Term paper proposal examples

The title pages for these examples are not formatted correctly. Please see the title page example for directions.

Steampunk for Children: In Subversion or Support of “Normal”?

by Karyn Huenemann

Paper Proposal for the ChLA Annual Conference 2008: “Re-imaging Normal”

15 January 2008

Following on Nicky Didicher’s paper on ethics in steampunk novels for children (“Do Steam-Guns Kill People? Ethics in Steampunk for Children”), I would like to investigate the extensions of this subgenre into the world of childhood, and its ideological uses therein. I will be looking not mainly at novels, but at the new narrative forms of manga (Japanese graphic novels) and anime (the corresponding animated films) that are sweeping childhood culture today. The titles I am considering are presented as both manga and anime, and I will be considering how both forms offer easy access to the ideas and ideologies these narratives present.

I will be looking at Hiromu Arakawa’s Full Metal Alchemist (2001-present), Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky (1986), and Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy (2004). These three narratives fall into the subgenre definition of steampunk, yet lie completely outside the usual definitions of literature. Taking a popular culture theoretical perspective, however, allows us to understand the impact of new narrative forms in our society, narrative forms both imported from abroad and altered from familiar marginal forms such as the comic. The popularity of manga and anime–and the corresponding attraction of steampunk–has implications not only in how we view children’s reading, but how we view children’s methods of learning and understanding and, ultimately, children’s lived experiences of our world.

An alternative history subgenre, steampunk takes our “normal” knowledge of history extrapolated along a different trajectory, based upon (usually) one significant change in history as we know it. In the case of Full Metal Alchemist, the change is the development of alchemy as a science in not only an alternate history but an alternate world. In Steamboy, more traditional steampunk mores are adhered to: it is set in a Victorian England where steam, rather than electricity, powers modern technological invention. Similarly, in Castle in the Sky, the narrative is set in a mining community in Victorian Wales, complete with steam-powered airships.

What is striking in these presentations of steampunk culture for the young is that, while adherence to the visual and technological tropes are obvious, the ideological impact originally generated by adult steampunk and its associate, cyberpunk, are notably lacking. I suggest that steampunk for children normalizes the socially transmuting power of steampunk for adults. While the form has changed, the social message remains fundamentally the same; rather than subversive, steampunk for children is supportive of the social status quo.

Why is this so? How is this achieved? If steampunk for children is not subversive, what is the attraction? The answers lie in an ideological and sociological understanding of children’s current world, combined with an investigation of new visual forms of narrative.  Simply put, it seems that producing a form that challenges existing literary paradigms provides sufficient subversion for the new form to be used to transmit a non-subversive message.  Children are empowered by reading a form that is all their own, and attain a sense of social continuity in the consistent moral messages.

In considering these three narratives, I will investigate the sociological rationale for the return to ideological status quo, and the textual form which carries the message, but also suggest ways in which these narratives can help child readers and viewers push the boundaries of normal, if only slightly.

Works Consulted

Aikawa, Sho. Full Metal Alchemist, The Movie: The Conqueror of Shamballa. Dir. Seiji Mizushima. DVD. Funimation, 2007.

Arakawa, Hiromu. Full Metal Alchemist. 2001. Trans. Akira Watanabe. English adaptation Egan Loo. Vol. 1+.  San Francisco, CA: Viz, 2005+. Print.

Arakawa, Hiromu. Full Metal Alchemist. Dir. Seiji Mizushima.  13 vols. DVD. Funimation, 2007.

Brody, Phillip. 100 Anime. London: British Film Institute, 2005. Print.

Butler, Andrew M. Cyberpunk. Harpenden, UK: Pocket Essentials, 2000. Print.

Carter, James Bucky, ed. Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teaches of English, 2007. Print.

Clayton, Jay. Charles Dickens in Cyberspace: The Afterlife of the Nineteenth Century in Postmodern Culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.

Isao, Shimizu. “Red Comic Books: The Origins of Modern Japanese Manga.” Illustrating Asia: Comics, Humour Magazines and Picture Books.  Ed. John A. Lent. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 2001. Print.

Kelts, Roland.  Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US.  New York: Palgrave–Macmillan, 2006. Print.

McCloud, Scott.  Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art.  New York: Harper, 1994. Print.

Miyazaki, Hayao. Castle in the Sky. 4 vols. San Francisco, CA: Viz, 2003.  Original title: Tenku no shiro Rapyuta (Laputa: Castle in the Sky). Print.

Miyazaki, Hayao. Castle in the Sky.  1986.  DVD.  Disney, 2003.  Original title: Tenku no shiro Rapyuta (Laputa: Castle in the Sky).

Napier, Susan.  Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York: Palgrave–Macmillan, 2005. Print.

Kucich, John and Dianne F. Sadoff, eds.  Victorian Afterlife: Postmodern Culture Rewrites the Nineteenth Century.  Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota UP, 2000. Print.

Otomo, Katsuhiro.  Steamboy.  DVD. Sony Pictures, 2005.

Otomo, Katsuhiro.  Steamboy.  Trans. Marc Handler.  2 vols.  San Francisco, CA: Viz, 2006. Print.

Pawuk, Michael.  Graphic Novels: A Genre Guide to Comic Books, Manga and More.  Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. Print.

Pink, Daniel.  “Japan, Ink.” Wired Nov. 2007.  216+. Print.

Schodt, Frederik L.  Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics.  Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983. Print.

Talon, Durwin S.  Panel Discussions: Designing in Sequential Art Storytelling.  Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows, 2007. Print.

Thompson, Jason.  “How Manga Conquered the US.” Wired Nov. 2007. 233-23. Print.

Bresler, Liora and Christine Marmé Thompson.  The Arts in Children’s Lives: Context, Culture, and Curriculum.  New York: Kulwer, 2002. Print.

Taking Accountability for the Problems with Pants: Cultural Referents and the Impossibility of Feminism in Literary and Cinemagraphic Renderings of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

by Lucia Lorenzi

Term paper proposal for English 487: Children’s Literature; Prof. Karyn Huenemann

10 July 2007

Comparative studies of literature and film have often been plagued by the question: what exactly are we comparing, and why? Traditionally, comparison has manifested itself as a long-standing feud between literary purists and film enthusiasts centering on the word “adaptation.” This dispute–often resembling a quarrel between siblings–usually focuses on a two-way discussion of who can better master the mechanics of narrative, who has chosen which elements to include, and ultimately, whose version of story “seems more real.” When it comes to anaylzing to what degree both a text and a film succeed in conveying the didactic and ideological messages embedded in the narrative, literary renderings of a story are often forced to take the blame for any representational problems; films can argue that they are merely adapting what was in the text, and accept no moral responsibility for what is “lost in translation.”

In order to create a valid and socially productive critique of novels and cinemagraphic adaptations, we must not only expand our range of criticism past the issues of mechanics, representation, and adaptation, but halt our tendency to privilege or assign blame to one medium over another. Since a text and film which attempt to tell the same story can be viewed and read independently of each other, we may instead consider how each medium succeeds or fails in conveying the singularity of the ideological message present in the underlying narrative. In order to study this phenomenon, I have chosen to study the dyad of Ann Brashares’s bestselling novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001) and the 2005 film rendering, in order to assert that despite certain valiant efforts to empower female readers and viewers, neither the novel or the film are able to fully function as a productive feminist works. Feminist works, as Roberta Trites points out,

“[provide] innumerable images of transcendent females and a multitude of ways for those transcendences to be interpreted; [therefore], feminist children’s novels constitute a genre concerned at the most basic level with making the reader aware of how and when she is controlled.” (9)

Trites’s observation regarding control confirms my belief that we must be distinctly aware that the reader/viewer of a feminist text/film is also controlled by those who are responsible for creating the text and film.  Because every medium is subject to a plethora of biases and influences, literary and cinemagraphic renderings of a story have a necessary responsibility to consider the cultural referents embedded in the numerous and varied elements associated with each medium. In the case of literature, elements such as language, imagery, narrative style, and even word choice must be carefully considered; makers of a film, due to the mixed media it employs, must not only carefully select locations and sets, soundtracks, and actors to portray characters, but also consider the vast scope of advertising and publicity related surrounding the film.

Nothing is inherently wrong in having a sisterhood based on a pair of jeans, unless this novel is written in the midst of a culture that still devalues, objectifies, and attempts to modify the female body; Brashares’s rendering of the story has been created within a culture in which sisterhood is often based on trying to regulate the social currency of beauty. A study of the cultural importance of jeans, their association with femininity and body image, and the prevalent problem of adolescent girls’ self-esteem and body dissatisfaction will serve to illustrate how the magic realism and word choices presented in the novel function in discord with the positive message underlying the story. I would also like to examine how the publishing industry also abrogates the safe haven of magic realism which Brashares’s novel has the potential to create; advertisers pull the “pants” out of the context of literary suspension of disbelief, further destroying the novel’s potential for empowerment.

With regards to the film, I would like to reassert that the film is not responsible for the problems within the novel, but it is crucial to note that elements related to the movie create additional problems, once again in terms of the ever-present visual culture. The movie poster plays on popular jean advertisements and continues to promote a certain body type, one that is evidently not representative of the four individual girls in the story. The film succeeds, however, in trying to minimize the negative associations by casting young women who are not often–if at all–heard of within the tabloid-ridden celebrity culture to which many young girls and women are attuned.

Finally, I would like to examine reader and viewer responses to both experiences of the story’s renderings, in order to illustrate the importance of raising awareness among child readers regarding the many areas in which they are controlled and manipulated. Ultimately, I would like to contend that any novel or film can overcome its limitations in conveying a positive feminist message, but in the case of children’s literature, this task requires concentrated efforts both on the part of the creators and receivers of media.

Works Consulted

Adams, Lauren. “Chick Lit and Chick Flicks: Secret Power or Flat Formula?” Horn Book Magazine 80 (2004). 699-77. Academic Search FullText Elite. Web. 23 June 2007.

Blasingame, James. Rev. of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 46 (2002). 87-8. Print.

Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1993. Print.

Brashares, Ann. “Sisterhood Central – Meet Author Ann Brashares.” Interview.  Random House. Web. 29 June 2007.

—. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. New York, NY: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2001. Print.

Brown, Laurene K. “Fiction for Children: Does the Medium Matter?” Journal of Aesthetic Education 22 (1988). 35-44.  JSTOR. Web. 24 June 2007.

Cahir, Linda C. “The Nature of Film Translation: Literal, Traditional, Radical.” Literature Into Film: Theory and Practical Approaches. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006. 13-43. Print.

Court, Ayesha. “Girls Find ‘Pants’ a Perfect Fit.” Rev. of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares. USA Today 10 Feb.2005: 7d. Academic Search FullText Elite. Web. 2 June 2007.

Desmond, John M, and Peter Hawkes. Adaptation: Studying Film and Literature. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.

Diesel Jeans Advertisement. CollegePublisher.com. Web. 30 June 2007.

Eng, Karen, ed. Secrets and Confidences: The Complicated Truth About Women’s Friendships. Emeryville, CA: Seal, 2004. Print.

Entwistle, Joanne. The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000. Print.

Etcoff, Nancy. Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1999. Print.

Fleming, Michael. “Warner Bros. Stitching New ‘Pants’” Variety 20 Apr. 2007. Web. 29 June 2007.

Grosz, Elizabeth. Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1994. Print.

Lemish, Dafna. “Television and the Social Construction of Reality.” Children and Television: a Global Perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. 101-46. Print.

Levi’s: Inseparable Red Tab Jeans. 2006. adpunch.com. Web. 30 June 2007.

May, Jill P. Children’s Literature and Critical Theory: Reading and Writing for Understanding. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Print. 

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: Signet, 1964. Print.

National Eating Disorders Awareness Poster 2007. 2007. NEDAW Homepage. National Eating Disorders Association. Web. 30 June 2007.

“Of Pants and Pens: a Chat with Ann Brashares.” Writing 27 (2005): 4. Academic Search FullText Elite. Web. 2 June 2007.

Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. New York, NY: Ballantine, 1994. Print.

Poulton, Terry. No Fat Chicks: How Women are Brainwashed to Hate Their Bodies and Spend Their Money. Toronto: Key Porter, 1996. Print.

Sullivan, James. Jeans: a Cultural History of an American Icon. New York, NY: Gotham, 2006. Print.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Dir. Ken Kwapis. Perf. Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively. Warner Brothers, 2005. Film.

“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) – America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn.” 2005. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Photos. 30 June 2007. Photograph.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Australian 2004 Cover. 2004. Random House Australia. 9 July 2007.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: British 2002 Cover. 2002. Fantastic Fiction. 9 July 2007.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: British 2007 Cover. 2007. Random House UK. 9 July 2007.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Film Tie-in Cover 2005. 2005. Random House Canada. 9 July 2007.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: North American 2001 Cover. 2001. Random House Canada. 9 July 2007.

Trites, Roberta S. Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s Novels. Iowa: U of Iowa P, 1997. Print.

Whelehan, Imelda. “Adaptations: the Contemporary Dilemmas.” Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text. Eds. Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan. London: Routledge, 1999. 3-20. Print.

Appendix A: Images

Diesel Jeans


Levi’s: Inseparable Red Tab Jeans


National Eating Disorders Awareness Poster 2007


Australian 2004 Cover


British 2002 Cover


British 2007 Cover


Film Tie-in Cover 2005


North American 2001 Cover


The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005): America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn