A Feminist Approach to Drama for Children and Young Adults: Female Protagonists in Plays by Suzan Zeder1
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
Since the second wave of the feminist movement in the United States, feminist theories and criticism have attempted to renegotiate the status quo and modify gender relations and representations in all social, political, economic, and cultural arenas. Children’s drama has been one of the fields that that has been slow in terms of embracing the modified and advanced gender consciousness. Mainstream theater productions for children and young adults still are not only lacking in number of productions but also in need of more creative new materials to meet the changes in the psychological development of children and young adults today. Any kind of cultural impact for children at an early age can be powerful and long lasting, since they internalize gender concepts as early as they are able to recognize differences in people. This article examines representation of female protagonists in children’s drama from a feminist perspective. Historically, children’s literature has been regarded as marginal and peripheral, just as women’s literature has been devalued in the history of literature. Although there has been a growing body of scholarship on feminist theory and criticism in children’s literature since the 1990s,mainstream children’s theater has been frequently presented with adaptations of fairy tales and Disney movies and adventure stories that are still limited in their scope, topicality, and characterization. Particularly lacking in current children’s theater and drama are strong well-developed young female protagonists whom any Miseong Woo 176audience of children and young adults, regardless of age and gender,can easily identify with. Suzan Zeder’s plays for a young audience cover a wide range of topics and familiar theatrical devices borrowed from traditional fairy tales and children’s literature, blending fantasy and realism. More than anything else, her female protagonists go through internal change and depart from the traditional female protagonists, whose femininity is frequently associated with passivity and docileness. Both Ellie in Step on a Crack (1974) and Girl in Mother Hicks (1990) are the best examples of an androgynous young female protagonist who struggles to adjust to a major change in life. Theater practitioners must seek mature themes and use a wide range of theatrical devices that are socially and psychologically relevant to the needs of contemporary young audiences.
Abstract
Since the second wave of the feminist movement in the United States, feminist theories and criticism have attempted to renegotiate the status quo and modify gender relations and representations in all social, political, economic, and cultural arenas. Children’s drama has been one of the fields that that has been slow in terms of embracing the modified and advanced gender consciousness. Mainstream theater productions for children and young adults still are not only lacking in number of productions but also in need of more creative new materials to meet the changes in the psychological development of children and young adults today. Any kind of cultural impact for children at an early age can be powerful and long lasting, since they internalize gender concepts as early as they are able to recognize differences in people. This article examines representation of female protagonists in children’s drama from a feminist perspective. Historically, children’s literature has been regarded as marginal and peripheral, just as women’s literature has been devalued in the history of literature. Although there has been a growing body of scholarship on feminist theory and criticism in children’s literature since the 1990s,mainstream children’s theater has been frequently presented with adaptations of fairy tales and Disney movies and adventure stories that are still limited in their scope, topicality, and characterization. Particularly lacking in current children’s theater and drama are strong well-developed young female protagonists whom any Miseong Woo 176audience of children and young adults, regardless of age and gender,can easily identify with. Suzan Zeder’s plays for a young audience cover a wide range of topics and familiar theatrical devices borrowed from traditional fairy tales and children’s literature, blending fantasy and realism. More than anything else, her female protagonists go through internal change and depart from the traditional female protagonists, whose femininity is frequently associated with passivity and docileness. Both Ellie in Step on a Crack (1974) and Girl in Mother Hicks (1990) are the best examples of an androgynous young female protagonist who struggles to adjust to a major change in life. Theater practitioners must seek mature themes and use a wide range of theatrical devices that are socially and psychologically relevant to the needs of contemporary young audiences.
참고문헌 (22)
- Bedard, Roger L, "Dramatic Literature for Children : A Century in Review" (1984), Anchorage
- Bettelheim, Bruno, "The Uses of Enchantment : The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales" (1976), Knopf
- Case, Sue-Ellen, "Feminism and Theatre" (1988), Methuen
- Davis, Jed H, "Children’s Theatre" (1960), Harper and Row
- Davis, Jed H, "Theatre, Children and Youth" (1982), Anchorage
- England, Alan, "Theatre for the Young" (1990), St. Martin’s
- Garber, Marjorie, "Fear of Flying, or Why is Peter Pan a Woman?, In Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing & Cultural Anxiety" (1993), Harper Perennial
- Goldberg, Moses, "Children’s Theatre : A Philosophy and a Method" (1974), Prentice Hall
- Kent, Assunta, "Quiet Revolution: Feminist Considerations in Adapting Literature for Children’s Theatre", Theatre Topics, 35~42 (1991)
- Klein, Jeanne, "A Feminist Dialogue on Theatre for Young Audiences Through Suzan Zeder’s Plays", Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, XI(2), pp.115~139 (1997)
- Nilsen, Alleen Pace, "The Feminist Influence, In Young Adult Literature in the Seventies" (1978), The Scarecrow Press
- Nodelman, Perry, "Children’s Literature as Women’s Writing", Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 13(1), pp.31~34 (1998)
- Paul, Lissa, "Enigma Variations: What Feminist Theory Knows about Children’s Literature", Signal, 54, pp.186~202 (1987)
- Pearson-David, Susan, "Wish in One Hand, Spit in the Other : A Collection of Plays by Suzan Zeder" (1990), Anchorage UP
- Phillips, Anne, "Additional ‘Variations’: Further Developments in Feminist Theory and Children’s Literature", Children’s Literature, 27, pp.223~232 (1999)
- Rowe, Karen E, "Feminism and Fairy Tales", Women’s Studies, 6(3), pp.237~257 (1979)
- Smiley, Sam, "Playwriting: The Structure of Action" (1972), Prentice Hall
- "Does Good Always Win", pp.1964, Spencer, Sara
- Stephens, Judith Louise, "Women in Pulitzer Prize Plays, 1918–1949, In Women in American Theatre", pp.245~253 (2005), Theatre CommunicationsGroup
- Trites, Roberta Seelinger, "Waking Sleeping Beauty : Feminist Voices in Children’s Novels" (1997), U of Iowa P
- Woo, Mi Seong, "A Feminist Look at Plays for Children and Young People: Female Protagonists in the Selected Plays of Suzan Zeder", 석사, pp.1991
- Zeder, Suzan L, "A Character Analysis of the Child Protagonist as Present in Popular Plays for Child Audiences", 박사, pp.1978