The Government of Disability in Dystopian Children’s Texts (Critical Approaches to Children's Literature)

This book takes up the task of mapping discursive shifts in the representation of disability in dystopian youth texts across four historical periods where major social, cultural and political shifts were occurring in the lives of many disabled people. By focusing on dystopian texts, which the author argues act as sites for challenging or reinforcing dominant belief systems and ways of being, this study explores the potential of literature, film and television to act as a catalyst of change in the representation of disability. In addition, this work discusses the texts and technologies that continue to perpetuate questionable and often competing discourses on the subject. Acknowledgements Contents Introduction: Worlds of Difference Disability in Literature, Film, and Television Texts for and About Children and Young Adults Discourse and Power Discipline and Bio-power Dystopia and Dis-topia Chapter Outline Bibliography Chapter 1: Goblin-ology: Eugenics and Hysterisation in George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin (1872) Victorian Discourses of the Body Eugenics and the Goblins The Hysterisation of Irene and Grandmother Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 2: “Lonely, tender, passionate heart”: Melancholy and Isolation in Dinah Mulock Craik’s The Little Lame Prince and His Traveling Cloak (1875) Introduction Craik’s Non-fiction Disability Politics, Moral, and Confinement Sentimentality, Melancholy, and Eugenics Revolution and Double Closure Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 3: Building Beasties: Disability, Imperialism, and Violence in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) Introduction Lord of the Flies Civilisation Imperialism and Religious Discourse Death and Sacrifice Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 4: On the Fringes: John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (1955) and Technologies of the Self Introduction Allegories and Faith-Based Politics Measuring Disability Policing, Surveillance, and Punishment Geography as Propaganda History as Propaganda Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 5: ‘A perversion of nature? How exciting!’: Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990), the Freak, the Monster, and the Limits of Inclusion Genre and Scripts The Freak in Edward Scissorhands The Limits to Social Inclusion in Edward Scissorhands The Monster in Edward Scissorhands Conclusion Chapter 6: ‘Blind. Deaf. Disabled. Wheelchair’: Community, History and Resistance in Jane Stemp’s Waterbound (1995) Introduction Politics and Surveillance Histories Resistances Closure Chapter 7: ‘This magic keeps me alive, but it’s making me crazy!’: Amputation, Madness, and Control in Adventure Time (2009–2018) Introduction Screening Disability in Adventure Time “I Don’t Feel Anything”: Finn, Trauma, and Prostheticisation “I’m Losing Myself”: The Ice King and ‘Madness’ Conclusion Chapter 8: “Loss is loss is loss”: Embodying the Family-as-Trauma in Julianna Baggott’s Pure (2012) Introduction Bodies and Power History as Disciplinary and Biopolitical Technique in Pure “I Wanted To Be Alive”: Trauma, Physical Disability, and Bodily Autonomy in Pure “Purity Is a Burden”: Resisting and Rejecting Purity Family-as-Trauma Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Legislation Index