A boffo cartoon history of the deliberate manipulation of children's minds.
An entertaining and fact-filled explanation of how toy manufacturers have used psychology and state-of-the-art advertising techniques in children's programming in order to maximize their profits.
In his latest, Brown, author of Tetris, André the Giant, and other well-received works of graphic nonfiction, methodically builds his case that the same strategies developed for wartime propaganda and corporate takeover purposes are deployed in stealth advertising aimed at children. With simple but clever and appealing drawings, he illustrates how Disney and other corporate behemoths have become adept at tying emotional experiences and nostalgia to their media properties. We see just how closely Americans emulate what they see on TV, the sly "salesman in every living room." Toymakers often exploit the fact that children cannot differentiate TV programs from their commercials, and they sponsor Saturday morning cartoons indistinguishable from their playtime products. Brown capably draws the history of breakthrough toys created by the industry's major players: Hasbro, whose G.I. Joe, "basically a boy's Barbie," pioneered the idea of action figures; Marvel, whose comic books were fundamentally commercials to sell their toys; and Mattel, whose bodybuilding He-Man "made Star Wars and G.I Joe figures look like wimpy pencil-neck geeks." The author continues his exploration of "advertising content disguised as programming" through the eras of syndicated animation, cable TV, video games, and numerous new entries in the Star Wars franchise. Throughout the book, Brown emphasizes that children's imaginative play is crucially important in order to learn cooperation, problem-solving, and the nuances of language. He shows how children's media have colonized this crucial area of cognitive development through his depictions of cartoon icons such as Mickey Mouse, idealized masculine role models such as He-Man, and other potent examples of what the New York Times called a "fusion of commerce and childhood imagination." Both Brown's well-studied subject and his playful graphic art are truly "Toyetic!"
A boffo cartoon history of the deliberate manipulation of children's minds.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781250261403
Page Count: 272
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
