Marlin Directory


KathyMerlock Jackson

Kathy Merlock Jackson

Professor of Media and Communication


Degrees Held

B.A., West Virginia University
M.A., Ohio State University
Ph.D., Bowling Green State University

Office Location: 208 Birdsong Hall, Bray Village
Phone: 757-455-3308
Email: kmjackson@vwu.edu
Department/s:
- Media and Communication
-

Kathy Merlock Jackson is Professor of Media and Communication at Virginia Wesleyan University, where she teaches courses in media studies and children’s culture, coordinates the communication internship program and childhood studies certificate program, advises the Ethics Bowl team, and serves as immediate past president of the campus chapter of AAUP. She received her B.A. from West Virginia University in English and Spanish, her M.A. from Ohio State University in English, and her Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University in American culture, with concentrations in radio-television- film and popular culture. Her master’s thesis was on Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, and her Ph.D. dissertation was on images of children in American film.

She is the author of over a hundred articles, chapters, and reviews and has authored or edited thirteen books: Images of Children in American Film (1986); Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography (1993); Rituals and Patterns in Children’s Lives (2005); Conversations with Walt Disney (2006); Disneyland and Culture: Essays on the Theme Parks and Their Influence, co-edited with Mark West (2011); Walt Disney: From Reader to Storyteller, co-edited with Mark West (2014); The Intersection of Star Culture in America and International Medical Tourism: Celebrity Treatment, co-authored with Lisa Lyon Payne and Kathy Stolley (2016); Revisiting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Essays on Lessons About Self and Community, co-edited with Steven Emmanuel (2016); Shapers of American Childhood: Essays on Visionaries from L. Frank Baum to Dr. Spock To J.K. Rowling, co- edited with Mark West (2018); Animals and Ourselves: Essays on Connections and Blurred Boundaries, co-edited with Kathy Stolley and Lisa Lyon Payne (2020) and Storybook Worlds Made Real: Essays on the Places Inspired by Children’s Narratives, co-edited with Mark West (2022); “This shark, swallow you whole”: Essays on the Cultural Influence of Jaws, co-edited with Philp Simpson (2023); and Forgotten Disney, co-edited with Mark West and Carl Sederholm (2023). Jackson is currently working on edited volumes on the Rocky franchise and toys and stories in interplay.

Jackson is past president of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association and is currently co-chair for the Animals and Culture area of the Popular Culture Association. She edited The Journal of American Culture for fifteen years and currently reviews manuscripts for and serves on the advisory boards of several journals. She previously wrote a monthly column on television for Port Folio Weekly, a local lifestyle magazine. In 1984 she received Virginia Wesleyan's Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Teaching Award and in 2004 became its first recipient of the Batten Distinguished Scholar Award, which she won again in 2018. She was named to the first class of Batten Professors, serving in that capacity from 2004-2007. In 2006 and 2019 and 2023, the Popular Culture Association presented her with the President's Award for Extraordinary Service, and in 2007, she was awarded the association's highest award, the Governing Board Award, for scholarly contributions to American culture studies and service to the association.

Her main areas of interest are children's culture, popular film and television, Disney studies, and animation. She and her husband Joe Jackson, a writer, live in Virginia Beach. Their son Nicholas and his Parisian-born wife Lucie are artists living in Chicago.

Books:

2023:               Forgotten Disney (ed. with Carl Sederholm and Mark I. West).  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

2023:               “This Shark, Swallow You Whole”:  Fifty Years of Jaws (ed. with Philip L. Simpson).  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

2022:              Storybook Worlds Made Real:  Essays on the Places Inspired by Children’s Narratives (ed. with Mark I. West).  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

2020:              Animals and Ourselves:  Essays on Connections and Blurred Boundaries (ed. with Lisa Lyon Payne and Kathy Stolley).  Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.

2018:              Shapers of American Childhood:  Essays on Visionaries from L. Frank Baum to Dr. Spock to J.K. Rowling (ed. with Mark West).  Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.

2016:              Revisiting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood:  Essays on Lessons About Self and Community (ed. with Steven Emmanuel). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.

2016:              The Intersection of Star Culture in America and International Medical Tourism:  Celebrity Treatment (with Lisa Lyon Payne and Kathy Shepherd Stolley).  Lanham, MD: Lexington Books

2014:              Walt Disney from Reader to Storyteller: Essays on the Literary Inspirations (ed. with Mark West). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.

2011:              Disneyland and Culture: Essays on the Parks and Their Influence (ed. with Mark West).  Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.

2006:              Walt Disney:  Conversations (ed.). Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi

2005:              Rituals and Patterns in Children’s Lives (ed.).  Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press

1993:              Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press

1986:              Images of Children in American Film: A Socio-Cultural Analysis. Metuchen, NJ and London: Scarecrow Press

Articles, Chapters, and Reviews:

Upcoming      “Walt Disney’s Babes in Toyland (1961):  Flawed Forerunner to Better Things” in Forgotten Disney. Edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson, Carl H. Sederholm and Mark I. West.  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

Upcoming      “The Unlikely Casting of Bette Davis in The Return from Witch Mountain (1978) and The Watcher in the Woods (1980)” (with Carl H. Sederholm) in Forgotten Disney. Edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson, Carl H. Sederholm and Mark I. West.  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

Upcoming      “Sinister Surveillance:  Threatened Youth in Disney’s Watcher in the Woods (1980) and Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)” (with Carl H. Sederholm) in Gothic Disney. Edited by Lorna Piatti-Farnell and Jeffrey Weinstock.  London:  Routledge. 

Upcoming      “George and the Dinosaurs:  George Lucas’s Contributions to The Land Before Time (1988) and Jurassic Park (1993)” in Lucas: His Hollywood Legacy.  Edited by Richard Ravalli.  Lexington:  University Press of Kentucky.

Upcoming      “Meth Friends Are the Best Friends:  Male Friendship in Breaking Bad” in Mission Accomplished: The Second Generation of Popular Culture Scholarship and the
Evolution of the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations.  Edited by Lynn Bartholome.  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland & Co.

2023               Review of A Concise Dictionary of Comics by Nancy Pedri in The Journal of American Culture, June 2023, 46: 2.

2023               Review of Bette Davis Black and White by Julia A. Stern in The Journal of American Culture, June 2023, 46: 2.

2023               “Jaws, Quint’s Tale, and the Scars of World War II” in “This Shark, Swallow You Whole”:  Fifty Years of Jaws.  Edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson and Philip L. Simpson.  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

2022               Review of Best Pick:  A Journey Through Film History and the Academy Awards by John Dorney, Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2022, 45:3. 

2022               Review of Breaking Bad by Christopher Sharrett in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2022, 45:3.

2022               Review of The Green Mister Rogers:  Environmentalism in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood by Sara Lindey and Jason King in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2022, 45:3.

2022               “Children’s Live-Action Films” in Wiley Companion to Children’s Literature edited by Karen Coats, Deborah Stevenson, and Vivian Yenika-Agbaw.  Malden, MA:  Wiley

2022:              “Fairy Tales, German Heritage, and a Vision of Roadside America:  See Rock City” in Storybook Worlds Made RealEssays on the Places Inspired by Children’s Narratives.  Edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark I. West.  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co.

2022:              Review of Tween Pop: Children’s Music and Public Culture by Tyler Bickford in The Journal of American Culture, March 2022, 45:1. 

2021:              Review of Psychology and Pop Culture: An Empirical Adventure by Keith W. Beard, April Fugett, and Britani Black in The Journal of American Culture, December 2021, 44:4

2021:              “Losing Sight, Finding Vision: One-Eyed Film Directors in Artistic Perspective” in The Journal of American Culture, December 2021, 44:4

2020:              Review of Doing the Right Thing:  Twelve Portraits in Moral Courageby Tom Cooper in The Journal of American Culture, December 2020, 43:4

2020:              “Mister Ed, 1960s Television, and the Horse Who Was Not Just a Horse,” in Animals and Ourselves:  Essays on Connections and Blurred Boundaries.  Edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson, Lisa Lyon Payne and Kathy Stolley.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.

2020:              Review of Celebrity:  A History of Fame by Susan J. Douglas and Andrea McConnell in The Journal of American Culture, June 2020, 43:2

2020:              Review of You Don’t Know Jack:  A Storyteller Goes to School by Kevin D. Cordi in The Journal of American Culture, June 2020, 43:2

2020:              “Citizen Kane, Collecting, and the American Character:  What, Why, and How Charlie Collects” in The Journal of American Culture, March 2020, 43:1

2019:              Review of Right to the Juke Joint:  A Personal History of American Music by Patrick B. Mullen in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2019, 42:

2019:              “Robin Williams:  Millennials’ Mentor.”  In Robin Williams:  Essays on the Man and the Movies.  Edited by Johnson Cheu.  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland & Co.

2019:              “Studying Silence in Popular Culture.”  Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, Winter 2019, 6:1.

2019:              “Patty Duke, Marlo Thomas, and Mary Tyler Moore--Three Stars, Three Iconic Shows, and a Young Generation of TV-Watching Females” in Popular Culture Review, Winter 2019, 30:1.

2018:              Review of Steven Spielberg by Molly Haskell in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2018, 41:3

2018:              Review of Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry:  The Social Construction of Female Popular Music Stars by Kristin Lieb in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2018, 41:3

2018:              “The Trajectory of a Comic Celebrity:  Robin Williams Does Television” in Popular Culture Review, Winter 2018, 29:1

2017:              “The North, the South, Black Folks, White Folks, Shirley Temple, and Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson” (with Ray Merlock).  In Blue and Gray in Black and White (and Color).  Edited by Douglas Brode, Shea T. Brode, and Cynthia Miller.  Lanham, MD:  Lexington Books

2017:              Review of British Children’s Cinema:  From The Thief of Bagdad to Wallace and Gromit by Noel Brown in Children’s Literature Quarterly, 42:4

2017:              Review of Fantasies of Neglect:  Imagining the Urban Child in American Film and Fiction by Pamela Wojcik in Children’s Literature Quarterly, Fall 2017, 42:3

2017:              Review of Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp in America, 1947-1977 by Lisa Stein Haven in in The Journal of American Culture, December 2017, 40:4 

2017:              Review of Mickey Mouse:  Emblem of the American Spirit by Garry Apgar, Disney Culture by John Wills, and Music in Disney’s Animated Features:  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Jungle Book by James Bohn in The Journal of American Culture, December 2017, 40:4 

2017:              Review of Disney Culture by John Wills in Cercles, Summer

2017:              Review of A Body Undone:  Living on After Great Pain by Christine Crosby in The Journal of American Culture, March 2017, 40:1

2017:              Review of A Bun in the Oven:  How the Food and Birth Movements Resist Industrialization by Barbara Katz Rothman, in The Journal of American Culture, March 2017, 40:1

2016:              “Two of a Kind:  Love and Romance in The Patty Duke Show” in Popular Culture Review, Fall 2017

2016:              Review of The Dick Van Dyke Show by Joanne Morreale in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2016, 39:3

2016:              Review of Handsome Heroes and Vile Villains:  Men in Disney’s Feature Animation byAmy M. Davis in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2016, 39:3.

2016:              Review of A Mickey Mouse Reader edited byGarry Apgar in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2016, 39:3

2016:              “Disney’s Pocahontas: History, Legend, and Movie Mythology” (with Gary Edgerton). In It’s the Disney Version: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics. Edited by Douglas and Shea T. Brode. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield

2016:              “Circuses, Carnivals, World’s Fairs, and Expositions. In A Companion to Popular Culture. Edited by Gary Burns. Malden, MA: Wiley

2016:              "We'll Always Have Casablanca:  Popular Culture's Embrace."  In Critical Insights:  Casablanca. Edited by James Plath.  Ipswich, MA:  Salem Press

2016:              Review of The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921 by Adam D. Shprintzen in The Journal of American Culture, March 2016, 39:1

2015:              Review of Power and Paradise in Walt Disney’s World by Cher Krause Knight in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2015, 38:3

2015:              Review of Folklore Rules:  A Fun, Quick, and Useful Introduction to the Field of American Folklore Studies by Lynne S. McNeill in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2015, 38:3

2015:              Review of Pink Globalization:  Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific by Christine R. Yano in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2015, 38:3

2015:              Review of The Encyclopedia of Epic Films by Constantine Santas, James M. Wilson, Maria Colavito, and Djoymi Baker in The Journal of American Culture, June 2015, 38:2

2014:              Review of Betty Bumpers:  Champion of Childhood Immunization and Peace, edited by Anna L. Eblen and Martha Jane Eblen in The Journal of American Culture, Sept. 2014, 37:3

2014:              Review of The College Question: Why College (As We Know It) Isn’t Working for the Millennial Generation by Alex Bitterman. Buffalo, NY: Balanne and Co., 2013. In The Journal of American Culture, March 2014, 37:1

2014:              Review of Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Disability edited by Johnson Cheu. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013. In The Journal of American Culture, March 2014, 37:1

2014:              Review of Part of a Complete Breakfast: Cereal Characters of the Baby Boom Era by Tim Hollis. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2012. In The Journal of American Culture, March 2014, 37:1

2014:              Review of The Princess Story: Modeling the Feminine in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Film by Sarah Rothschild. New York: Peter Lang, 2013. In The Journal of American Culture, March 2014, 37:1

2014:              “Theme Parks, World’s Fairs, Carnivals, and Circuses.”  In A Companion to Popular Culture.  Edited by Gary Burns.  Malden, MA:  Wiley-Blackwell

2013:              Review of Go West, Young Women! The Rise of Early Hollywood by Hilary A. Hallett. In The Journal of American Culture, September 2013, 36:3

2013:              “Mary Pickford: The Little Girl Who Called the Shots” in Popular Culture Review, Summer 2013, 24:3

2013:              "Celebrity Treatment:  The Intersection of Star Culture and Medical Tourism in American Society” with Kathy Stolley and Lisa Lyon Payne, in The Journal of American Culture, Vol. 36, No. 2, June 2013

2013:              Review of Playing Dead:  Mock Trauma and Folk Drama in Staged High School Drunk Driving Tragedies by Montana Miller. Logan, UT:  Utah State University Press, 2012. In The Journal of American Culture, March 2013, 36:1

2013:              Review of Walt before Mickey:  Disney’s Early Years, 1919-1928 by Timothy S. Susanin.  Jackson:  University Press of Mississippi, 2011. In The Journal of American Culture, March 2013, 36:1

2012:              Review of Turning the Tables: Restaurants and the Rise of the American Middle Class, 1880-1920 by Andrew P. Haley. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2011. In The Journal of American Culture, December 2012, 35:4

2012:              Review of Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America by Jo B. Paoletti.  Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 2012. In The Journal of American Culture, September 2012, 35:3

2012:              Review of Reinventing Childhood After World War II edited by Paula S. Fass and Michael Grossberg.  Philadelphia:  Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.  In The Journal of American Culture, September 2012, 35:3

2012:              Review of Educated Tastes: Food, Drink, and Connoisseur Culture edited by Jeremy Strong. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2011. In The Journal of American Culture, June 2012, 35:2

2012:              "One-Eyed Willie and the Pint-Sized Pirates:   The Enduring Appeal of The Goonies" in Popular Culture Review, Winter 2012, 23:1

2012:              Review of The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln's Widow, as Revealed by Her Own Letters by Mary Helmer Pritchard.  Edited and Annotated by Jason Emerson.  Carbondale and Edwardsville:  Southern Illinois University Press, 2011.  In The Journal of American Culture, March 2012, 35:1

2012:              Review of The Chicago of Fiction:  A Resource Guide by James A. Kaser.  Lanham, MD:  Scarecrow Press, 2011.  In The Journal of American Culture, March 2012, 35:1

2012:              "Redesigning Pocahontas:  Disney, the 'White Man's Indian,' and the Marketing of Dreams" by Gary Edgerton and Kathy Merlock Jackson.  In Westerns:  The Essential Journal of Popular Film and Television Collection.  Edited by Gary R. Edgerton and Michael T. Marsden.  London and NY:  Routledge

2012:              "Light Sabers, Political Arenas, and Marriages for Princess Leia and Queen Amidala" by Ray Merlock and Kathy Merlock Jackson.  In Sex, Politics, and Religion in Star Wars: An Anthology.  Edited by Doug Brode and Leah Deyneka.  Metuchen, NJ and London: Scarecrow Press

2012:              "Hoping for a Hollywood Ending:  Woody Allen and the Curse of the Jaded Audience" in Post Script, Special Issue on Woody Allen, Winter/Spring 2012, 31:2

2011:              Review of Body Shots:  Hollywood and the Culture of Eating Disorders by Emily Fox-Kales.  Albany:  State University of New York Press, 2011.  In The Journal of American Culture, September 2011, 34:3

2011:              Review of Working with Disney:  Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists by Don Peri.  Jackson:  University Press of Mississippi, 2011.  In The Journal of American Culture, September 2011, 34:3

2011:              Review of The Mouse Machine:  Disney and Technology by J.P. Telotte.  Urbana and Chicago:  University of Illinois Press, 2008.  In Animation:  An Interdisciplinary Journal

2011:              Review of Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films by Keith M. Booker.  In Children's Literature Association Quarterly

2010:              Review of The Disney Song Encyclopedia by Thomas S. Hischak and Mark A. Robinson in The Journal of American Culture, 33: 3

2010:              “A Celebration that Defined a Generation: Grant Park, New Media, and Barack Obama’s Historic Victory of the US Presidency” (with Harold Dorton and Brett Heindl) in The Journal of American Culture, 33:1

2010:              Review of Reviewing an American Ethnic Community: Rochest, New York, Italians in Photographs by Frank A. Salamone in The Journal of American Culture, 33:2

2010:              Review of Dope Menace: The Sensational World of Drug Paperbacks, 1900-1975 by Stephen J. Gertz in The Journal of American Culture, 33:2

2009:              Review of The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation by David Whitley in Children’s Literature Association Quarterly,34:1

2009:              “Screaming Her Way into the Hearts of Audiences: Dakota Fanning as Post-9/11 Child Star” in The Impact of 9/11: The Day That Changed Everything, Ch. 16, Vol. 4, ed. Michael J. Morgan

2009:              Review of On Brokeback Mountain:  Meditations About Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film by Eric Patterson in The Journal of American Culture, 32:1

2009:              Review of Chick Flicks:  Contemporary Women at the Movies edited by Suzanne Gerriss and Mallory Young in The Journal of American Culture, 32:1

2009:              “Hello Kitty in America,” in The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture:  From Godzilla to Miyazaki, ed. Mark West.  Lanham, MD:  Scarecrow

2009:              “The Johnstown Flood,” in The Encyclopedia of Disasters, Accidents and Crises in American History edited by Ballard Campbell.  Facts on File

2008:              Review of Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg by Andrew M. Gordon in The Journal of American Culture, 31:3

2008:              Review of Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer. A Memoir of the Sex, Art, Salon, Pop Culture War, and Gay History of Drummer Magazine, the Titanic 1970s to 1999, Vol. 1, by Jack Fritscher, collected and edited by Mark Hemry in The Journal of American Culture, 31:3

2008:              Review of The Epic in Film: From Myth to Blockbuster by Constantine Santas, The Journal of American Culture, 31:3

2008:              Review of Made to Break:  Technology and Obsolescence in America by Giles Slade in The Journal of American Culture, 31:2

2008:              Review of The Words and Music of John Lennon by Ben Urish and Ken Bielen in The Journal of American Culture, 31:1

2008:              Review of The Year That Defined American Journalism: 1897 and the Clash of Paradigms by Joseph W. Campbell in The Journal of American Culture, 31:1

2007:              When Fantasy Becomes Reality: Who wants to Be a Superhero?!  in Proceedings CD-Rom, Film and History Conference, November 2006

2007:              “Baby-Boom Children and Harvey Comics After the Code:  A Neighborhood of Little Girls and Boys” in Image Text, Special Issue on Comics and Childhood.  3:3

2007:              Review of The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney by Michael Barrier in The Journal of American Culture, 30:4

2007:              Review of Oz in Perspective: Magic and Myth in the L. Frank Baum Books by Richard Tuerk in The Journal of American Culture, 30:4

2008:              Review of We Boys Together: Teenagers in Love Before Girl-Craziness by Jeffery P. Dennis in The Journal of American Culture, 31:1

2007:              “Remembering Bill Jones” in The Journal of American Culture, 30:3

2007:              Review of If Kids Could Vote by Sally Sugarman in The Journal of American Culture, 30:3

2007:              Review of Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema by S. Torriano Berry and Venise T. Berry in The Journal of American Culture, 30:3

2007:              Foreword to Cicero, Classicism and Popular Culture by Marshall Fishwick.  Binghamton, NY: Haworth

2007:              Review of Boy Soldier of the Confederacy: The Memoir of Johnnie Wickersham edited by Kathleen Gorman in The Journal of American Culture, 30:2

2007:              Review of Crime Wave: The Filmmakers’ Guide to the Great Crime Movies by Howard Hughes in The Journal of American Culture, 30.1

2007:              Review of Feeling Italian: The Art of Ethnicity in America by Thomas J. Ferraro in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of The Revenge of Hatpin Mary:  Women, Professional Wrestling and Fan Culture in the 1950s by Chad Dell in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of Crossroads:  American Popular Culture and the Vietnam Era by Mitchell K. Hall in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of Dependent States: The Child’s Part in Nineteenth-Century American Culture by Karen Sánchez-Eppler in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of Secret Ingredients:  Race, Gender and Class at the Dinner Table by Sherrie A. Inness in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of Kids These Days: Facts and Fiction About Today’s Youth by Karen Sternheimer in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of Babes in Tomorrowland:  Walt Disney and the Making of the American Child by Nicholas Sammond and Multiculturalism and the Mouse:  Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment by Douglas Brode in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2007:              Review of The Dead Beat:  Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries by Marilyn Johnson in The Journal of American Culture, 30.1

2007:              Review of Historical Dictionary of American Radio Soap Operas by Jim Cox in The Journal of American Culture, 30:1

2006:              “Leaving Rosebud, Leaving the Valley:  Vestiges of Childhood in Two Classic Films from 1941" in The Journal of American Culture, 29.3

2006:              “From the Editor:  Remembering Marshall Fishwick” in The Journal of American Culture, 29:3

2006:              Review of Coining Capital:  Movies, Marketing, and the Transformation of Childhood by Jyotsna Kapur in The Journal of American Culture, 29.2

2006:              Review of Historical Dictionary of African-American Television by Kathleen Fearn-Banks in The Journal of American Culture, 29.2

2006:              Review of Inside Toyland:  Working, Shopping and Social Inequity by Christine L. Williams in The Journal of American Culture, 29.2

2006:              Review of Neil Young and the Poetics of Energy by William Echard in The Journal of American Culture, 29.1

2006:              Review of Laboring to Play:  Home Entertainment and the Spectacle of Middle- Class Cultural Life, 1850-1920 by Melanie Dawson in The Journal of American Culture, 29:1

2005:              Review of Coal and Culture:  Opera Houses in Appalachia in The Journal of American Culture, 28.4

2005:              Review of Hit Records, 1950-1975 in The Journal of American Culture, 28.4

2005:              Review of Living Life Inside the Lines:  Tales from the Golden Age of Animation in The Journal of American Culture, 28.4

2005:              Review of Legendary Lionel Trains in The Journal of American Culture 28:2

2005:              “Psychological First Aid:  The Hallmark Company, Greeting Cards, and the Response to September 11,” in The Journal of American Culture, 28.1

2005:              Review of Amp’d: A Father’s Backstage Pass in The Journal of American Culture, 28:1

2005:              Review of The Cute and the Cool:  Wondrous Innocence and Modern American Children’s Culture in The Journal of American Culture, 28.1

2005:              Review of The Commodification of Childhood: The Children’s Clothing Industry and the Rise of the Child Consumer in The Journal of American Culture, 28.1

2005:              Review of Dictionary of Toys and Games in American Popular Culture in The Journal of American Culture, 28.1

2004:              Review of The Art of Lionel Trains in The Journal of American Culture, 27.4

2003:              Review of How to Read Superhero Comics and Why in Children’s Literature Quarterly, 28:3, Fall

2003:              “Mickey and the Tramp: Walt Disney’s Debt to Charlie Chaplin,” in The Journal of American Culture, 26:4, Dec.

2003:              “Boyhood in Film,” in Encyclopedia of Boyhood in American Culture, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC/CLIO

2003:              Review of Rank Ladies: Gender and Cultural Hierarchy in American Vaudeville in The Journal of American Culture, 26: 3

2003:              Review of Understanding Disney, in The Review of Communication, 3: 2, April

2002:              “Leon Schlesinger” and “Ub Iwerks” (American animation producers), in American National Biography Online and American National Biography, edited by Paul Benz, New York: Oxford Univ. Press

2001:              “Animation,” in Encyclopedia of American Studies, Bethel, CT: Grolier

2001:              “From Control to Adaptation: America’s Toy Story,” in Journal of American and Comparative Cultures, vols. 24.1 and 24.2, Spring and Summer

2001:              Review of From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games, in Journal of American and Comparative Cultures, Winter

2001:              “The Johnstown Flood (1889): Magnates, Mill Workers, Mud, and Misery,” in Ordinary Reactions to Extraordinary Events, ed. Ray B. Browne and Art Neal.
Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press

2001:              “Walt Disney,” in Fields of Knowledge (on-line infography)

2001:              “Barbie,” “Dolls,” “The Mickey Mouse Club,” “Walt Disney Presents,” and “Sesame Street,” in The Guide to United States Popular Culture, ed. Ray B. and Pat Browne.  Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press

2000:              Review of 20th Century Teen Culture by the Decades, in The Journal of Children’s Literature, Fall

2000:              Review of Psychoanalytic Responses to Children’s Literature, in Popular Culture Association in the South Newsletter, Spring

2000:              “Playing It Again and Again: Casablanca’s Impact on American Mass Media and Popular Culture,” in Journal of Popular Film and Television, Winter             
1999:              Review of Eye on the Future: Popular Culture Scholarship in the 21st Century, in Ethnologies, 21:1

1999:              “Tex Avery,” in The Dictionary of American Biography, Cary, NC: Oxford University Press

1998:              Review of Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary, in the Journal of Popular Film and Television, Summer

1997:              Review of Hauntings: Popular Film and American Culture 1990-1992, in the Journal of Popular Film and Television, Winter

1997:              Review of From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture in the Journal of Popular Film and Television, Spring

1996:              “Introduction,” in Journal of Popular Film and Television, Summer 1996, theme issue focusing on “Walt Disney: Its Persuasive Products and Cultural Contexts”

1996:              “Redesigning Pocahontas: Disney, the ‘White Man’s Indian,’ and the Marketing of Dreams,” in Journal of Popular Film and Television, Summer (co-author with Gary Edgerton)

1995:              Review of Out of the Garden: Toys and Children’s Culture in the Age of Television Marketing, by Stephen Kline, in the Journal of Popular Film and Television

1994:              “Mattel’s TV Chatter: Selling Talking Dolls to Baby-Boom Children,” in Images of Childhood, ed. Harry Eiss.  Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press

1994:              “Oscar Wilde,” in The Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Children’s Writers, 1880-1914, Columbia, SC: Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc.

1993:              “Frankie and Annette at the Beach: The Beach as a Locale in American Popular Film,” in Beyond the Stars IV: Locales in American Popular Film, ed. Paul Loukides and Linda Fuller.  Bowling Green, OH: Popular Press

1985:              Review of Children’s Literature and the Movies, ed. Douglas Street, in The Journal of Popular Film and Television

1984:              “Harvey Comics: A Neighborhood of Little Girls and Boys,” in Media Sight 3: 1 Summer

1983:              “Reading The River: Film as a Socio-Cultural Artifact.” in Journal of Regional Cultures (co-author of the article with Gary Edgerton) 3: 1, Spring/Summer

 

Virginia Wesleyan to Host 2017 VFIC Ethics Bowl
Virginia students to deliberate Ethics and U.S. Presidential Politics