EXHIBITS

Our consumption of images and representations of children's misery has not faded since the eighteenth century, and if you don't believe me just hop on Netflix and watch Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events or read the children’s book series the show is based on. To the right of this page is the trailer for Netflix’s version of A Series of Unfortunate Events and it includes various representations of the miserable things the children encounter during the first season.  Their misery is an integral part of the experience created by the show. The story of the miserable orphan who goes off to find their happily (or in the case of the Baudelaires, unfortunately) ever after, are abundant.  Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Box Car Children, the list of orphaned or independent children whose stories we consume could go on forever.  

Reading and watching the stories of these children doesn’t make us bad people, but it does make us participants in the deep eighteenth century. Tracing the commodification of childhood misery reminds us that the world isn’t as black and white as it might seem on the surface.  While we aren’t taking Swift’s advice literally, we are still committing acts of commodification each time we interact with images of children who are less fortunate. Images of childhood misery and unfortunate circumstances that create childhood misery have been around forever and eradicating them is impossible.  

Rather than trying to end the consumption of these images, our focus should be on thinking about how we are using and consuming these images and the children they portray. Are we using them to seem like better people?  Are we using them to raise awareness?  Are we using them to dissect the lives and experiences of the child?  If we stop to question our reason for using an image or consuming the misery of less fortunate children, we can eliminate much of the harm consumption does to their stories and lives.