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Mar 8

Strawberry Shortcake – “Big Country Fun”


In the episode of Strawberry Shortcake I watched, titled “Big Country Fun”, Strawberry Shortcake and her friend Angel Cake get a job at the “Fairy Prairie Dude Ranch” where they become the counselors of different bunkhouses. While there, their cabins compete against one another in a contest over who can make the best chili, decorate their horses the prettiest, and who is the best at trail riding. Throughout the episode, Angel Cake becomes very competitive and loses sight of the fun they’re supposed to be having at the ranch.

While the article titled “Strawberry Shortcake in the Big Apple City” argues that Gary Cross’ claims accurately describe the nature of the Strawberry Shortcake episodes, I don’t think I would fully agree with that. Admittedly, many things about the series are based off of a fantasy world. For instance, the fact that the trees are big lollipops and the mountains are large cupcakes of course does not correlate to the real world. However, I believe that the underlying themes to the episode I watched would have actually had an impact on the children watching the show. The main lesson the audience would have learned from the episode would have been that competition was created in order to have fun, and it is important to not lose sight of that when competing against other people. Throughout the competition, the characters also showed that it is okay for people to make mistakes and that teamwork is important when striving for a common goal.

No, this Strawberry Shortcake article does not fully prepare children for adulthood, but it DOES provide for a fun way for children to learn important lessons while watching something that appeals to their imagination. Furthermore, I believe it is extremely important for a child’s imagination to be triggered at a young age so they can grow up to become creative and imaginative human beings. Strawberry Shortcake does a spectacular job of combining creativity and important lessons that would be beneficial to young children at the time.

Mar 8

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

In Gary Cross’s article “Spinning Out of Control” he argues that “the old view that children should learn from the past and prepare for the future is inevitably subverted in a consumer culture where memory and hope get lost in the blur of perpetual change (290).” After reading this I watched an episode of Strawberry Shortcake because it is an example of a PLC (program length commercial) according to Cross (296). In this particular episode Strawberry Shortcake was a finalist in a baking competition where she had to travel to Big Apple city and participate in a bake off with the “villain” Purple Pie Man that will be on TV. In order to get to Big Apple City, Strawberry Shortcake has to travel on the back of a butterfly. Once she is there she makes tons of friends instantly, and they are all eager to help Strawberry Shortcake win. Throughout the whole episode Purple Pie Man is constantly trying to sabotage Strawberry Shortcake’s chances of winning, but always fails because Strawberry Shortcake’s new friends are there to help her out. Ironically at the end of the episode the announcer of the bake-off offers Strawberry Shortcake a television show, but she politely declines because she will miss her friends. The announcer then punishes Purple Pie Man by making him the new vice president of the television network. Strawberry Shortcake according to cross was the “girls’ version of Star Wars,” and I would completely have to agree  because it the whole show was not relatable to real life (299). The whole setting and plot was unrealistic and so was the process of making so many new friends. No where in this episode did I see any type of life lessons or preparing children to live in the real world. It was all about making new friends, so in my opinion Cross’s argument holds true for the episode I watched.

Mar 8

Care Bears: “The Camp-Out”

Similar to other program-length commercials (PLCs), the Care Bears began as characters on greeting cards in 1981. The Care Bears were depicted by plush animals in 1983, and ultimately landed their own television show by 1985. Examining an episode of the Care Bears television series entitled “The Camp-Out,” it is immediately obvious from the initial theme song that this series is a feel-good series intending to reach out to the imaginative child.

In this episode, a group of Care Bears go on a camping trip to a friendly looking forest. Care Bears Playful Heart and Funshine Bear call for help with the intention of tricking Brave Heart and the other adult-like Care Bears. After scolding Playful Heart and Funshine Bear about the consequences that could result from calling for help when they do not need it, Brave Heart proceeds to tell a scary story of the Swamp Monster. Playful Heart and Funshine Bear take this story as an invitation to scare the rest of the Care Bears by dressing up as the Swamp Monster later in the evening. Throughout the episode shadows of the real Swamp Monster are seen. The following morning Playful Heart and Funshine Bear again trick the other Care Bears by calling for help. The rest of the group does not find this very amusing. When Playful Heart and Funshine Bear are really in trouble and call for help, none of the others respond, aside from the two Care Bear cubs, Hugs and Tugs. When the Swamp Monster ends up being the series regular villain, Mr. Beastly, confusion about the real Swamp Monster breaks out amongst the adult Care Bears. Eventually the real Swamp Monster reveals himself to be a gentle and shy creature that cares and looks out for the forest and its inhabitants. The Swamp Monster rescues the cubs, Playful Heart and Funshine Bear. In the end, Playful Heart and Funshine Bear learn that playing tricks on their friends can end poorly, and their friends might not be there when they really need them.

The above summarized episode will act as an example of a typical Care Bears episode. Using this assumption, the Care Bears series abides by Cross’ idea of PLCs as “fantasy worlds.” However, the fantasy world created in the series does not perpetuate the fatalistic view that Cross would suggest. The Care Bears are living in a fantasy world, but the program attempts to teach lessons that are applicable to the real world of a child. For a child, learning the lesson of not calling out for help when you do not need it, and not playing tricks on your friends has a very real application. This lesson comes in a brief fifteen minute package that indulges the child in a fantasy world that is “free from adults” (290). It could be speculated that the child would actually respond better to an informal lesson from imaginary characters that it feels personally connected to, rather than in a formal lesson from an adult. The purposeful lessons in the Care Bears episodes serve as an antithesis for Cross’ idea that “the old view that children should learn from the past and prepare for the future” has disappeared into consumer culture (290). The Care Bears’ lessons serve to prepare children for the future. Fortunately for the child, preparation for the future does not come in a dry, dusty fashion, rather a colorful, indulgent fantasy world.

 

The video of “The Camp-Out” can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FKx0sIF8cw&feature=sh_e_se&list=SL

(embedding for this video was disabled.)

Mar 8

The Care Bear Stare!!

I watched a short episode of the 80s cartoon Care Bears, this particular episode was called “The Night the Stars Went Out.”  It was about a villain riding around in a cloud stealing stars from the sky so he could have light to see his music when he was playing his violin.  The Care Bears find out who is behind the star stealing and they take him down and get back the stars.  In the end Funshine Bear gives the villain some of her sunlight so he can read his music without stealing stars for light. The problem is solved and everybody goes off happily.

This PLC definitely portrays Cross’s fears that shows are no longer teaching kids how to deal with real life events.  This show is purely fantasy, it takes place on a cloud and they take down the villain by throwing lightning bolts at him and by shooting him the Care Bear Stare.  This show might not teach boys how to shoot a gun or fight in war and teach girls how to raise kids, cook, and clean, but it still emphasizes the importance of teamwork and friendship.  Care Bears and other PLCs are not necessarily very educational but I do not see the harm in them.  Fantasy genre shows I believe spark the imagination and I think that is a very good thing for kids to have.  Cross believed that “the plaything as a tool to reenact the past or prepare for the future had largely disappeared.” He also believed that when PLCs and “toys lost their connection to the experience and expectations of parents, they entered a realm of ever-changing fantasy (309).” This is what ultimately scared Cross.  When he was growing up boys and girls were expected to become certain things as they got older. The toys kids played with and the shows kids watched back before the 70s and 80s highlighted the gender roles that men and women were supposed to take.  Nowadays these roles are becoming blurred and things are changing all time and toys and shows for kids are trying to keep up with the changing times.

Mar 7

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye?

I did an investigation into Gary Cross’ claims against the “program- length- commercials” of the 80’s.  Cross argues that the shows had nothing to teach children, and that they had no content relevant to helping children understand the “real world.”  I watched an episode of Transformers from the 1980’s on YouTube. I could not find the exact date it aired, but did find that it was the 27th episode from the second season, titled “Golden Lagoon.” The way the show is formatted, a child has to follow the show almost religiously to stay on top of what is happening. Having jumped straight into the 27th episode, I found myself in the middle of a battle, not knowing who was good, and who was bad. The Autobots and Decepticons (I hope I’m spelling that right), are in the middle of battle, when one of them finds a pond full of a gold liquid called electrum that makes makes the Transformers invincible.  The Decepticons get to the pond first, and have the upper hand, until the Autobots stealthily get to the pond as the electrum is wearing off for the Decepticons. The Autobots win the battle, and they celebrate in a destroyed forest as a result of the battle. There was no big mention of teamwork, or protecting the environment, or anything that could be remotely beneficial to a child’s learning experience while watching television.  The only possibility would be that, if the Autobots are the “good guys,” that good always prevails, but that’s a stretch. From the episode I saw, Cross was correct in his criticism.

Mar 7

Fantasy World Isn’t My Only World

Cowabunga Dude

Image of Ninja Turtles from: http://www.posterparty.com/images/cartoon-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-yes-pizza-poster-AQU24894.jpg

 

The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is a TV series/brand that has its beginning origins in the late 1980’s. The TV series circulates around four crime-fighting turtles and their martial-arts master, Splinter, who happens to be rat. In the episode I watched, titled “Once Upon a Time Machine”, the turtles start off sitting in a room watching TV, eating pizza, and neglecting their martial arts training. Splinter warns them of the dangers of excess calories and of how TV “shrivels your brain.” He then relays the message, “To be sharp tomorrow, one must hone his skills today.” From this message the episode moved forward with the plot of the antagonist “Shredder” wanting to take a time machine into the future, with the hopes that the Ninja Turtles would be extinct and no longer able to foil his evil misdeeds. However, the time portal Shredder uses has been left open and the Turtles follow him into the future. They see their future selves and it is obvious they did not heed Master Splinters advice for all the “future” turtles are more glutton, weak, and can not think effectively enough to fight crime. The “past” turtles vow to heed to their training and be good citizens. Then the turtles proceed to defeat Shredder before taking the time portal back to the present day.

After watching the aforementioned episode of “Ninja Turtles”, I disagree with Gary Cross when he writes in reference to 1980’s toys, “the old view that children should learn from the past and prepare for the future is inevitably subverted in a consumer culture where memory and hope get lost in a blur of perpetual change” (packet page 290).  The problem with this statement is, Gary Cross is viewing the phenomenon, of fantasy toys, in a vacuum, and not taking into affect that the entire culture children are engulfed in shapes their imaginations, not just fantasy television shows. (Also, these two cultures can be separated from each other into distinct entities. Consumer culture and learning about the past). A child will learn about the past from a history teacher in school, and will be prepared for the future from their role inside the household such as doing their chores, attaining quality grades, and participating in sports. A child is to exercise their imagination, and escape from the realities of life while playing with their toys. Even though, the media has created “miniworlds of fantasy play” (pg.297) with toys that parallel the media’s story, children will still play with toys with their own creative elaborations. The toys might not “invite girls to be “little mommies”” (pg. 301) but, this does not mean that girls will not act out the role of “little mommy” with her barbie or other toy because she is witness to “being a mommy” everyday and this is apart of her imagination. To conclude, while the “Ninja Turtles” do not “indoctrinate children with political ideology” (pg. 298) and is a “simple vision of “good” vs. “evil” in a fantasy world where violence was a constant” (pg. 298), there are real world lessons of character intertwined throughout the entire episode. Some examples, from the episode, include eating your broccoli, eating excess calories make you fat, you will ruin your eyes reading in dull light, defacing monuments is a severe crime with harsh punishment, good citizens join the clean up the city campaign, and you must practice everyday if you want to be good at something. The point is, children are going to learn about the past from somewhere and are going to be prepared for the future from somewhere. These lessons of the past and future are distinct entities that can be extracted and learned separate from consumer culture. (Even though consumer culture is apart of our past, present, and future).

 

 


Episode found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyA2j458je4

 

Mar 7

Strawberry Shortcake in the Big Apple City

In the “Strawberry Shortcake in the Big Apple City” episode (part 2, part 3), Strawberry Shortcake travels to New York to compete in a baking contest with her nemesis, the Peculiar Purple Pie Man.  He sets many obstacles for her so that she can not make it to the competition or beat him. Luckily, Strawberry Shortcake meets a gang of friends along the way that help her overcome these setbacks, making her trip end on a happy note when she beats the Purple Pie Man in the competition!

This episode does go along with many of Cross’ arguments because the towns and buildings are that of a fantasy world, often made out of common desserts. Snail mail in this world is literally delivered by a snail, and airplanes are simply butterflies. This is a world in which the sun talks and when bad things are thrown in Strawberry’s way, such as the Purple Man catching her airplane (or butterfly) with a butterfly net, happy thoughts can save the day. Many things such as this, obvious signs of “moral tags” (296), are evident in the episode. These moral tags were meant to justify the PLC’s and make them seem better for children. Other examples include quotes such as “Never say never” and “Be good losers. Victory lies in the struggle, not in the prize.” The various friends made by Strawberry in the episode affirm the idea that “friendship” toys for girls were being made instead of home-making or mothering toys.

While many of Cross’ points and arguments were shown through the Strawberry Shortcake episode, there were also a few references to the real world. The Big Apple in the title refers to New York City and the bake-off is held in Times Square. One of the friends Strawberry makes is even from London. Some things from the real world stay the same, such as video cameras and tv’s. The Strawberry Shortcake world is not entirely fantasy. One part of the episode that somewhat defies one of Cross’ arguments is the lack of gender roles in toys. A friend made in “Spinach” (aka Greenwich) Village, Lemon Meringue, is a model and is constantly primping and saying how pretty she is. However, this is the only clear gender role shown in the episode.

Overall, the episode seems to reflect many of Gary Cross’ arguments and doesn’t necessarily negate many of them. While I definitely thought it had no educational value, due to the moral tags, it could be said to have some kind of merit. However, I believe that this PLC, although not necessarily all PLC’s, was mainly for the purpose of consumerism. Viewing this one episode, I agree with Gary Cross, although after viewing more of this show, or perhaps some other PLC’s, it’s possible I could change my mind. I sincerely hope all PLC’s were not as horrible as this episode of a girl named Strawberry Shortcake.

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