Largely neglected by Hollywood in the early 1990s, the youth market began receiving increased attention from American media industries by the end of the twentieth century. This book focuses on the resurgence of the teen/youth market. It highlights Hollywood’s attempts to exploit the millennial teen market across a range of media platforms and examines the impact of social, institutional, and technological changes (emergence of a teen demographic, increased media conglomeration, and the rise of digital technologies) on the aesthetics of contemporary teen-oriented entertainment texts.

Valerie Wee is an assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore. Her work has appeared in Journal of Popular Film and Television, Journal of Film and Video, and Feminist Media Studies.

Valerie Wee
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 283
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4269-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Preface      1
Introduction: Commercial Teen Culture, 1995 to 2009      5

1. Targeting Teens—The Return of a Vital Demographic Market      23
2. Hollywood and Teen Media—A Historical Overview      41
3. The Millennial Teen Media Text      66
4. Beyond Music Television      90
5. A New Dimension to Teen Media      117
6. From Teen Television Network to Teen Culture Nexus      142
7. Disney and the Youth Market—It’s a T(w)een World After All      166
8. Bridging the Digital Divide—Media in Transition      192

Conclusion      219
Chapter Notes      231
Bibliography      253
Index      263