Wimpy Kid Research Articles

Comedy and Masculine Hegemony: Adapting Masculinities in Humorous Children’s Fiction

AbstractSince the early 2000s, there has been increasing scholarly focus on the representations of masculinities in children’s literature. In part, this is due to the growing field of critical studies in men and masculinities coupled with wider public concern about boys’ development and education. This paper contributes to this work by analysing constructions of masculinity in four popular humorous series for children: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007–2022), The Treehouse books (2011–2023), The Bad Guys (2015–2023), and Planet Omar (2019–2023). Understanding genre as a reciprocal dynamic, the analysis demonstrates how these texts both intercede and shape the social and national milieu in which they are produced. As our understanding of acceptable masculine behaviours has adapted, so too has there been a shift in both the represented masculine dynamics and role of comedy in humorous junior fiction for boys. While some early series attempt to invert the hierarchical ordering of boys to validate alternative masculinities, the farcical genre conventions rest on limited models of masculinity, and frequently reaffirm the very tropes and behaviours that they seek to redress. In contrast, later series attempt to expand the repertoire of qualities that are acceptable for boys and men, challenging patterns of masculine hegemony, thereby revisioning what it means to be male. While humorous texts for young people may engage young male readers, the operation of humour and its relationship to masculinities is political, and can operate in either reductive or expansive ways.

The Battle of Domination between Adults and Children in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This research examines the issue of adults’ domination of children, and also children empowerment in Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007). The study framework is developed using Nodelman’s orientalism in children’s literature (1992), Anshori’s children empowerment (2016), and Kurnia et al. (2021) power relations in children’s literature. The research data were in the form of multimodal data related to adults’ domination of children. Analysis is done with the basis of Halliday’s (1978) interpersonal metafunction, in particular the system of Attitude. Analysis of visual interactive meaning by Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) is also employed. The research found out that while adults exercise domination over children by controlling, ignoring, oppressing, and threatening, children show refusal to adults’ domination and show empowerment through their bravery, knowledge and idea, unselfishness, and empathy. This research also highlights that these issues might not be apparent while being a pervasive issue in children’s literature. Therefore, more egalitarian children literary works are needed to make children literature a safe space for its readers and not a ground to exercise power and instill ideology by adults. Keywords: Domination, Children’s empowerment, Children’s literature, Graphic novel, Power relations

Paralanguage in the Translation of Children’s Graphic Novels into Arabic: Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid

AbstractGraphic novels are marketed as helpful for reluctant young readers. The supplementation of text with visual stimuli as part of a multimodal narrative is often claimed to improve reading comprehension and motivation in children and young adolescents. The translation into Arabic of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by comparison, fails to deliver an equally engaging reading experience. In the Arabic versions of Rodrick Rules and Hard Luck, language acts as an obstacle to comprehension due to the misrepresentation of textual paralanguage, broadly defined as the written representation of nonverbal aspects of communication including tone, stress and volume. As paralanguage is also involved in character portrayal, this translation approach paints a rather dull image of the series’ protagonist Greg. Using the textual paralanguage typology proposed by Luangrath et al. (J Consum Psychol 27:98–107, 2017), the case is made here for closer attention in translation to the pragmatic meanings contained in textual paralanguage. As the novel evolves to incorporate an ever-expanding array of multimodal elements, so should the translation strategies involved in rendering these texts into other languages.

A Study of Presupposition and Conversational Implicatures in the Comic Strip of “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid”

This study aims at exploring the application of presupposition and conversational implicature in communication within comic strips from pragmatics field of study as proposed by Yule, (2006). The research design of this study is a qualitative design. The data were utterances and sentences in "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" comic strip. This study reveals that there were four types of presuppositions implemented by the characters in “The Diary of A Wimpy Kid” comic, namely counter-factual presupposition, existential presupposition, factive presupposition, and lexical presupposition. Additionally, the research revealed that the characters in the comic employ two distinct forms of conversational implicatures: generalized conversational implicatures and particularized conversational implicatures.

Maintaining Funny Effects in a Target Language: Translating Humorous Expressions

Translating a humorous language is difficult for translators since even when the intended meaning is translated, the humorous effect may be missed due to the different translation strategies used in translating the text. This study intends to reveal the methods used in translating the language that contributed to the humorous effect in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid graphic series. Hopefully, this study will contribute to the literature on translating Humour into Arabic and determine whether translating Humour into Arabic effectively conveys its intended meaning beyond the language barrier. Random but funny chunks from various volumes were picked as the data source. Leppihalme’s (1997) humour translation model was used to analyse the data. A reading experiment was conducted with 17 teenagers to rate some chosen translated and non-translated sections to assess whether the methods succeeded. Then the obtained data were also subjected to a comparative mixed analysis. According to the analysis, there appears to be a repeating approach used to translate the text into Arabic, and this method is also used to translate potentially funny parts regardless of what context and co-text could contribute to the sense of humour effect. According to the findings, 37 individuals in both monolingual and bilingual groups thought the given Arabic-translated parts were not funny at all. In contrast, only 12 thought the same chunks in their English origin were not funny at all.

Place Deictic Expression Usage in English Movie “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”

Knowing how the deictic expression is delivered in our daily interaction is way necessary to help participant in avoiding an ambiguity interpretation. This researcher aimed to analyze how speaker and hearer interaction in Diary of a Wimpy Kid dealt with place deictic expression and to reveal the type of place deictic used within each usage by considering some different usage of deictic term proposed by Levinson (1983) and other linguist. This research used descriptive qualitative method to analysis place deictic term found in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. There are four different usage found, they are gestural, symbolic, anaphoric, and non-anaphoric usage. Both gestural and symbolic involve pure and impure place deictic. While anaphoric and non-anaphoric only involve pure and impure for each. Those usage is use differently to convey meaning based on context of utterance that tied to the participant.

Place Deictic Expression Usage in English Movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"

Place Deictic Expression Usage in English Movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"

A Semiotic Analysis of Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie Posters

This research is a descriptive qualitative research on semiotic field. The subiect of this research is a poster series of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a movie adaptation of the same title semi-animated children book by Jeff Kinney. The data consists of a teaser poster and a theatrical poster of the movie film derived from Cinemags Movie Magazine and 20th Century Fox. This research aims to analyze semiotic signs from both posters by identifying icon, index, symbol, code, language, and myth following Saussure's, Peirce's, Danesi's, and Barthe's theories on Semotics. The result of the analysis presented 8 semiotic signs (4 on each poster) with the detailed analysis of signs, icon, index, symbol, code, and myth on each signs.

GREG HEFFLEY’S ROLE CONFUSION IN THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID (2007): A PSYCHOSOCIAL ANALYSIS

This research is conducted to analyze psychological condition of Greg Heffley, the protagonist in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) in his early teenage year. Theory used in this research is Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Method of this research is qualitative descriptive that uses novel as the primary data. Results of the research shows that Greg Heffley as the protagonist experiences a role confusion due to the transition from childhood to teenage. It is worsened by his unsupportive best friend who still acts like a child when interacting with him. It is found also that Greg Heffley at this stage begins to be aware of his sexual and occupational identity. It is concluded that Greg Heffley is not smooth in transitioning from childhood to teenage with all the situation that he has.

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS AND PHRASE EXPRESSIONS IN ”DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LONG HAUL” FILM BY DAVID BOWERS

<p>The aim of the research to find and classify types of Idiomatic Expressions and Phrase Expressions in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul” Film by David Bowers. In this research the researcher used qualitative approach, like analyze descriptive narration, a dialog or conversation. Meanwhile, for technique data research by content analysis research. The researcher used Lim’s theory to classify idiomatic expressions. In Lim’s theory there are 6 types of idioms, such as: idioms with phrasal verb, idioms with prepositional phrase, idioms with verbs as keyword, idioms with nouns as keyword, idioms with adjective as keyword, and idiomatic pairs. The result of this research showed that the film used 60 idiom expressions to express their feeling and thought. The researcher found 21 Phrasal Verbs, 19 Verb as Keywords, 8 Adjective as Keywords, 6 Noun as Keywords, 3 Prepositional Phrases and 3 Idiomatic pairs. The researcher used Ba’dulu’s theory to examine phrase expressions. In Ba’dulu’s theory there are 5 types of phrase, such as: noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, and adverb phrase. The result of this research showed that the film used 157 phrases. The researcher found 56 Noun Phrases, 48 Verb Phrases, 23 Prepositional Phrases, 18 Verb Phrases and 12 Adverb Phrases.</p><div> </div>

Anti-heroism in Children’s Literature: A Psychoanalytic Study of Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Anti-heroism in children’s literature becomes one of the scholarly interests in recent times. Anti-heroism reveals the lack of heroic traits and imperfection of protagonists and emphasizes their failure as being ideals and icons for children. This research discusses Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) aiming to examine anti-heroism in Greg Heffley’s character, using Sigmund Fraud’s psychoanalysis theory and mind structure of Id, Ego, and Superego. The study argues the struggle of middle child in the family and his behavior in the school showing the problems faced by him as a protagonist who unexpectedly go through many shortcomings and downfalls. The study answers questions as why Greg Heffley is portrayed as an anti-hero and how does the psychoanalytic approach help to examine the structure of Greg’s personality? This study is divided into two sections and a conclusion. Section one sheds light on anti-heroism, children literature and Sigmund Fraud’s theory of psychoanalysis. Section two deals with the novel’s analysis according to Fraud’s theory of psychoanalysis showing antihero qualities in the protagonist’s behavior. The last part of the study is the conclusion that sums up the findings of the study.

A Corpus-Based Study on the Translation of English Ideophones in Italian Picture Books: The Case of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This paper aims to provide the readers with an overview of the nature of sound symbolism in Italian and offers new food for thought to scholars in the under-researched field of sound symbolism in translated literature for young readers. Whilst English uses ideophones in literature for young readers, Italian sound symbolism often seems to rely on Anglophonic creations, arguably due to both linguistic and cultural reasons. The third and fourth books of the series for children and young adults, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, have been taken as a source for examples. The books contain both text and pictures, which include ideophones in them. Each of the two English books has been analysed together with their Italian versions, and the strategies employed to translate sound symbolism have been catalogued into a small corpus. The results, on top of elucidating the nature of Italian sound symbolism, show a considerable degree of adaption and a frequent reliance on Anglophonic forms, with scattered attempts made at adapting English ideophones for the Italian readership. This is achieved through the modification of source forms to resemble Italian syntactical structures more closely and through the removal of certain consonant clusters that are considered typically Anglophonic (i.e., <th>, <sh>).

Eleştirel Düşünme Becerisi Edindirme Bağlamında Çocuk ve Gençlik Kitaplarının İncelenmesi

With the technological advancements and declining connection of children and young adults with written works, getting their interest to qualified books has become a significant issue. Such children and young adult books should avoid an instructional tone and make them reflect on various events through the characters without compromising the literary value. This study is intended to focus on an in-depth investigation of 2016 best-seller children and young adult books in the context of critical thinking skills acquisition. Thirty children's and young adult books in the genre of short stories and novels selected based on the data from three internet websites constitute the data set to the content analysis performed in this study. “Theme” is used as a context unit. Frequency, percentage, and density values are utilized in the evaluation of subcategories. Among the children and young adult books examined in the course of this study, The Little Prience, One Peach and a Thousand Peaches, and Yaşasın Ç Harfi Kardeşliği are found to be the books having largest density values in this order while the books titled Heart, Bir Küçük Osmancık Vardı, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel (Book 7) are the books with the least density values. This study points out the importance of a detailed examination of the books intended to be read by children and young adults from critical thinking perspective.

Kültürlerarası İletişim Bağlamında Çizgi Roman: Diary of Wimpy Kid (Saftirik Greg’in Günlüğü)

Kültürlerarası iletişim, farklı kültürlere sahip bireyler arasında gerçekleşen bir iletişim ve etkileşim sürecidir. Bu süreçte amaç, bireylerin birbirini anlaması, birbirinin kültürel değerlerini tanıması ve farklı kültürlerden bireylerin bir araya gelmesi durumunda olası çatışmaların önüne geçilmesidir. Kültürlerarası iletişim tek yönlü iletişim yerine çift yönlü iletişimi; iknaya dayalı bir iletişim yerine de etkileşimi ve karşılıklılığı esas almaktadır. Kültür, insan ömrünün ilk yıllarında öğrenilmektedir. Bu nedenle çocuklara yönelik hazırlanan kitle iletişim araçları içeriklerinin kültürün taşıyıcılığında oynadığı rol incelemeye değer bulunmaktadır. Bu düşünceden hareketle çalışmada, kültürlerarası iletişim bağlamında ‘Diary of Wimpy Kid’ (Saftirik Greg’in Günlüğü) çizgi romanının taşıdığı kültürel kodların tespit edilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu çerçevede Saftirik Greg’in Günlüğü çizgi romanının on dört cildi Geert Hofstede’nin kültür soğanı modeli çerçevesinde analiz edilmiştir. Elde edilen veriler değerler, ritüeller, kahramanlar ve semboller başlıkları altında incelenmiştir. Buna göre, Saftirik Greg’in Günlüğü çizgi romanının farklı kültürden bireylere Amerikan kültürünü tanıtma açısından kültürel kodlarla donatılmış olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Resemiotization of Illustrations in Children’s Picture Books Between English and Arabic

Translation is no longer limited to transfer the meaning contained in a language sign; it includes instead the transposition of meaning from one non-verbal sign system into another. Children’s picture books are multimodal texts that include two different semiotic modes; the text itself and the illustrations. The present study aims at investigating the extent to which illustrations (non-verbal signs) in children’s picture books are translatable/resemiotized from English to Arabic and whether this translation/resemiotization process is considered as an intersemiotic translation. To achieve the objectives of this study, Charles Peirce’s theory of signs was adopted. Six examples of illustrations and their Arabic translations were collected from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The selected illustrations, their meanings, and their relationships were analyzed using Peirce triadic sign model. The results revealed that illustrations in children’s picture books are translatable to a great extent, their translations are intersemiotic, and that they go through resemiotization process. Because illustrations are non-verbal signs which can be analyzed and broken down into representamens, objects, and interpretants (according to Peirce), thus can be translated into other non-verbal signs in any other language.

READING INTERESTS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

This article presents the results of a study that examined the interest and influence of gender of students studying in International schools in Sri Lanka on reading. The objectives of this study was to find the nature of reading interest of the primary school children and to examine whether it differ by gender. The sample was selected from three International schools in Colombo district. Data was collected through a questionnaire and analyzed with Chi-square test. Findings indicated that, boys preferred comic books and the girls opted to picture books. Reading Newspapers and web pages are not popular among students, despite computer was much preferred in the past. This could indicate that children prefer to read a book. Where genres are concerned, Mystery & Adventure and Fantasy are the selection of the majority. Both these fall into the fiction category which was confirmed by previous researches. Since a vast majority of the sample showed preference for series books as well as comic books, it can be concluded that books from the Wimpy Kid and the Geronimo Stilton series can be used in order to encourage and motivate young readers by making reading an enjoyable activity.

Currency's reversed marginal role in children's literature: Loans, debts, Mum Bucks and their subversion inDiary of a Wimpy Kid

AbstractMonetary issues abound in the best‐seller graphic novelDiary of a Wimpy Kid, where Heffley, his little brother Manny, and his friend Rowley often try to borrow or use others' money, the failure of which often develops into stealth or abuse of money, not to mention Heffley's mom's failed effort of disciplining him by introducing Mum Bucks. Money plays the role of currency and is one of the regulating and most fundamental principles in the adult society. Those who disregard the commonly accepted way of the use of money are often marginalized or even become criminals. On the contrary, in the children's world, money is often marginalized and destabilized—it is not respected with reference to its proper function in the adult world and it is often abused, counterfeited, or denied, the degree of which often indicates the degree of maturity of the character. This article analyzes different characters' regards and uses of money inDiary of a Wimpy Kidin an attempt to reveal the marginalized or even destabilizing role money plays in the children's world. It argues that the least mature character holds the most careless attitude toward money and this behavior often upsets the more mature character, who to a certain extent has partly internalized the central role of money in the adult world. It is, therefore, not surprising that Heffley's mom's introduction of Mom Bucks fail to work in the end because it symbolizes adults' futile enforcement of the disciplinary power of money in the children's world where it is not recognized as such.

TRANSLATING THE IDIOMATIC TERMS ON DIARY OF A WIMPY KID “DOG DAYS” OF JEFF KINNEY’S NOVEL

This study is to analyzethe types of idiomatic expressionsthat are mostly had on Diary of a Wimpy Kid“Dog Days” by Jeff Kinneyand strategies which are mostly applied by the translators in translating the idioms based on the strategies proposed by Baker (1992).This study useddescriptive method to describe the type of idiomatic expression and strategy in translating idiom.The types of idioms which are mostly found in the novel entitled Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Dog Days). As the sample of the data taken from idioms in the novel. It had 52 idioms as the sample of the data. The data show that phrasal verbs are the most frequent idioms found in the novel with a total of 27 occurrences or 52% idioms. From 52 idioms found in the novel, the translators mostly used paraphrased as the strategy in translating idioms into the target language with a total 42 occurrences or 81% of idioms. In other words, the idioms found in the source language were translated into non-idioms in Indonesian language. This kind of strategy can be done by the translator as long as the translator can keep the natural meaning in the target language, so the reader can enjoy the story comfortably.

Purification Strategy in the Arabic Translations of Diary of A Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a highly regarded series of novels and the winner of many prizes worldwide targeting children and teenagers. The current paper aims to compare the original novel written in English with its Arabic Translation to highlight the purifying measures taken by the publishers to adapt the inappropriate or unsuitable content for the target reader. The original novel includes mentions of love, relationships, indecent clothes, religion and cultural holidays which were all altered and adapted to the Arabic culture. Based on an interview conducted with the publishers of the Arabic translation, translating and writing for children go through a strict filter to guarantee that any content corresponds with Arabic values to guarantee the book’s access to every Arab country. The translator, therefore, seems to be free from the blame of making the changes to the original novel as the publishers dictated the translation guidelines. The paper shows that the translators resorted to using strategies such as omission, substitution, and cultural adaptations to purify the content of the original novel..

Confessions of a Dork Lord by Mike Johnston

Reviewed by: Confessions of a Dork Lord by Mike Johnston Alaine Martaus Johnston, Mike Confessions of a Dork Lord; illus. by Marta Altés. Putnam, 2020 [352p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-5247-4081-8 $13.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-5247-4082-5 $8.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 4-7 For twelve-year-old Azrael Bal Gorath the Wicked, aka Wick, aka Dork Lord, sixth grade at Nightshadows school unfolds in a series of embarrassments, from failing to cast the simplest of shoe-tying spells to coming in last on the Index of Muscle, Mayhem, and Magic. Wick also lives in the shadow of his legendary father, the Dark Lord Who Vanished, and who left strict instructions that his heir was to have no help while earning his throne. This supposedly leadership-building dictum soon leads to near disaster, when the realm's most powerful weapon, the Scepter of Ultimate Darkness, disappears and Wick sets off on an ill-advised quest to retrieve it. When his travels lead to revelations and a final showdown with bullies, though, Wick might just discover he has talents enough to win the day. Wick isn't the only one to suffer from inevitable comparisons here, as this cross between Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter struggles to emerge from the shadow of its predecessors. Johnston offers up plenty of wordplay, bathroom humor, spells, and silliness, but ultimately the story gets bogged down by an overabundance of world building, while simultaneously shortchanging what could be a quirky series of misadventures. Undeveloped sidekicks, meanwhile, leave readers with a main character who's pitiable but not likable. Still, friendly print and sturdily cheerful illustrations add accessibility, and this novel might just find a home in hands of those who want a familiar zero-to-hero story with the flavor of their favorite tabletop role-playing game. [End Page 212] Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois