From Textbook To Magic Wand

Visual culture is a new researching field of great vitality and relates to various disciplines. There have already been systematical theories to support it abroad. In China, although the researches on or related to visual culture have just risen, considerable researching scale has already been formed. However, few researchers relate visual culture to children's literature. Based on diachronic studies of traditional children's literature in China and the west, the thesis takes the serial novels and movies of Harry Potter as a clue to discuss the necessary factors and objective conditions, as well as positive and negative influences they have brought. On one hand, visualized children's literature can sufficiently extend children's aesthetic experience with the function of education. On the other hand, it inevitably brings problems requiring further study.Taking in theories on literature, esthetics, and sociology, the thesis puts forward that when creating children's visual works in China or importing western visual works for children, five problems must be carefully studied: the disjunction between visual works and textual literature, deviation of visual culture and the reality, ethical conflicts in visual cultures, total westernization in the style of visual works, and rational attitude toward educational function of visual works for children. Especially, for the problem of ethical acceptance in importing western children's visual works, the thesis makes a deep investigation and analysis from various aspects on the root of ethical differences between children's literature in and abroad—the differences between Confucian theories and Christian doctrines.Hence the thesis reaches a conclusion that the success of business operations of imported western visual works for children by no means equals to the success of moral education and social influences. Only when the imported works take on the spirit of the era and meet certain moral standards of target country can they win the support of its people. Under the impact of western visual works for children, children's visual works producers in China have to chase the balance point between nationalization and internationalization, to improve the critical theories of visual works for children, to enhance the quality of scripts of visual works, and tomake good use of related policies brought forward by the government. The researches on thespecific problems of visual culture, ethical criticism, and children's literature are intended topromote related studies in China to a deeper and wider field.