Introduction

Our perceptions of childhood have evolved throughout history. Reading the social history of childhood alongside the history of media offers intriguing discoveries about this transformation. Children's interaction with art and media not only impacts their daily lives but also influences our perceptions of childhood. Therefore, strategies aimed at protecting children from screens also need to adapt. The children represented in these media also provide insights into the historical significance of childhood. One of the most significant examples of media that have changed our perspective on childhood is the discovery of the printing press technology. According to Aries' striking and debated thesis, there was no category of childhood in the Middle Ages (Aries, 1962). So how did childhood emerge according to this thesis? The printing press' invention created a split between those who could not read and those who could. This established a temporary period of 'acquiring literacy,' namely the modern education system. Henceforth, the most important development concerning the distinction between children and adult life became the practice of reading. Additionally, this demonstrated how crucial it is to examine artworks in respect of the analysis of childhood's sociological existence. In other words, Aries' grounding of the absence of a 'modern' sentiment towards childhood in the art of the Middle Ages also made examining the representation of childhood in art a significant methodology. The rise in the distinction between children and adults, and consequently the interest in the exploration of childhood, led to a 'veritable explosion of information' (Steedman, 1998, p. 5). As we enter the 20th century, during which statements about childhood will reach their peak, we know that new optical devices rapidly transformed into toys for children (Scholze, 2014; Streible, 2003). Significant among these is the Magic Lantern, considering children not only as passive spectators but also as 'curators' (Bak, 2015, p. 111), marking an important threshold. It is observed that other pre-cinema devices, along with the Magic Lantern, actively engage children as subjects. When we think about concepts such as children's matinees, child film stars, and the kidfluencers who will emerge in the 21st century, these developments were quite an early indication of the interaction between children and media. It is quite clear that art forms such as vaudeville, music, and theater have had significant impacts on the phenomenon of child stars, children's sociability, and even the subjectivities of societies. However, for child stars like the renowned Master Betty of British theater to have international fame, one would have to wait for the rapid spread of cinematography. Like early optical mediums, cinematography also marketed itself as 'usable even by a child.' Early cinema films filled theaters with child audiences through slapstick comedies or the cinema of attractions period (Gunning, 1990; Kenkel, 1999). The distance between childhood and adulthood began to blur. Thus, the childhood and childlike qualities were quite important for cinematography as a new medium. A long-lasting child's point of view emerged which became quite useful to the whole cinematic history. In his work 'The Disappearance of Childhood' (1982), Neil Postman draws inspiration from his observation that children access information faster than adults following the emergence of television. He argues that basic education is no longer sufficient to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood. Interestingly, today, contemporary digital platforms raise similar concerns about the relationship with childhood. The emergence of new media interacts with perceptions of childhood and strategies for protecting children. The fact that children are no longer satisfied with just TV and turn to digital platforms is not merely a 'passive' subjectivity. Children also aspire to have a YouTube channel. In fact, it is now commonplace to see children playing games as if they had their own YouTube channel (Pierson, 2016). Some families earn significant amounts of money by filming videos with their children. One of the dream professions for children is now to become an influencer (Chambers et al., 2019). This visual history takes into account the interaction of childhood with media, including not only dispositifs that construct it as 'the citizen of the future' but also the commercial, ethical, artistic, and narrative patterns made possible by this powerful image. Therefore, going beyond just the images of children on the screen was one of the main motivations of this special issue. In the first section of the special issue, we draw inspiration from the child's active, conciliatory, and distinctive qualities. This initial part not only addresses the child image on screen, but also focuses on the perspective of the children watching it and the adult behind the camera capturing them. Fatma Tunç Yaşar and Onur Güneş Ayas' article titled "Early Acquaintances with Modern Mass Culture in Late Ottoman Istanbul: The Experiences of Child Audiences at Direklerarası" focuses on the social impacts of child audiences encountering medi a for the first time. The final years of the Ottoman Empire had a multicultural, rich, and distinctive entertainment market. While existing studies often focus on Pera (modern -day Beyoğlu), predominantly inhabited by non-Muslims, this article investigates the significant role of child audiences in the Direklerarası district, which had a primarily Muslim audience. Thus, we understand that the power of Muslim child audiences in late Ottoman Istanbul was one of the significant aspects of dynamism in the Ottoman entertainment market. So, what were the children newly encountering cinema watching? Not only in Ottoman Istanbul but also around the world, children viewers were one of the key audience groups at the birth of cinema. One of the eagerly awaited film series for both child and adult viewers was the series featuring child stars. Before World War I, during the period when French cinema dominated the global market, each major French production company had its own child movie star. Bekir Düzcan, realizing that child film stars did not begin with Hollywood, attempts to discuss the child star films of early French cinema, along with the symbolic features that made these children stars, in his article titled 'Take my Moneybox': The Symbolic Powers of the First Child Movie Stars in Early French Cinema (1906-1916). Thus, he catches a connection between the child film stars on the screen and the child audiences filling the movie theatres. Throughout the 20th century, child imagery evoked people's empathy quickly and easily in photographs, advertisements, cinema, television, and social campaigns. Child images, which enable rapid identification, perhaps popularized a melodramatic narrative pattern by leveraging their 'potential rather than actuality' (Castenada, 2002, pp. 1–3; Wells, 2020). Karen Wells discusses drawing a concrete example of representing the child image by avoiding 'pitiful' melodramatic patterns, inspired by the Weaving Knowledge (2024) documentary in her article titled "Docudrama and the agential child: treading a path between melodrama and National Geographic". This highlights the importance of viewing African children as natural actors striving to evade a melodramatic gaze. This avoidance reminds us that carrying adult allegories is not an inherent fate of the child image and that films aimed at children do not necessarily require such sentiment. However, this is not always easy or 'useful' for filmmakers, is it? In the second section, we delve into the depths of 'convenient' pathways that benefit from the power of child imagery, providing concrete examples. From magazines to television and cinema, the child image serves as a carrier of social, political, religious, moral, or ethical values. The childhood period has become one of the most significant agendas of the social construction process. Since its discovery, child images have been one of the most convenient ways to construct various political, religious, or ethical values. Magazines targeting children with different social construction purposes allow us to understand the intention of the societal construction mechanism. In his article titled 'Building Pious Generations in Turkey: The Islamization of Childhood in the Children's Magazine of the Directorate of Religious Affairs,' Murat Arpacı conducts a detailed and historical content analysis of the children's magazine archive prepared by the Directorate of Religious Affairs, an official institution in Turkey. He traces the one-sided increase in the level of Islamization within the social construction paradigm during the 2000s. He also claims that the political transformation has transformed the 'ideal child' image in the institution's children's magazine. Another study questioning how rapidly the discursive framework related to children is affected by political changes is Victoria Shmidt's work 'Public Care for Children in (Post)Socialist European Films: On the Side of Sons and Stepdaughters of the Nation?'. This article opens up the discussion on the relationship between the discourse of public care and child imagery in films produced in Eastern European Cinema between the 1960s and 1990s. It explores the reflections of the changing concept of public care on the child image in cinema. Additionally, it interprets how gender differences are embodied in the national allegory using child images. As emphasized by Wells, the rapid melodramatization potential of child imagery also creates a 'useful' sense of concern for the apocalypse narratives beloved by cinema. Not only wars but also major climate disasters, which are likely to affect children the most, functionalize the child point of view in such films. Andrês Buesa argues in his work 'Facing Apocalypse: Climate Mobilities and the Cinematic Child' that functions attributed to children in these films, such as 'seer,' 'victim,' and 'carrier of hope,' carry a potential to depoliticize climate movements. Child imagery serves as a highly useful framework not only for cinema but also for other media types. As noted by Buesa, the functionality of child imagery can morph into a form that conceals the underlying realities of war or disaster and prevents genuine confrontation. Gül Esra Atalay and Bahar Muratoğlu Pehlivan, in their article 'Aestheticizing the Pain: A Critical Analysis of Media Representation of Earthquake Victim Children in Turkey,' extensively analyze the child imagery on television channels following the devastating and tragic earthquake disasters in Turkey on February 6, 2023. They argue that these widespread, convenient contents in the media underscore the need for ethical and responsible media principles. They claim that the narrative of children miraculously rescued from the rubble glorifies patriarchal values while neglecting the real culprits. The third section discusses the relationship between childhood and digital media. Childhood in new media has led to more complex relationships compared to traditional media. Children who have become significant figures on digital platforms, and there are now children who answer the question of their 'dream job' with 'influencer' … Digital platforms, which children can access more quickly compared to traditional media, have created kidfluencers who achieve high commercial incomes with their families. One of the first legal regulations established regarding child performers was inspired by the case of Hollywood child star Jackie Coogan, known as the 'Coogan Law' fund (Shor, 2009). This aimed to prevent families from seizing all the money earned by child stars. However, Shirley Temple's concerning revelations later in life of her own 'forced labor' and 'child abuse' (Temple Black, 1989) are echoed a century later, as we discuss kidfluencers. Taking inspiration from this historical trajectory, Akın Bakioğlu, in his article 'Digital Capitalism and Child Labour Exploitation on YouTube,' critically analyzes kidfluencers within digital media through the concept of 'labor exploitation' and focuses on how kidfluencers can be problematized within digital capitalism. Unlike traditional media, new media also fosters alternative, creative, and more subjective forms of expression. These encompass a diversity of expressions that, relying on users' imagination, recreate and reinterpret existing images. Martine Mussies' article 'The fate of England rested with a 22 year old boy – Media Representations of the Youth and Childhood of King Alfred the Great' explores the specific significance attributed to King Alfred the Great(ninth-century King of Wessex)'s childhood in the remembrance of his image. The article focuses on the visual consequences of new concepts and genres such as fanculture, fanfiction and fandom reconstructing a hero by infantilizing him, under the influence of internet technology and young fan base. This special issue aims to evaluate the relationship between childhood and media by considering both its on-stage and behind-the-scenes interactions, while being bold and flexible in establishing historical connections. Child images have had a powerful quality in the vast media diversity of the 20th and 21st centuries, empowering various discourses and artistic forms. Today, it seems not to have lost any of its power, as digital media not only encourages more viewing of the world of children, but as with the presence of children in relation to the late 19th century Magic Lantern or cinematograph, it encourages more production and participation. In the fourth section you will read a wonderful interview titled 'A childhood story of growth and self-discovery' conducted by Seray Genç, with Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, on her film '20,000 Species of Bees'. Thus, we not only stick to academic concepts but also listen closely to the motivation that drives a director to work with child actors and produce child images. At the end of our issue, we feature two book reviews. The first book review titled "Children, Migration and Media: Two Books from a Global Perspective," written by Murat Arpacı, addresses the relationship between children and media in a global context, while the second book review titled "How to Write Successfully Children's Screen History," written by Bekir Düzcan and Akın Bakioğlu, introduces Karen Wells' latest book, which primarily discusses the historical journey of the children/media relationship in the United States. We would like to thank all the authors who contributed to our special issue, all the valuable referees who reviewed the articles, the journal editors Yoke-Sum Wong and Jake Vinje – as well as Wiley editorial support. We hope you enjoy reading the articles.