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[CCBC-Net] "Manipulative"
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From: Mary Ann Gilpatrick <MGilpatrick>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:45:29 -0700
What about *On my Honor"? There is certainly a message, it is not overt, yet I doubt anyone would call it sneaky.
Mary Ann G.
> I agree with Paul.
>
> A book or author may convey a message WITHOUT being manipulative.
> MANIPULATIVE is one of those words with a loaded meaning, whether
> for good or ill, that carries a negative connotation. No one likes
> to be manipulated.
>
> I do not think it is the right word to use in connection with
> children's and YA literature. Perhaps simply referring to the
> author's "point of view"?
The fact the nobody likes to be manipulated doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, though, right? Or that people are trying to do it to us even if it doesn't work? I use "manipulation" here for a couple of reasons. First, unlike Paul's suggestions of "educational" or
"pedagogical," it conveys the sense of sneakiness I'm after. A lot of texts for children do make their educational or pedagogical intentions obvious--but many others certainly do work hard to hide them, to persuade young readers without the young readers being aware they are being persuaded. And certainly, any text of any sort emerges from the time and the place and the occasion of its writing, and inevitably invites agreement with what it takes for granted--the ideology it assumes and invites readers to assume. All texts are manipulative in that sense, surely? And text written for children by adults with conscious or unconscious conceptions of an audience--i.e., of what childhood is or should be--are then especially manipulative? I think that's more than just an "author's 'point of view'", because it's not just what the author thinks. It's what the author thinks in the context of a kind of writing for a specific audience, the point of view shaped by the generic demands of that kind of writing. Those generic demands establish their own meanings which an author may or may not be conscious of, and which may even undermines the views an author is conscious of having.
And once more, I don't find that all that necessarily bothersome, as long as we're aware of it and ideally, work to help young readers to become aware of it. Furthermore, becoming aware of ways in which texts might be sneaky is itself a great pleasure, a matter of mastery, and reading them in terms of how they work to achieve their intended goals is for me a deeply pleasurable sort of reading. I like to think. I like to hope that a lot more children than who do so now, given the opportunity, would like to think in these ways also. My reading of books about children responding to literature like ones by Larry Sipe and Sylvia Pantaleo and Morag Styles and Evelyn Arizpe and Janet Evans certainly suggests that that can happen, and that many children love the experience and the mastery of more aware, more critical reading practices. (If anyone wants, I'd be happy to provide bibliographic info about all those books about children reading and looking at picture books.)
Perry
_____________ Perry Nodelman http://pernodel.wordpress.com/
Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
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Received on Fri 24 Jul 2009 10:45:29 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:45:29 -0700
What about *On my Honor"? There is certainly a message, it is not overt, yet I doubt anyone would call it sneaky.
Mary Ann G.
> I agree with Paul.
>
> A book or author may convey a message WITHOUT being manipulative.
> MANIPULATIVE is one of those words with a loaded meaning, whether
> for good or ill, that carries a negative connotation. No one likes
> to be manipulated.
>
> I do not think it is the right word to use in connection with
> children's and YA literature. Perhaps simply referring to the
> author's "point of view"?
The fact the nobody likes to be manipulated doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, though, right? Or that people are trying to do it to us even if it doesn't work? I use "manipulation" here for a couple of reasons. First, unlike Paul's suggestions of "educational" or
"pedagogical," it conveys the sense of sneakiness I'm after. A lot of texts for children do make their educational or pedagogical intentions obvious--but many others certainly do work hard to hide them, to persuade young readers without the young readers being aware they are being persuaded. And certainly, any text of any sort emerges from the time and the place and the occasion of its writing, and inevitably invites agreement with what it takes for granted--the ideology it assumes and invites readers to assume. All texts are manipulative in that sense, surely? And text written for children by adults with conscious or unconscious conceptions of an audience--i.e., of what childhood is or should be--are then especially manipulative? I think that's more than just an "author's 'point of view'", because it's not just what the author thinks. It's what the author thinks in the context of a kind of writing for a specific audience, the point of view shaped by the generic demands of that kind of writing. Those generic demands establish their own meanings which an author may or may not be conscious of, and which may even undermines the views an author is conscious of having.
And once more, I don't find that all that necessarily bothersome, as long as we're aware of it and ideally, work to help young readers to become aware of it. Furthermore, becoming aware of ways in which texts might be sneaky is itself a great pleasure, a matter of mastery, and reading them in terms of how they work to achieve their intended goals is for me a deeply pleasurable sort of reading. I like to think. I like to hope that a lot more children than who do so now, given the opportunity, would like to think in these ways also. My reading of books about children responding to literature like ones by Larry Sipe and Sylvia Pantaleo and Morag Styles and Evelyn Arizpe and Janet Evans certainly suggests that that can happen, and that many children love the experience and the mastery of more aware, more critical reading practices. (If anyone wants, I'd be happy to provide bibliographic info about all those books about children reading and looking at picture books.)
Perry
_____________ Perry Nodelman http://pernodel.wordpress.com/
Book Trailers: The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7JAfPQeA The Ghosthunters2: The Curse of the Evening Eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qapDE1Kwnis The Ghosthunters I: The Proof that Ghosts Exist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0ow7oQV7k
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Fri 24 Jul 2009 10:45:29 AM CDT
