Why is アタマ written in katakana in the following passage?

Question

I am watching a series of videos about the life of 手塚【てづか】治虫【おさむ】. In the video number 8, the word アタマ in 「子供のアタマ」 is spelled in katakana:

Is this a way to emphazise or highlight something? or what am I missing?

Also note that in the same slide, just some sentences before, あたま in 「頭のかたい」 is spelled in kanji, which makes it all the more intriguing. Why is the writer spelling あたま in katakana only for one occurrence of the word, an not for the others?

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

It's exactly the same reason why マンガ is commonly written in katakana. For some words, katakana makes them look "soft", "casual", "catchy", "friendly"...or whatever. This is why アタマ is often used in product names and catchphrases, as shown below:

As you can see, this has nothing to do with respect or humbleness. You can safely use アタマ referring to the brains of your (potential) customers.

Which word is commonly katakanized is fairly arbitrary, but アタマ, カラダ and ココロ are all common. Similar examples include ヘタ (下手), クソ (糞), カンタン (簡単), ベンリ (便利), オモテとウラ (表と裏), ミライ (未来), ワナ (罠) and タダ (只).

There are many other reasons to use katakana.

• To add an international flavor: ニンジャ, ニッポン, ヒキコモリ
• To add a "high-tech" flavor: トヨタ, ホンダ
• To imply a derivative meaning is used: オタク, ノド
• Simply the kanji is difficult and/or non-intuitive: メチャクチャ, ツジツマ
• Plain emphasis (akin to all-caps): ゼッタイ

Answer 2

Purely speculative though, I think it's somewhat condescending description of children's head because the kanji :「頭」is normally used to describe an important person.

• 頭{かしら} is the head of the group of carpenters.
• 頭{とう}取{どり} is the CEO of bank.
• 船頭{せんどう} is the captain of the ship.

So, the author wants to used「アタマ」for children's brain/mind/head in somewhat self-humiliating way. I think it is similar nuance that parents calling one's kid 愚息{ぐそく} or 豚児{とんじ} in Japanese culture.