The Cute and the Cool

The cute child -- spunky yet dependent naughty but nice -- is largely a 20th-century invention. In this book Gary Cross examines how that look emerged in American popular culture and how the cute turned into the cool seemingly its opposite in stories and games. Cross shows how adults have created the ideal of the innocent childhood and have used this to project adult needs and frustrations rather than concerns about protecting and nurturing the young -- and how the images goods and rituals of childhood have been co-opted by the commercial world. Magazine and TV ads articles from the popular press comic strips movies radio scripts childrearing manuals and government publications support this argument and the book is illustrated with cartoons toys ads and photos.