This book explores cultural conceptions of the child and the cinematic absence of black children from contemporary Hollywood film. The author argues that within the discourse of children\'s studies and film scholarship in relation to the conception of the child,
there is often little to no distinction among children by race-the child
is most often discussed as a universal entity, as the embodiment of all things not adult, not (sexually) corrupt. Discussions about children of color among scholars often take place within contexts such as crime, drugs, urbanization, poverty, or lack of education that tend to reinforce historically stereotypical beliefs about African Americans. This title looks at historical conceptions of childhood within scholarly discourse, the child character in popular film and what space the black child (both African and African American) occupies within that ideal. The first book-length study to focus on representation of black children in popular film, it breaks down paradigms in studies of children on film by distinguishing the ways that "the child" is shaped by race, gender, and economic status. It analyzes representation on film from cinema\'s early eras to the contemporary period.