Sample Syllabus Seven for teaching with Crosscurrents of Children's Literature, Oxford University
Press
The
purpose of this course is to look at an ever-growing trend in
children’s media:
the adaptation of book to film. Often students complain that
they do not like a movie because it was
“not like the book,” but they do not have the skills to analyze the
social and
ethical implications of these adaptations. Whether you show
video clips in the classroom or
they are assigned to be watched on the students’ own time will make a
big
difference in how the class is taught. The amount of time it takes
to watch a
film needs to be kept in mind when making assignments. In some
cases, simply showing a short
clip will be enough to begin a worthwhile discussion.
Other than the introductory week, each includes readings from books that have had movies derived from them. Consider showing clips of the same parts of the stories from which the readings are taken, and comparing them in class.
Cox, Marian Roalfe. Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-Five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap O’ Rushes. Introduction by Andrew Lang. London. David Nutt, 1893.
Dundes, Alan. Cinderella: A Casebook. 1982. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1988.
Giroux, Henry. “Are Disney Movies Good For Your Kids?” Kinder-Culture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood. Ed. Shirley R. Steinberg and Joe L. Kincheloe. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998. 53 – 68.
Holliss, Richard and Brian Sibley. Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and the Making of the Classic Film. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
Rollin, Lucy, ed. The Antic Art: Enhancing Children's Literary Experiences Through Film and Video. Fort Atkinson, WI: Highsmith Press, 1993.
Wojcik-Andrews, Ian. Children’s Films: History, Ideology, Pedagogy, Theory. New York: Garland, 2000.
Zipes, Jack. “Breaking the Disney Spell.” From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Ed. Elizabeth Bell, et al. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1995. 21–42.
Book to Movie. For this paper, the students will read one book and watch one movie based on that book. For the first part of the project, the students will compare changes: what is different between the two? For the second part, they will look at the cultural implications of these adaptations: what does it mean that these things have been changed? Film theory could be helpful here, as well as cultural theory.
History of a Story. For this paper, students will choose one story that has been adapted into film several times. Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Little Women are three examples. They will then watch as many of these adaptations as they can find, and trace the history of the story’s adaptations. The students will look for things such as the way specific changes reflect specific aspects of the era in which the movie was made, things that were repeatedly left out; things that were only in one or two versions; things that every movie version of the story does include. Pay attention to such things as when the movie that sticks closest to the text was made, as well as the one straying farthest from the text. Narrative theory and film theory may be helpful here, as well as cultural studies.
Fairy Tale Paper. Choose one fairy tale, and read the earliest version of this story that you can find. Then find one or two more recent versions, and read those. Begin the project by comparing and contrasting those stories, and then watch at least two movies that retell the same story. Look at what things were added to make the story movie length, as well as what may have been changed or adapted specifically for the movies. Focus on how the story changes from one media to another.
Transforming What Can’t be Filmed. Books have many aspects that simply don’t translate well to film: interior dialog, description, and long passages that explain background information, are three examples. For this paper, students will focus specifically on the way one specific film adaptation of a children’s book deals with one or more of these issues.
Disney Paper. Pick a Disney movie and analyze the cultural implications of what it does with the story it is based on.
Gender Paper. Pick a children’s movie based on a book and compare the way gender is presented in both, focusing on changes.
Read Introduction to Chapter 7: Satires and Spin-offs: Adaptations of Classic Children’s Literature
“Little Angels, Little Monsters: Keeping Childhood Innocent” Marina Warner
From The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
From Charlotte’s Web E. B. White
“Is that Book Politically Correct? Truth and Trends in Historical Literature for Young People” Hazel Rochman, Masha Kabakow, Diane Stanley
“Should We Burn Babar?” Herbert P. Kohl
From Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder
“American Film Adaptations of The Secret Garden: Reflections of Historical and Social Change” Juliane Gillispie
“‘Quite Contrary’: Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden” Elizabeth Lennox Keyser
From The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
“Didacticism in Modern Dress” John Rowe Townsend
From The Adventures of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi
From Be Careful What You Wish For… R. L. Stine
From Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson
“A Child’s Garden of Subversion” Alison Lurie
From Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
From Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren
“Reflections: The Uses of Enchantment” Bruno Bettelheim
“Reading Fairy Tales” Maria Tatar
“Hansel and Gretel” Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
“The Brother’s Grimm and Sister Jane” Jane Yolen
“Moral Simplification in The Little Mermaid” A. Walter Hastings
“The Little Mermaid” Hans Christian Andersen
“Beauty and the Beast” Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
Fairy Tales “Cinderella: Saturday Afternoon at the Movies” Louise Bernikow
“Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper” Charles Perrault
“Ashputtle” Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
“The Indian Cinderella” Cyrus MacMillan
“‘As the Twig is Bent…’ Gender and Childhood Reading” Elizabeth Segel
“Toy-Based Videos for Girls: My Little Pony” Ellen Seiter
From Little Women, Chapter 8 “Jo Meets Apollyon” Louisa May Alcott
From Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 10, “Anne’s Apology” L. M. Montgomery
“Boys Will be Boys: Six Myths of our Time” Marina Warner
“Review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” William Dean Howells
“Huck, Continued” E. L. Doctorow and David Bradley
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapter 12, “Tom Shows His Generosity” Mark Twain
“Fantasy” C. W. Sullivan
“Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons?” Ursula K. LeGuin
From Alice’s Adventure’s In Wonderland Lewis Carroll
From Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll
“Liking and Not Liking Fantasy” Perry Nodelman
From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
From A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L’Engle
“‘Will the Real Dragon Please Stand Up?’ Convention and Parody in Children’s Stories” Jon C. Stott
“The Last of the Dragons” E. Nesbit
“Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” Roald Dahl
From The Dragons are Singing Tonight Jack Prelutsky
“Realism in Children’s Literature: Notes from a Historical Perspective” Elizabeth Segel
From The Man Without a Face Isabella Holland
From Ramona The Pest Beverly Cleary
From Jacob Have I Loved Katherine Paterson
“Hope and Happy Endings” Katherine Paterson
Return to list of sample syllabi
Sample syllabus prepared by Melody Green
Contact Tina L. Hanlon with questions or comments on this site.
Updated: August 16, 2010 | Return to Home Page: Crosscurrents of Children's Literature