The following links contain supplementary articles detailing my awards for Best Program Director and Best Use of Sound Effects for the 2021 IBS Awards
I believe that a character that is needed in children's television is a solid Hispanic/Latino protagonist. Quite frankly any character that is BIPOC I think would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure what happened from my time as a child to now but there is a severe lack of diversity in this category. Growing up I had El Tigre, Mucha Lucha, Jake Long American Dragon, Static Shock, Dora The Explorer, and many other characters of color on TV. Characters that were engaging and diverse. Somewhere along the line these kinds of stories and casts have been lost or pushed to the side.
Now with that being said, I am torn between two minds of creation for my characters. The first idea that I want to describe would be called "My Mayan Family" This show would feature a young Hispanic boy named Leo as the protagonist and a cast made up of gods from the Mayan pantheon. Leo is an explorer at heart and during his journey's afterschool he finds El Dorado, the lost city of gold. In El Dorado lies numerous statues depicting great heroes and terrifying monsters. Leo awakens these statues and out comes ancient Mayan gods. However the gods have no clue where they are or when they are and its up to Leo to make sure they can live in the modern world. My second idea came to me while writing the first paragraph. My second show would be called FueGO! A Hispanic teen named Felix discovers he has the power of fire and uses it to fight crime. This story would take a more classic super hero approach like that of Static Shock or Spiderman. This second idea is still a little rough in my mind and I am still working things out but I like the name and I think It could be a good vehicle to deliver messages through a Latinx lens. Life, Animated tells us the story of Owen who is autistic and how his connection to the intellectual properties of Disney helped him understand the world around him. In Owen's case Disney relics were mostly a positive influence although we were able to see some negative side effects.
When Owen was a boy there was a long period of time in which he was non-verbal. He would not speak, and from the sound of what the parents were saying, would not even make eye contact with other people. It was very emotional hearing about the challenges his parents faced to try to help Owen. It wasn't until years later that Owen articulated his first sentence saying that his brother was sad about growing up. "Like Mogli and Peter Pan." Using these characters Owen was able to conjure not just sentences but thoughts with complex meanings. In this instance Owen used the characters as a channel to communicate and understand emotions within the physical world. Years later using a puppet of Iago from Aladdin Owen's father was able to communicate with his son. What Owen's family didn't realize was the strength of the parasocial relationship that Owen formed with these characters from Disney movies. In his first conversation Owen said that specifically Iago made him laugh so he considered him his only friend. For the rest of his childhood his family was able to connect with him through these characters. I personally don't see the the harm in using these characters as a method of communicating for children. Seeing the video of the Disney club Owen was leading was heartwarming. There were so many kids with special needs that were able to communicate via the messages in Disney movies. Now I personally don't think that the negative effects of this relationship are that detrimental. There was one instance wherein Owen was moving and he lost a necklace charm that was given to him from his then girlfriend Emily. We saw Owen quickly spiral into a fit when he thought he lost his charm. I think this is an example of an unhealthy dependency that can be harmful to children with autism in the long run. It is important for them to ease away from these dependencies that will leave them unable to operate on their own. Overall it is up to the support system surrounding children to use the media that their child consumes to be able to connect to the physical world As a representative of Nickelodeon, I believe the best way to diversify programming is to implement new programs to reach newer audiences as well as the current audience we serve. Out of the 29 programs we have airing on our channels less than a handful feature stories centered around BIPOC families. The only way to diversify is to have diversity in our programming! It is not enough to acknowledge diversity in short ads in-between shows featuring our cast and characters. It is not enough to reserve and play these ads only when it is Black History month or Hispanic Heritage month. Hispanic viewers are Hispanic all the time, Asian viewers are Asian all the time and our programming needs to reflect that.
Now this being said, sending the right message is just as important. As a Hispanic viewer myself, I am turned away when I see something like The Casagrande's. Yes it follows a Hispanic lead with a plethora of Hispanic characters making up the family. But the name of the show is just rooted in a racial stereotype that Hispanic families are huge and live in a cramped house shared by all of them. Just having a show about Hispanic people in this instance is not enough. To be inspirational these programs have to have meaning beyond what the color of the main characters skin is. If the main point is just that he is Hispanic then what are we learning from that show? The example of programing that we should aspire to create is that of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. This show featured a complete Hispanic cast but it was not the point of the show. The show was a prolonged ethical dilemma. A coming of age story of a boy torn between good and bad within his own family. A show where he had complete control over his decisions along with the consequences that followed. As a society we need more BIPOC heroes and stories like El Tigre. By including all backgrounds and creeds, we increase our brand identity and association. We cannot ignore race but we also cannot just push it to the forefront and flaunt it to the audiences and expect that to be enough. When it comes to Paw Patrol there are many examples of crossover between their merchandising and their show on Nickelodeon. Paw Patrol features a cast of rescue animals who go out on expeditions to rescue citizens caught between Kitty Catastrophe's evil plans. This fire truck playset was one of the most popular children's gifts of the past year. The grandeur of these playsets lies within the episodes of the show. Every vehicle or toy from the collection is featured in an episode of Paw Patrol. Children with these toys are able to collect numerous vehicles and reenact their own episodes or even play along with the show as they go out and rescue animals in danger. To me it seems like the toys and the show go hand in hand. The vehicular nature of the show lends itself to the creation of these toys which are easily marketed to children. My little cousin absolutely adores Paw Patrol, yet I can only imagine as a parent, buying multitudes of toys from emergency response vehicles to helicopters to boats, the strain in your wallet and even the clutter that comes with the toys.
Yet I believe Paw Patrol to be in a unique category brand in the way it benefits children. All the main characters of paw patrol are emergency first responders. The fact that they have such noble occupations, I believe makes them more impressionable to children. A show like Dora The Explorer or Blues Clues , features characters acting out their normal lives solving problems and learning things, but they do not have real life applications that a show like Paw Patrol or Doc McStuffins does. A child can watch an episode of Paw Patrol and then go outside and see a firetruck. It enhances their parasocial relationship with the show and establishes one with firetrucks and firefighters in real life. Intersectionality has become the crux of media in the past years. More and more shows are featuring casts that are diverse in terms of race, gender, and social status. We as media consumers can now plainly see that representation matters. However intersectionality has not been as widespread in the domain of children's television. Some people believe that kids are too young to comprehend or understand topics such as race or gender, however Jennings finds that "Children may begin to express transgender identity as early as (age) 3 or 4" (Jennings 2016) So why don't we see more representation, and positive representation at that, in children's television?
Julie's Greenroom features an assortment of characters from different races, genders, and ability. What I really liked about the introduction of our puppet friends was that right off the bat they show off each puppets strengths. I think the introduction that I liked the most was Hank's. Hank is a young boy in a wheelchair but that doesn't' seem to get him down. Quite often in media we will see disabled characters looked down upon or bullied. Growing up watching television I can only recount a single character in a wheelchair that was portrayed in a positive manner for most of the show. That was in SuperStore. Hank was introduced with his best friend Spike, and then immediately hank went to show off his skills on the piano. By introducing this character with a disability and right away showing the things they are good at it adds another layer to their identity. As a viewer you won't reduce Hank to what he cannot do, instead we see what he can do. This show does an excellent job at introducing these differences in characters and appearance without those differences becoming the point of the character. By showcasing their differences and having them ultimately come together at the end of the episode is the beauty of intersectionality for Kid's programming Unbox the fun! Calvin and his younger brother Kaison's YouTube channel CKN Toys does exactly that. From reviewing toys and versing each other in competitions, to participating in online challenges and reviewing food CKN Toys features a variety of content. With over 17 million subscribers CKN Toys has quite a following and even have their own brand of toys, a mobile game app, and a show on Nick Junior. With all of these extra aspects of their brand, there are a lot of opportunity and methods for their fans to interact parasocially. The inherent nature of a vlog makes parasocial interactions more common. The vlogger, and in the case of CKN Toys it would be Calvin since he is a bit older and understands more than his younger brother Kaison, talks directly to the camera and thus into the audience. While preschool shows may integrate the audience into the program by playing interactive games and leaving space for participation, vlogs enhance the parasocial aspect by having the videos structured as its being made specifically for the audience member viewing it. Another aspect is the viewing of said content. While the camera is physically closer to the vloggers, this also allows us to become socially closer compared to that of a cable program. Dora never held the camera and spoke into it. She was always on an adventure that we happened to be a part of. Vloggers intentionally bring us with them thus forming a closer bond with the viewer,.
The two brothers have an adorable relationship that you can see throughout their videos. I believe that their relationship can teach other kids and especially viewers with younger siblings to be kinder to one another and promote prosocial behaviors. From sharing your toys with your siblings or friends to making sure they are included in any activities, Calvin always makes room for his younger brother Kaison to get involved. This wholesome content can attribute to the effect that some TV and movies have on kids when speaking about the "kind world syndrome" Inclusion and altruism are noble traits to teach kids at a young age. Calvin and Kaison achieve this just by playing with each other in their videos. For this comparison of my own interpretation vs that of common sense media, I will be analyzing Dora The Explorer once again. For the most part I would say that both of our ratings for the show align. However I would say I am more acute in some areas like education and representation. Naturally there is no Sexy Stuff, Language, or Substance Abuse, present in Dora The Explorer, but I disagree on the violence and scariness rating. I think The character of Swiper The Fox has some level of threatening aura. Swiper often follows Dora and boots around and tries to create obstacles or hinder them. While in no circumstances does it depict violence, there is a suggestive amount of scariness and implications of terrorizing from Swiper. Personally I feel like it is not appreciated enough from these ratings that Dora is a young Latina child. For a lot of Hispanic children, Dora will be the first Latinx character they will see in their life. She is a "Spunky, determined girl who approaches problems with a can-do attitude" who also happens to be Mexican and teach many kids English as well as Spanish. Other than that I would agree with the other categories. My impression of Dora was that it is more of a practical learning experience for children. They learn how to apply their knowledge to solve problems compared to learning the concept of numbers, letters and shapes altogether. From My findings it seems that most parents and kids agreed upon their disdain for the show. A lot of reviews pointed out the annoyance of repetition and screaming involved in watching the show. However, I found these two reviews that I found interesting. This eight-year-old was able to give one of the best descriptions a kid could give. He also agreed with my characterization of swiper the fox and even was a little humorous with his parents permission comment. The second comment from the parent highlights the bilingual aspect of the show. I asked the parents of my friends what they thought of the show and the first thing mentioned was because she was Hispanic. It is very evident that the multicultural learning that we get from Dora The Explorer is highly valuable. However most people, parents and kids believe there is a lot of better educational programs out there.
Dora The Explorer is a children's educational program that follows a young Hispanic girl and her monkey friend Boots as they go on different adventures and overcome many obstacles. I believe this program is targeted to slightly older toddlers/children as there is some amount of cognitive and social skills required for the viewer to participate with the program. Compared to other educational programs, say like Sesame Street, where the show acts as a method of teaching children the idea of numbers, letters, shapes, and using repetition to reinforce said ideas; Dora The Explorer requires kids to use that knowledge and apply it in various situations to help Dora get to her destination. A study conducted by, Kokla, Natassa. (2016). Dora the Explorer: A TV character or a preschoolers' foreign language teacher? "suggests that older children viewing the programme are better in vocabulary acquisition and retention than younger ones." However the study also finds that the vocabulary used is two thirds of the time considered inappropriate for its viewers.
A big part of the format of the show is audience participation. Dora is meant for children who are ready to begin their educational career in a classroom. A common phrase Dora asks the viewers is, "Can you find the ____?" This requires them to have an understanding of the blank and to apply that to identify it on screen. The way Dora asks questions echoes the way children will be taught in school and how their teachers will ask them questions. On top of all this cognitive development, Dora The Explorer also introduces children to the Spanish language and spatial skills with the help of our friend, The Map. A study conducted by Duriye Esra Angın (2017) The Effects of Dora the Explorer on Preschool Children's Spatial Concept Acquisition and Spatial Ability, suggested that between an experimental and control group, "preschool children are able to improve their spatial abilities and spatial concept acquisitions when appropriate educational conditions are provided for them" Overall there are many concepts taught by Dora, although some of them may be to advanced for children just starting out to learn, it can also be helpful to bridge the gap for bilingual Latinx children to learn Spanish aand English. |
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June 2021
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