ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the comparison is made between the media consumption, play and literacy practices of children made in response to the films Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. In the 1950s, children’s exposure to non-print media was limited to television, film and radio. It is possible to identify the hours of screen use by children in this period, although older people interviewed about their memories of media use in this time report that it was minimal, as they spent most of the leisure time playing outdoors. Children’s play and literacy practices are shaped by all aspects of their experience, including popular culture. Children’s popular culture practice is frequently embedded in global mediascapes. Disney has been dominant in children’s popular cultural worlds since the early twentieth century, primarily through films but also through other media, such as games, toys and, recently, online virtual worlds.
