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Posts tagged ‘entertainment’

Feb 25

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Television and Children: Health Concerns

Photo from almightydad.com, a parenting website.

An article from Time magazine claims that watching television is sedentary behavior, which leads to obesity and bad health. The author of the article, Alice Park, says that researchers in the U.S. and in Spain studied 111 children 3-8 years old and concluded that of all the kinds of inactivity they studied, tv-watching was worst. The study showed a higher blood pressure in kids who watched a lot of tv, whether the kid was overweight or healthy. Other activities such as computer usage did not show the same blood pressure issues. The researchers tracked the childrens’ inactivity over one week using accelerometers. They found that kids who watched 90 – 330 minutes of tv per day had systolic and diastolic blood-pressure readings that were much higher than children who watched less than half an hour per day. The author quotes Dr. David Ludwig of Children’s Hospital Boston, who says, “These results show that TV-viewing really is the worst of all possible sedentary activities”. She also cites the American Academy of Pedriatrics, which recommends that children under 2 should not watch tv at all and that older children should watch only 1 or 2 hours a day. The researchers also explain that tv-watching is often accompanied by eating ‘junk food’, which can also raise blood pressure readings.

The author, Alice Park, is a staff writer for Time magazine. She generally reports on health and medicine issues. Perhaps as a result of her background, the article seems much more focused on the medical/health effects of watching too much tv rather than the psychological effects. This differs from most of the readings, which have been more focused on psychological impacts.

According to Lynn Spiegel, adults attacked television for several reasons. One reason is that graphic violence, sexuality, and bad behavior have unwholesome effects on children which threaten “the need to maintain power hierarchies between generations and to keep children innocent of adult secrets” (144).  Parents also worried that tv did not promote family values, and felt a lack of control over what the children were exposed to (147).  Adults had “a marked desire to keep childhood as a period distinct from adulthood”, so they were extremely concerned about children aquiring knowledge of adulthood before they should (150). And, of course there were fears of children imitating on-screen violence and becoming juvenile delinquents (146). However, there is some overlap between these two sources. Spiegel mentions the idea of “telebugeye”, or “a pale, weak, stupid-looking creature who grew bugeyed from sitting and watching telvision too long” (147). Parents were convinced that telvision was becoming an addiction for children, which would “reverse good habits of hygiene, nurtrition, and decorum, causing physical, mental, and social disorders” (147). I think the Time article reveals something new about the adverse effects of television, (the blood pressure findings) although the topic of health concerns as a result of watching tv is not new. These worries voiced in the Spiegel reading and the Time article have been constant since the 50’s.

Feb 15

Kiddin’ Hollywood

The “Baby Burlesk” I chose was called “Kiddin’ Hollywood”, which is a play on words meant to represent both the actuality of the film (kids acting in Hollywood) as well as the critique of Hollywood’s fickleness which is the short’s underlying theme. In the film, a beauty pageant winner named Morelegs Sweetrick is rejected during a casting call for a Hollywood movie. She instead finds work scrubbing the floors around the stage. Her big chance appears when the prissy, diva of a leading female in the film- Freta Snobbo- refuses to come on the set. Morelegs lands the role, and impresses her castmates and director with her performance. Fame gets to her head too quickly though, and after wrapping up filming she rejects the advances of her budding costar in search of a “Rolls Royce and a maid”. She went from being a humble floor cleaner to Freta Snobbo herself. The movie, however, is a complete bust, and Sweetrick finds her aspiring film career grounded prior to takeoff. While wallowing in her own failure, her previously rejected costar returns for her, confesses his enduring love, and takes her hand in marriage.

The film does not satirize a prior work, rather instead choosing to satirize individual prominent figures in Hollywood at the time. Freta Snobbo is meant to represent actress Greta Garbo, who was renown at the time as being an odd figure, who frequently caused problems on movie sets because of her disdain for crowds and preference for being constantly alone. This made her come off as “snobbish”, hence the joke. Morelegs Sweetrick is meant to satirize actress Marlene Dietrich, who was known to pursue roles with an unheard of ferocity. If there was a role she desired, she would do everything in her power to get it.

This particular burlesque is a prime example of what John Kasson mentions in his text “Behind Shirley Temple’s Smile”: 

“Shirley Temple’s early roles were perched ambiguously on the cusp between innocence and flirtatiousness.” (course packet, page 197).

The attire that Temple dons as “Morelegs Sweetrick” is meant to simulate that of a high class mistress. The name “Morelegs” is a reference to Temple’s legs, which is very inappropriate when used to refer to a child but would be much more common if used to refer to a woman of questionable morals in an adult film. The word “trick” is often used to describe sexual favors performed by a prostitute, and in combination with the word “sweet” the name as a whole was meant to be highly suggestive and an inside joke among adults. There is also the matter of the kiss; a long passionate kiss that, while appearing innocent between children, would be much considered much more risque among an older crowd. Finally, there is the matter of Sweetrick becoming a materialistic girl interested in the fancy things in life. This is evident when she flirts with her director after the closing of the film because in him she sees the possibility of a “Rolls Royce and a maid”. Love for money, a concept that is very adult.

 

Feb 15

Disturbing Baby Burlesks

The “Baby Burklesk” video, “Polly Tix in Washington” is the perfect example of what John Kasson is speaking about when he says that Shirley Temple’s early roles were, “perched ambiguously on the cusp between innocence and flirtatiousness.” (Kasson, 131) In the satire Shirley plays an expensive call girl hired to seduce a new congressman into voting for a new bill on Castor Oil.  She is shown prancing around in a lace bra and expensive jewelry, and offering the baby congressman cake to persuade him. However, she winds up falling in love and almost getting herself killed until the baby congressman fights for her honor.

The video definitely makes a mockery of the children and their innocence.  In the final scene, Shirley tells the only black child featured in the film, that prosperity is just around the corner, and the film concludes with him running around the corners of the street searching for it.  It is also mildly disturbing that at an age where boys and girls typically think each other to have “cooties” they are playing prostitutes and fighting for love.

In class we spoke of contemporary examples of videos such as these, that use children to play roles they do not fully understand or ones pushed upon them by adults.  One example we spoke of was “Pearl the Landlord,” and I was immediately reminded of the parodies done by children who reenact episodes of The Hills, Jersey Shore, and The Real Housewives of New Jersey.  After watching these recent mockeries acted out by children, the ones Shirley Temple played in seemed slightly less disturbing.

 

Kids Act out “The Hills”

Kids Act out “Jersey Shore”

Kids Act out “Real Housewives of New Jersey”

Feb 14

Should Video Games Take A Break?

Recently an article was written about how some of the most popular video games that we know today need to “take a vacation”. Ben Silverman wrote in Yahoo! Games that game publishers year after year produce new versions of their games  to milk out every dollar from their consumers that they can. Games such as Sonic the Hedgehog and The Sims are two of the five franchises that are recommended to take a break and cool it for a while. Each game is praised for its popularity and lovability, but criticized on the fact that all the repetition is dull and overkill. As I read this, I started comparing children today and children that lived less than a hundred years ago. In the article “I’m Bored: The Two Faces of Entertainment”, Stearns (1-29), the author argues that children, over time, started becoming bored more easily and parents increasingly felt the need to entertain their children. It’s pretty crazy to think that pre World War II, children were left to roam their neighborhoods freely and had to rely on themselves to find entertainment. Kids had to use their imaginations to create characters and games. Now, youth in America is shown, from an extremely young age, the possibilities they have with technology. One stereotype of little boys in today’s society is the one who is glued to his video games and doesn’t ever see the light of day, contrasting with how little kids should be out and active all day. Now, not only do kids have access to video games, but there are literally thousands and thousands of options, all with just the slightest changes. This article is supposed to simply criticize certain video games for their overkill, but when you look at it in the context of comparing it to our youth today and the youth we’ve been studying in class, it makes you think about how extreme and sometimes ridiculous entertainment is today.

Video Game Youth from Google Images

Feb 12

Sophia Grace

Sophia and Rosie's first appearance on Ellen

Sophia Grace is a vivacious eight year old little British girl who has brought laughs and entertainment to millions of YouTube viewers. Sophia got her big break with a video of her and her cousin, Rosie, singing to Nicki Minaj’s song “Super Bass”. Within days they became YouTube sensations. Their rendition of “Super Bass” gained so much popularity that the girls were asked to be on the Ellen show. The girls performed their version of “Super Bass” in their signature tiaras and pink tutus. Millions of viewers ate up the cute performance and wanted more. Ellen recently asked the girls to come back on the show and perform a new song for America. The girls sang “Turn My Swag On” by Keri Hilson who is a pop/R&B artist. Sophia even added her own rap to the song. After her performance Sophia received a standing ovation and Ellen even invited them to the Grammy Awards. While I do admit that I think these girls are adorable and their performances are funny, sometimes I question myself if this is appropriate for kids their ages to be singing. For example the lyrics to “Super Bass” have subject matter that deals with drugs, sex, and has vulgar language. The same subject matter is also present in Keri Hilson’s song that she preformed a couple of days ago. I have no idea if Sophia’s parents encourage her to sing these songs because they think it is entertaining to see little girls talk about grown up subject matter or if that is the type of music Sophia listens to. While Sophia and Rosie are not professional child actors like Shirley Temple, I feel they are exposed to some of the same situations. For example in class we watched one of Shirley Temple’s first movies where a bunch of babies were portraying grown up behaviors and situations for comedic relief. I feel that Sophia and Rosie are providing comedic relief to millions at their own expense because I don’t think they know what they are actually singing about. It is possible that as they grow older they can look back on their performances and possibly be embarrassed by the mature subject matter. The reading from Kasson about Shirley Temple also points out that Shirley’s parents were the ones who received most of Shirley’s hard earned money (136).  I feel Sophia’s situation can relate to Shirley’s because it is possible that her parents are reaping benefits off of Sophia’s instant fame.

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