Coining for Capital: Movies, Marketing, and the Transformation of Childhood.

COINING FOR CAPITAL: Movies, Marketing, and the Transformation of Childhood. Jyotsna Kaput. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005. 167 pp. $21.95. Jyotsna Kapur offers a historical perspective of how childhood has been viewed over time, most notably during the last 50 years. Special attention is given to the "ideal" Victorian-era child from the bourgeois family: the child of privilege and class. This child is the reference point for the research and examples of transformations. Marketing and social changes after World War II essentially changed the notion that children were to be protected and doted upon. Children are now viewed as an exploitable consumer group who spend billions per year.

Jyotsna Kapur, a professor of cinema and photography at Southern Illinois University, focuses her teaching and research on the integration of media culture with global capital. She undertook the book as a way of understanding a culture her children were entering--childhood in the United States. It is quite different from the childhood she experienced in her native India, where she first watched television at age 11. The book highlights the impact of television and cinema on the changing perception of childhood. Kapur approaches the topic as a researcher, but also provides insight as a parent and children's advocate.

The introduction offers an overview of the book and the content area of subsequent chapters and is sufficient for the reader to navigate the remainder of the text. The early chapters give a historical account of childhood, while later chapters compare film versions of novels to the original literary works. Kapur finds that the message or theme from the novel is consistently lost or diluted in the film.

The intended audience for the book is other researchers and cinema professionals. An existing background in the field is not required to gain insight from the book, but the general public is not the target audience for the social and political references. The audience is further narrowed by the use of multiple film references and specific film language. Reviewed by Felix Melendez, Assistant Principal, Centennial High School, Corona, California.