The Construction and Framing of Children’s Agency in Relation to Adult Authority across the Novel, the 1996 Film, and the 2022 Musical Adaptations of Matilda: A Comparative Analysis

Sammanfattning

This study examines how children’s actions are constructed and framed as expressions of agency in relation to adult authority across Roald Dahl’s Matilda (1988), the 1996 film adaptation directed by Danny DeVito, and the 2022 musical adaptation directed by Matthew Warchus. More specifically, the study analyses how narrative voice, literary, cinematic, and performative techniques construct and frame children’s actions as expressions of agency across the three versions. The study addresses how different media present children’s responses to supportive, oppressive, and institutional forms of adult authority.The study adopts a comparative approach by drawing on theoretical perspectives on childhood studies and agency theory, particularly Alanen’s (2002) concept of generational structures, Qvortrup’s (2005) framework of childhood as a sociocultural construct, and Abebe’s (2019) relational understanding of agency. Through close comparative analysis of selected scenes across the novel and its adaptations, the study examines how children’s actions are constructed and framed as different forms of agency in relation to adult authority.The findings demonstrate that agency is fluid and shaped by social and institutional contexts. Across the three versions, children’s actions are constructed and framed as different forms of agency, including resistant, supported, constrained, collective, imaginative, and transformative forms of agency. The analysis further reveals that each medium shapes how children’s actions are constructed and framed as expressions of agency through its own techniques. In the novel, children’s actions are framed more implicitly as expressions of agency through narrative voice and focalization, while the film frames children’s actions as more emotionally intense and visually immediate forms of agency through cinematic techniques, such as camera work, pace, background music, and setting. In the musical adaptation, performative elements such as song, choreography, and collective performance frame children’s actions as more explicit and performative expressions of agency. Overall, the study contributes to broader discussions within childhood studies and adaptation theory concerning how different media construct understandings of childhood, authority, and agency.‾