Explores the rhetorical factors which underlie this British film's extraordinary popularity with American audiences. Argues that the rhetorical force of the film comes from the struggle between moralism and materialism, two aspects of the American Dream, thus providing a uniquely powerful American experience. (PD)

Demonstrates how Donna Jo Napoli changes generic conventions and reworks discursive formations in order to retell tradition tales. Discusses the narrative strategies she uses in telling her stories, her representation of male and female characters in regard to gender and gendered relationships, and the way she renegotiates ideologies and value…

Examines the identity of female characters who rescue male protagonists in three works of Newbery-winning fiction, and realizes their archetypal roles of Mother. Provides readers with a vehicle for revisiting the interaction among characters in young adult fiction. Presents a rationale for using literary criticism to help students explore how…

The author discusses the following question: "How can fiction, which consists primarily of particular statements about human nature, be said to give us universal truths?" (Author/SJL)

Examines the structural patterns of literature suggested by Steven Spielberg's film, "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," and how these patterns are reflected in children's stories. (HOD)

Approaches film criticism using classical and modern rhetorical concepts. Discusses the nature and effectiveness of the filmmaker's modes of appeal--to logos, pathos, and ethos, and the appropriateness of his/her rhetorical stance--the balance of attitudes toward subject, audience, and his/her creative self. (JMF)

Discusses the various roles of the pig in children's books, including E. B. White's CHARLOTTE'S WEB and Nina Bawden's PEPPERMINT PIG. Notes that, although pigs are often used as metaphors for greed, gluttony, and squalor, the portrayal of pigs in children's literature is typically positive. (MM)

Explores the representation of toys in children's literature, focusing on the main characters in Russell Hoban's "The Mouse and His Child." (MM)

Analyzes how Hollywood's journalism movie genre has portrayed the news media over the years. Suggests that the movies' relationship to the press reflects a fundamentally ambivalent relationship between the press and the broader culture and that Hollywood explicitly portrays institutional and cultural tensions within journalism which the news media…

Explains how the movie "The Lion King" may be used to elucidate Shakespeare's "Hamlet," a play about a prince who does not always seem heroic to modern audiences. Gives specific points of comparison between the two works concerning heroes, characters, conflicts, themes, ending scenes, and archetypal patterns. (TB)

Argues that the dominant themes in Bigelow's "Blue Steel" are female subservience, masculine authority, sex as economic exchange and guilty pleasure, woman as threatening and domestic, and castration anxiety. Analyzes Jamie Lee Curtis's portrayal of the protagonist, Megan Turner, as being androgynous when in uniform, and as possessor of…

Explores the prevalence of the gunfighter as mythic hero. Compares the depictions of Clint Eastwood's characters from the beginning of Eastwood's career ("A Fistful of Dollars" and "Pale Rider") to "Unforgiven," finding similarities and differences in each character. (PA)

Discusses how traditional character types (such as Rip Van Winkle, the Ben Franklin character, and the Great Puritan) that Twain criticized through his satire survived his attacks and can be found today in many kinds of literature, including film and television. (SRT)

Notes that "The Stone-Faced Boy" illustrates author Paula Fox's clarity of insight and graceful writing. (FL)

Argues that "The Dark Is Rising" illustrates clearly both what is genuinely fresh and enjoyable about Susan Cooper's fantasy writing, and what is feeble and even objectionable. (HOD)