動文類。這些片子大多以孤單(兒)或單親孩童為主角，以非真實情境為故事背景，且需
要乘坐特殊交通工具才能到達的該場景，卻又呈現兒童在現實生活中的能力及發言位置之弱勢。
主題情節亦呼應經典兒童文學的原型模式，環繞著弱勢族群的集結勢力來挑戰權威，結伴相隨
的革命情感及天生領袖的產生，共同成就一場尋找自我與價值的遊歷、冒險或夢境。
關鍵詞：孩童主角、重複與差異、經典兒童文學、兒童賣座片、
About the Author
T. Sara Sun is Associate Professor of English in the Dept. of English Instruction,
National Hsinchu University of Education. Her recent research interests are Cultural
Studies and Children’s Literature. She specializes in modernism, and interdisciplinary
studies between arts and literature. The publications include “Falling into Step:
Contemporary Literary Theories and Media—A Case Study on ‘Falling Down Stairs’
of Yo-yo Ma’s Inspired by Bach,” Hwa Kang Journal of Foreign Languages &
Literature 7 (March 2001): 291-304 (NSC 89-2411-034-021), and several review
essays on literary classics.
Full CV online is available.
作者介绍
孫德宜 博士 http://doei.web.nhcue.edu.tw/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=3-1-1&Category=29
‧ 美國南卡羅萊納州立大學英文系比較文學博士
‧ 現任臺灣國立新竹教育大學英語教學系副教授
‧ 主修比較文學理論、二十世紀英美小說、女性及文化研究
‧ 開設西洋文學概論、英美文學史、英美小說、青少年兒童文學、英語語言等課程
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