An Unlikely Hero: Reconsidering Michael Endeʼs Momo as a Divine Child

The Divine Child was introduced by Carl Gustav Jung as an archetype closely linked to the process of individuation. Beyond the realm of analytical psychology, this peculiar child figure has been observed in myths and folklore and eventually evolved into a literary archetype known alternatively as das fremde Kind (the strange/alien child). Numerous child figures have since been regarded as representations of this archetype, with the titular character of Michael Ende’s novel Momo (1973) being one of them. While her initial appearance is evocative of the Divine Child, over the course of the story Momo has to accept her fate as the chosen one in a battle against a mysterious foe, ultimately finding herself in the role of the hero of the story. This paper examines the traits of both the archetype of the Divine Child, as well as that of the Hero – including a variation specific to child characters – with the goal of reconsidering if Momo is truly exemplary of the archetype of the Divine Child. This is done with particular regard to Christopher Vogler’s observation that literary archetypes are character functions, rather than fixed types, and as such this paper will discuss how Ende’s protagonist is ultimately an example of this fluidity of functions.

Minor Representations: From Anne Frank to Bana Alabed – The Radically Performative Literacies of a Viral Child

In this article, I construct a comparative analysis of two forms of child-authored life-narrative: the famous Diary of a Young Girl written by Anne Frank and the contemporary Twitter stream authored by the Syrian child-writer Bana Alabed. My interest in these two textual practices is focused on how they each formulate notions and experiences of temporality that are central to how conceptions of the modern, innocent child and its most recent counterpart – a figure whom I term the viral child – function. Across this analysis, I observe how the textual utterances performed by each child-author make specific claims about the autobiographical ‘I’ as it enacts a literary relationship to the temporality of its ongoing construction. I argue that the radical shift in relations between the child-figure and the future cast by Alabed’s tweets positions the viral child as not only a voice, but also a medium, of the cultural present.

Are You Really a Child?

A multitude of genres and types of characters, in Japanese comics and animated series, suggests many thought-provoking themes; i.e., questions about human nature. Many artists can see the answers to these questions in artificial humans – both cyborgs and androids. In this research, the author analyzes Japanese texts of popular culture in which artificial children are the protagonists of the stories. The author aims to compare a child figure in sociological discourse, considered there as vulnerable, to the representations in manga and anime, in which characters are created as children or technologically-modified prepubescents. In this chapter, the author presents ideas and culture associations for the concepts of android and cyborg. The chapter focuses also on analysis of the characters from Japanese comic books and animations – both androids and then cyborgs – according to transhumanistic and posthumanistic theories. The analysis results in a conclusion that a child figure is dehumanized in the context of cyborg and android child protagonists.

Erotohistoriography, Temporal Drag and the Interstitial Spaces of Childhood in Spanish Cinema

This chapter studies the child figure as ‘the conduit for the exploration of the trauma and loss of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath of dictatorship in Spain’ in well-known films including El espíritu de la colmena/The Spirit of the Beehive (dir. Víctor Erice, 1973), Cría cuervos/Raise Ravens (dir. Carlos Saura, 1976), Secretos del corazón/Secrets of the Heart (dir. Montxo Armendáriz, 1997) and Pa negre/Black Bread (dir. Agustí Villalonga, 2010). In an analysis informed by queer theory, and in particular by Lee Edelman’s concept of reproductive futurism and Elizabeth Freeman’s erotohistoriography, the chapter focuses on sequences of intense intimacy (between mother and child, for example), transgressive kids’ games, and some traumatic events witnessed by children to explore the potential of the child figure as the key to queer the films’ version of history.

Interrogating Masculinity through the Child Figure in Bombay Cinema

Patriarchy is most often understood in relation to the position of women in society. I propose to interrogate patriarchy in relation to children – particularly the male child – as depicted in two major works of Bombay Cinema. The number and scope of critical engagements with the onscreen portrayal of the child figure are restricted, and in the light of this lack I interrogate the portrayal of the male child figure, with particular emphasis on the constructs of masculinity that always implicate the child. The paper will undertake a detailed analysis of these masculine constructs, which are significantly shaped and interrogated in the areas of family and educational institutions for the male child (See Kakar 1981, and Haywood and Mac an Ghaill, 2003). For case studies, I analyze two highly acclaimed contemporary movies of Bombay Cinema: "Taare Zameen Par" (by Aamir Khan, 2007) and "Udaan" (by Vikramditya Motwane, 2010). Both movies critique the many notions associated with manhood and masculinity by situating their arguments within the contexts of family and educational institutions. What makes these critiques even more significant is the resistance offered by the child figure to conventional masculine authority through the agency of imagination. With such agency, not only does the male child debunk the traditionally sanctioned interests and attitudes of men, but also brings about a reconfiguration of those behavioral co-ordinates that have till now dominated the domains of family and education. Using ideas from sociological, film, gender and psychoanalytical theories, I highlight the role of children in subverting the traditionally oppressive ideas associated with Indian masculinity.