| This work responds to two problems: a societal concern with the impact of moving image media (video/film/television) on children, and the lack of available guides to children's video which provide evaluative consideration of the issues of violence and gender bias.;This project includes research, compilation and publication of the Guide, and analysis of related issues. Employing a qualitative approach, methodology establishes basic non-violent, non-sexist, "child-safe" criteria, which is applied to a large number of children's videos, resulting in the inclusion of more than 850 video titles in the Guide, published in January of 1996, by Academy Chicago Publishers and Facets Multi-media, Inc. Related issues, including racist and ethnic stereotyping, are outlined, as is the research which resulted in a significant listing of multicultural videos representing thirty cultures.;Analysis takes the form of an examination of the process of writing and publishing the Guide. Larger issues related to application of established criteria to specific video/film examples extend to additional issues (such as: the image selected for the book jacket and the content of the introductory essay), arising in conjunction with publication and sales of the Guide. As well, these issues are explored from a variety of perspectives, including points of view commonly found in such fields as: women's studies, media studies, media literacy, feminist film theory, television studies, violence studies, communication studies.;Finally, public responses to the publication of the Guide (evidenced in reports of eight radio interviews and some twenty published reviews and articles) are analyzed, particularly in context of the 1996 reported results of the National Television Violence Study and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. |
