Secret Identities and Double Lives on Tween TV

Secret Identities and Double Lives on Tween TV in introduces readers to the concepts of tweenhood and television (TV) tropes by providing historical and theoretical contexts and reviewing the history of TV targeted to tweens.
Through a qualitative analysis of various live-action sitcoms, this book explores the popularity of programming featuring characters leading secret lives and targeted to tweens. By unpacking various theoretical explanations of this distinct period of life and examining them through the critical lens of the content of these tween TV shows that feature secret identities, the book offers a unique understanding of the tween experience woven in the nexus of power, morality, friendship, romance, family life and self-identity.
This book's analysis and understanding would benefit children's media scholars and researchers, students of media studies, communication studies, cultural studies, adolescent studies, and child development.

List of contents

Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Tweens, Teens, and TV
Chapter 3. Secret Identities
Chapter 4. Power
Chapter 5. Morality
Chapter 6. Friendship
Chapter 7. Romance
Chapter 8. Siblings
Chapter 9. Parents
Chapter 10. Extended Family and Mentors
Chapter 11. Revelation
 
Appendix 
Index

About the author

Amy Richards Franzini is Professor of Communication Studies at Widener University, USA. She studies the representations of children, childhood, parents, and parenting in popular media. She has written chapters in the books Fleeting Images: Portrayals of Children in Popular Culture and Common Sense: Intelligence as Presented on Popular Television, and has articles published in Journal of Sex Research, Communication Teacher and Journal of Children and Media.

Product details

• Authors: Amy Richards Franzini, Amy Richards (Widener University Franzini, Franzini Amy Richards
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2025
• EAN: 9781032972695
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3297269-5
• No. of pages: 144
• Series: Routledge Focus on Television Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > General, dictionaries; History, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Linguistics, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, The arts, YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Performing Arts / Television & Radio, Humanities, Child & developmental psychology, Social, group or collective psychology, Communication Studies, Secondary Schools, Language: history & general works, Child, developmental and lifespan psychology, TV & society, Media studies: TV and society, Language: history and general works, PERFORMING ARTS / Television / Genres / Children's