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Into the Closet: Cross-Dressing and the Gendered Body in Childrens Literature and Film
Into the Closet examines the representation of cross-dressing in a wide variety of children's fiction, ranging from picture books and junior fiction to teen films and novels for young adults. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the different types of cross-dressing found in children's narratives, raising a number of significant issues relating to the ideological construction of masculinity and femininity in books for younger readers.
Many literary and cultural critics have studied the cultural significance of adult cross-dressing, yet although cross-dressing representations are plentiful in children's literature and film, very little critical attention has been paid to this subject to date. Into the Closet fills this critical gap. Cross-dressing demonstrates how gender is symbolically constructed through various items of clothing and apparel. It also has the ability to deconstruct notions of problematizing the relationship between sex and gender. Into the Closet is an important book for academics, teachers, and parents because it demonstrates how cross-dressing, rather than being taboo, is frequently used in children's literature and film as a strategy to educate (or enculturate) children about gender.
Many literary and cultural critics have studied the cultural significance of adult cross-dressing, yet although cross-dressing representations are plentiful in children's literature and film, very little critical attention has been paid to this subject to date. Into the Closet fills this critical gap. Cross-dressing demonstrates how gender is symbolically constructed through various items of clothing and apparel. It also has the ability to deconstruct notions of problematizing the relationship between sex and gender. Into the Closet is an important book for academics, teachers, and parents because it demonstrates how cross-dressing, rather than being taboo, is frequently used in children's literature and film as a strategy to educate (or enculturate) children about gender.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published October 2, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 10, 2009
The first 3 chapters are enormously useful if you are a YA or Queer lit. scholar. After that the book gets repetitious. Worse, when it comes to films that involve YA or children and cross-dressing, she leaves out some of the films I consider to be foundational. Still, even with all that, those first 3 chapters are so useful and amazing that the book still gets 4 stars from me.
September 17, 2014
Unfortunately, like every other book I have read based on a PHD, this was a brilliant subject but unreadable. The only books I have ever read using PHD research that have been worth reading have been two novels, where the authors did the research but never did the actual thesis. One day someone will produce an excellent PHD and also turn it into an excellent book. I await that day eagerly.
October 15, 2013
Into The Closet examines the representation of cross-dressing in children's literature and film.
Whilst there are some interesting ideas in this book, after the first couple of chapters the repitition of Flanagan's points starts to grate. For every new idea that is put forward, it seems like the old ideas are rehashed at least five times. Perhaps an exaggeration, but I swear, I don't need to be told upwards of ten or twenty times that females in children's fiction cross-dress to escape the oppression of patriarchal gender roles. I get it!
There were also editing errors. I don't expect to see then/than confusion in a text book, especially one that is trying to put across some complicated ideas. It really undermines the author's integrity.
That said, I really liked the examples of children's literature that were used, and it lays some interesting groundwork on Queer Theory and the author's own so-called 'cross-dressing paradigms'. I'm not a fan of transgender becoming a 'cross-dressing paradigm' (and what is defined as transgender is a little shaky at points), but it makes sense in the context of the author's research.
An intriguing starting point in an area that's still thin on the ground in terms of research; I just wish it hadn't been so repetitive.
Whilst there are some interesting ideas in this book, after the first couple of chapters the repitition of Flanagan's points starts to grate. For every new idea that is put forward, it seems like the old ideas are rehashed at least five times. Perhaps an exaggeration, but I swear, I don't need to be told upwards of ten or twenty times that females in children's fiction cross-dress to escape the oppression of patriarchal gender roles. I get it!
There were also editing errors. I don't expect to see then/than confusion in a text book, especially one that is trying to put across some complicated ideas. It really undermines the author's integrity.
That said, I really liked the examples of children's literature that were used, and it lays some interesting groundwork on Queer Theory and the author's own so-called 'cross-dressing paradigms'. I'm not a fan of transgender becoming a 'cross-dressing paradigm' (and what is defined as transgender is a little shaky at points), but it makes sense in the context of the author's research.
An intriguing starting point in an area that's still thin on the ground in terms of research; I just wish it hadn't been so repetitive.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews