| Scope and method of study. This five-month qualitative case study consists of observations of children's interactions with each other in the art room at a public elementary school. Participants were 480 schoolchildren, grades first through fifth. Although children's drawings were the central documents, other artifacts such as toys, cards, magazines and designs on clothing were examined to see how children used symbols and objects from the mass media to create their identities. Furthermore, children were audio-tape recorded in their formal and informal conversations in the art room to see how they use media references to establish social identification and make meaning in a postmodern consumer-driven society.; Findings and conclusions. This research suggests that children playfully appropriate from the mass media both visually and verbally as a means of connecting and showing affiliation with others. Children played with some symbols more than others in their artwork, often using symbols as part of an overall design and/or placing symbols out of context with other unrelated symbols, for humorous effect. Symbols were divided into those emanating from corporations (e.g., brands), those from the mass media and those from popular culture. Various imagery discussed were their depictions of aliens, professional wrestlers and lowrider symbols, as well as clothing and food brands, stores, television shows and advertisements, video games, movies, popular music and popular cultural symbols (hearts, peace signs, yin-yangs, etc.). Findings considered age, gender, social class, ethnicity and locality. Findings were analyzed and Interpreted through the theoretical lenses of postmodernist, feminist and critical theory. |
