This article is devoted to the phenomenon of control and censorship regulation of American childhood and its representation in family cinema. The materials of the 1940—1960’s media texts illustrate the genesis and visualization of the following interrelated and interdependent varieties and forms of control: censorship, parental media surveillance, self-control in the framework of involvement in the authorities, media modeling of threats, popularization (mediation) of youth subculture. It is concluded that the leading function of family cinema was to establish generational communication, communication between generations — children and “former childrenˮ (adults) in order to form ideas about the “only correctˮ ontological route. It was based on the values of Christian fundamentalism, clerical corporatism, everyday capitalist well-being, individualism in the country of “unlimited possibilitiesˮ, which allowed “to make oneselfˮ and implement national socialization and integration into the world community. All the distinguished forms of control over children’s / family cinema during their implementation of the Cold War conditions were aimed at increasing the effectiveness of this type of cinema as “soft powerˮ aimed at neutralizing anti-American propaganda.
Key words: US children’s cinema, “family moviesˮ, “cold warˮ, political control, censorship, ideology.
Reference to article:
Yudin K. A. Control of childhood in the American: family cinema of the USA during the “cold war” // Ivanovo State University Bulletin. Series «The Humanities». 2020. No.2. P. 68-80.