The Intersection of Cartoons, Animation, and Youth Media

The Intersection of Cartoons, Animation, and Youth Media: A Special Issue of Children’s Literature Association Quarterly

Edited by Joseph Michael Sommers
Deadline: 1 November 2016

In connection with the upcoming 2016 ChLA conference on Animation, this special issue of ChLAQ will focus broadly and widely on that multimodal and ever-expanding medium known as youth animation. From children’s cartoon shorts such as Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie (1928) and Leon Schlesinger’s Looney Tunes (1930-1969); to full-length animated motion pictures such as the work of Studio Ghibli, Pixar, and Nickelodeon; to Homestar Runner, video games, and flip books, if it’s sequential art put into motion, it’s on the table for discussion.

The Quarterly invites papers that craft, extend, and/or disrupt existing discussions, including (but certainly not limited to):

– Histor(-ies) of children’s animation (from the Walt Disney, Fleischers, and Warners forward to the Hanna Barbera and Terrytoon Television era and all stops in between and beyond)

– The adoption of animation intended for other audiences and venues to an audience of children (The Flintstones, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons,
etc.)

– New Frontiers of Animation (modes and media, interactivity, video games, etc.)

– The commodification of and interaction between animated media and revenue streams (animation as product tie-in/commercial for toys and
games [Barbie, GI Joe, Transformers, Disney Princesses, etc.])

– Adaption of print media into animation and further transmedia

– Difference in animation (broadly ­from cultural and global perspectives, styles, historical perspectives etc.)

– Stop motion, CGI, puppetry, and other operative modes in the creation of animation

– Sex(-ing) and gender(-ing) in animation for youth culture

– Close readings of animated properties.

Papers should conform to the usual style of ChLAQ and be between 5,000-7,000 words in length.

Queries and completed essays should be sent to Joseph Michael Sommers (somme1jm@cmich.edu with a re: line indicating “ChLAQ Essay”) by 1 November 2016.

The selected articles will appear in Children’s Literature Association Quarterly in 2017.