"[A] story about a child is scarier than one about an adult roughly 80% of the time": Creepypasta, Children's media, and the child in media discourse. (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pattee, Amy
• Is Part Of: Childhood. Volume 29:Number 2(2022)
• Page Start: 204
• Page End: 218
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: Creepypasta -- children's media -- discourse -- child audience -- media panic; Children -- Periodicals; Child development -- Periodicals; Children -- Research -- Periodicals; 305.23
• DOI: 10.1177/09075682221093843
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0907-5682

Abstract

"Creepypasta, " short works of original horror fiction and frightening images created primarily by amateurs and shared in online communities of like-minded readers and writers, use the language of horror to encode and offer commentary on issues of contemporary concern. A close reading of an exemplary text, "Candle Cove, " demonstrates how this and other similarly themed creepypasta represent vernacular contributions to discussions of young people's interactions with mass media that reflect a popular interest in both securing and disrupting the figure of the child constructed in media discourse.