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Posts tagged ‘Television’

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

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.

Mar 6

SHINE ON LITTLE PONY!

uploaded to youtube by whitemagicofdoom on june 9, 2011


A Very Pony Place- Shine On Part 1, with the subtitle Come Back, Lily Lightly was a Program Length Commerical that aired in 1985. This episode takes place in Unicornia, which is a fantasyland where brightly colored unicorns live and play.  The story begins with a group of unicorns stringing lights throughout the town in preparation for the “Rainbow Lights Party.”  A neon pink pony named Lily is named the “Princess of Lightly.”  Overjoyed with this title, Lily laughs, which causes her horn to light up.  Embarrassed, she runs away.

As the story progresses, the rest of the unicorns sing a song about “getting the giggles” and they show how “work” can be fun.  In the meantime, Lily meets a firefly who tells her that it is ok to be different.  He convinces Lily that it is great fun to “shine” and that everything will turn out ok if she will only be herself. This story is very similar to Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer, a beloved Christmas tale, which has been told to countless American children for generations.

In Spinning Out of Control, Gary Cross states that, “the toys derived from these stories were abstracted from the real world of family care and future roles.” (281)   I disagree with his opinion. This Little Pony episode dealt with several “real world” issues. Friendship, acceptance, and  laughter are all importance issues in the real world.  “Be yourself and others will like you just the way you are,” and “laughter will enrich your life” are both values that benefit family care and future roles.

The setting and the animated ponies were fantasy, but this did not distract from the lessons present in the script. I feel the “make-believe” aspects of the show are what captivates the young audience and keeps their attention for 30 minutes. As a parent, I feel that this particular episode would teach my children some wisdom in an entertaining way.

 

Mar 6

TV, Video Games May Exacerbate Attention Problems

A recent article from the McClatchy-Tribune News Service suggests that environmental aspects like excessive television and video game exposure may have great influence on the impulsivity and attention abilities of children.  The article describes a study in which researchers observed the gaming habits of 3,000 children from a dozen schools in Singapore, aging from 8 to 17 .  The study revealed that the effects of video games were both positive and negative.  Video games may help with visual memory and attention, but they could diminish a child’s potential to complete goal-oriented tasks that require long term commitments.  This is because, researchers suggest, the excitement of gaming might make other activities seem more mundane than they actually are.  A young boy who has a passion for Mortal Combat or Call of Duty would likely skim through his nightly reading assignments, if he bothers to read them at all, as long as he can lose himself in the wonderful world of gaming at least once before bedtime.  The effects of this indulgence, as revealed by the study, increase the likelihood of impulsiveness and attention disorders.

A drawing used in an article about a video game addiction lawsuit. If children are constantly doing this instead of socializing, they are likely to suffer consequences.

This article is not suggesting that children who play video games are automatically impulsive and require medication if they want to make anything close to the grades their parents expect from them.  Referring to what was mentioned in one of our class discussions, parents should not destroy the intimate connection between electronic media and modern children because of the social consequences.  Sure, too much gaming may be a direct cause of impulsive children, but how would a boy be able to socialize with his friends by discussing the latest Xbox 360 game if his parents stripped gaming from him completely?  Believe me, being the middle child of five, television and video games are a huge topic in daily conversations among kids six and up.  TV and video games are too engrained in our culture to keep children away from them.  Even if a huge portion of the country’s parents succeeded in shutting out their children from electronic media, the social consequences for those children would have drastic effects on their self-esteem and social skills.  Parents should make it a top priority to regulate the amount of gaming and TV watching done by children in their household.  Before they force medication onto their children, parents must be sure they have attempted to deal with the biological and environmental influences on a child’s impulsivity and attention abilities.

 

Feb 28

Maybe TV Isn’t So Bad After All

While many parents and child-experts agree that television poses several potentially harmful effects, one economist refuses to buy into the argument. Moreover, this is not just any economist, but rather, it is the highly acclaimed, former economic policy advisor of President Obama, Austan Goolsbee.

In a 2006 article published in Slate Magazine, Goolsbee argues that the studies on the impact of television on children are “seriously flawed”, due to their failure to account for more significant social, economic, and environmental variables. Goolsbee claims that because “kids who watch minimal TV, as a group are from much wealthier families than those who watch hours and hours…the less-TV kids have all sorts of things going for them that have nothing to do with the impact of television.” In defense of this claim, Goolsbee cites the research of his colleagues, Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro, who, upon evaluating the 1966 Coleman Report, were unable to find any correlation between poor test-scores and television viewership. In fact, the research suggests that if anything, there was “a small positive uptick in test scores for kids who got to watch more television when they were young.”

This article comes in stark contrast to the opinions that have been voiced throughout television’s history, which although recognizing the potentially beneficial effects of TV, have been largely negative. As Lynn Spigel states in her book Welcome to the Dreamhouse, one of the greatest concerns regarding television was “its dissemination of debased knowledge and its related encouragement of passive minds and bodies” (147)—an argument Goolsbee would dismiss as entirely subjective.

The increasing debates in society today about the failures of our public educational system, as well as socioeconomic factors such as the dramatic increase in single parent families, have also become a large part of the conversation regarding the intellectual development of children, showing that TV is far from the only talking point concerning the welfare of children. In addition, new technologies which have created much more of a reliance on electronic communication have also broadened the discussion beyond the effects of TV to the overall effects of a media and technologically driven society.

Feb 28

Affects of TV on Kids

 

As a child, I spent a lot of my time watching television.  It was kind of a baby sitter because my mother was really sick when I was growing up.  My twin sister and I used to look forward to shows like Sesame Street or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .  We used our time watching television as a way to just stay out of trouble, and out of our parents hair, God knows they had more important things to deal with.  In Lynn Spigel’s, Welcome to the Dreamhouse, she quotes one of the first and most influential book-length studies of the affects of television and children, which reported “that by 1961 sixth graders spent almost as much time watching television as they did in school.” These numbers seem staggering, since parents now a days talk about how they used to spend all their time outside, and come down on kids these days because all they want to do is watch television or play video games.  In my opinion, kids now a days spend WAY too much time watching television or on the computer.  Kids are suppose to be outside running around, getting into trouble, and staying active. According to kidshealth.org, kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games.  This is most likely contributing to the fact that childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, according to the Center of Disease Control.

The most important thing to remember is that it is the parents responsibility to limit the time kids spend watching television, and to dictate what their child is doing on a day to day basis.  If you’re kid isn’t active enough, take them outside and kick a soccer ball with them, or take them to the park.  When did it become not fun to go to the park?  When I was a kid I always missed out on that kind of stuff.

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