Children's Television

Vidyut Latay


In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy lots of discussion are being held about how and why a lonely student at the campus just succumbed to the idea of killing so many innocent lives? From where did he derive this idea of “complete freedom” through a mass homicide? During this period of tragedy, in one of the “bold initiatives” of the media, to investigate a killer’s mind, Anderson Cooper, from CNN, interviewed an infamous homicide convict, who is currently serving a rigorous sentence for his crime in a county jail. The man was asked how he arrived at his idea of carrying such heinous act. He answered; it was the video games that gave him the idea. The sheer pleasure of the bullets popping out of a cartoon hero, enhanced by the animation sound and visual effects seem to have made a terrific impact on him. His answer and his case, though is a one in million case out of all the viewers of this popular format; video games, the answer certainly cannot be overlooked and forgotten as some random blabbering of a mad man. It is no harm in deriving some intelligence and sanity through such insane and intangible actions in our society, of which media is an integral part.

Video games and Animated cartoons form the core content of today’s children programming.
Millions of children all around the globe today, before even uttering “Mummy” and “Daddy” properly know the names and titles of their programs and television channels on which their “best friends”-the cartoon characters meet them. Parents are more than happy to see their child “glued” to its baby chair and also “glued” to the television or the PC monitor, and why not? The child’s concentration helps the elders to stick on to their life and everyday activities without any interference from the children. So basically the child’s concentration helps them (parents) to get less distracted while carrying on their own work. But the larger issue here is whether the today’s children program content really is the best content that we can offer to its consumers- the children.

Children programming has always been a matter of great concern and debate all over the world. As there is no magic formula yet discovered to stop a baby from crying, similarly we adults still have not been able to strike that magic formula to make a vulnerable, innocent child smile and laugh! Today’s loud cartoons and violent animations seem to be the only formula we have been able to crack to entertain children. Children’s programming since decades now has been confined mostly to cartoons. These cartoons, most of them are extremely loud and violent. Perhaps to make the message absolutely loud and clear and to avoid the little viewer’s mind to waver to other activities. These cartoons are made loud and “larger than life” in every aspect, to completely capture the children’s attention. I always have had a curiosity about what is it exactly in these cartoons that the children like? Do children really want to see these “unconventional looking human beings?” Has anybody from the programming division of a children’s channel ever thought that there could be some other form of entertainment too which a child would equally appreciate? Is it any psychological solution, or mere a convenient economic solution to arrive at a worldwide consensus on cartoon programming? Thanks to globalization and the heavy syndication of English programs in non-English speaking countries in the world, the characters as Scooby-doo, Tom and Jerry, One Piece, Pokémon Battle Frontier, and others have reached the living room of almost all children in the developing countries.

I had a very unsuccessful debate with a friend of mine regarding these cartoon programs. She had two school going children. These children were always glued to their TV cartoons at any time of the day! They even did not have the time to greet me whenever I entered their home, needless to mention my greetings to them also went unanswered. I debated with her so many times saying that this whole cartoon world, which is bizarrely unreal, is taking away children’s time, energy, and making them live in a complete make believe world which is awfully unjust to them. Not to mention the social habits of these tiny tots have completely gone for a ride. Parents, instead of being concerned about their children’s passiveness, are in awe of their children not blinking their eyes while watching this spate of cartoons. Parents attribute their non-blinking habit to that of their children’s unbroken concentration. I was stunned seeing her least bothered about my concerns! I could imagine as a child, I doing the same thing when my grand father narrated me stories of real life heroes like Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda. Perhaps I also did not blink my eyes at all while paying attention to his stories. But today’s children do not blink their eyes while looking at a TV monitor and these strange loud cartoon characters! Can my experience be equated with theirs? I asked one of the siblings about his favorite program on television. This five year old was quick, as the speed of the light, to list in front of me some of the names of programs that sounded as some extra terrestrial language to me! I felt as if I belong to a generation in which the human language was yet not discovered. I plainly asked him, “What is that you like in them?” He could not answer me even a word, his younger brother came to his rescue. He said that he likes those guns going around and all the jumping, chasing and shouting from the buildings. The mother looked at me completely satisfied and happy with her child’s intelligent answer.

I was surprised. If today’s programming cannot develop a child’s reasoning then what is the point of the whole content? How is the child going to grow if he is just going to just stick to that TV chair while watching his cartoons?

The children’s act of 1990 in the US says that “A central goal of the FCC's new rules is to provide parents and other members of the public with greater information about educational television programs. This will help parents guide their children's television viewing and also encourage an ongoing dialogue between the public and TV stations about TV station performance under the Children's Television Act.”
Also, in the essay “Changing the way we think” Minnow and Lamay explain the basis about the formulation of this Children’s act. The act was formed by the joint consensus of ideas between child advocates, parents, industry representatives, and other concerned citizens.

There is no doubt that only an adult can make or influence any law in a country, but thinking of ideas for a children’s program is not similar to any process of law making. So why do the network stations have to restrain themselves to an adult group of thinkers to formulate the content for a children’s program? Can’t we take the help of kids’ themselves for formulating a children program content?

HUNGAMA TV, India’s premier kids channel was launched in 2004. The channel has a panel of children that approves the programming. These children members addressed as “Captains” meet every quarter, discuss new ideas, and present their feedback on all the aspects such as, content, marketing, and distribution of the channel. The channel, recently bought by the Disney in India, is perhaps the only channel that has programming that is not loaded with cartoons and animation only. The content is heavily driven with interviews, quiz shows, and fiction programming.

I have always been amused to know whether children really appreciate these cartoon characters. Do these cartoons appeal to the children, or is it the advertisers, who find it as the best choice for the children? Children’s programming unfortunately today does not give the children any idea about the real world outside their TV boxes. I feel it is all right to keep the kid in the nice fairy land of dolls and fancy dreams, but during their growing years they need to get a glimpse of the happenings in the grown up world too! There is no constructive activity happening all along when the child is watching the current programs. Parents feel cartoon to be the safest option, as they are too uncertain regarding the “adult human content” on television and the internet. They are always wary about the depiction of bold visuals, which in most cases is improper for a child, and also the adults are too pressed for time to sit with the child and help him/her out to understand the content. I am not a psychologist, but I often wonder, is the child interested more in the visual element of the cartoons , or is he attracted to the amazingly loud and the jarring sound effects attached with these images.

I don’t want to unduly criticize children’s programming. But I certainly feel that today’s programming is training the kids to become mere “couch potatoes”, utterly passive, lacking the sense of initiative, and completely making their senses numb with loud, extremely violent and jarring images and sound. Some new methods need to be thought of to entertain children. The Centre for Media Literacy in the US has proposed lot of ideas and actions that can be simulated at home by parents to help children understand media better. For example: shooting home videos, discussing with children about their favorite characters and stories on TV.

Video games, cartoons, internet sites, and the new media; all together contribute towards a child’s passive viewing. The children’s act recommends “educational” and “informational” content for children. Children today are anyways loaded with other class and homework learning. I wonder how any kind of formal “educational content” through television would ever help children. What perhaps is the need of the hour is a broader outlook towards children programming. The programs need to make these children feel important, and most importantly children need to get entertained, in a way where they are free to form their own perspectives and opinions on each and every aspect of life such as, art, music, politics, science, education, and sports. In the current scenario of programming, the child is only absorbing the visuals/information without any guidance about what to do with that gathered information.

As a content developer for television program, I think the creators need to make a child think, to reason, to assert, to opine, to discuss, to question, and most importantly to experience the “real” life. I would be happy to see a program where a group of 3-4 kids between 10 and 14 years old, question the future presidential candidate of the US about their idea for the development of children, the history of the US, and their overall ideas for children’s education and development. Apart from the content of human history, geography, animals, and travel on channels like Discovery and National Geographic, the children do not have any other avenue to watch similar content being spoken and made to understand at their level through any of these children’s networks. Would it not be fascinating to see a child in a program, carrying his/ her pet to a vet, to understand the perfect way of managing their pets? The art world today is fast getting eroded with the computerization and the invasion of the technology in every sphere of our life. Today’s children should not lose the opportunity to understand the by-gone, glorious era of paintings, dance, and music. The children programs need to develop interesting ways and means to attract these sharp and stimulating minds in the age of computers and internet to appreciate the field of arts.

Finally, the content developers, in the business of devising content for children need to appreciate and accept the limitations of their intelligence in today’s age to fully understand the demands of a child in the 21st century. The world has moved much faster than anybody imagined. Television was not even present when I was born; today the development of a fetus can be studied on television.

The emphasis on violent actions is the most worrisome factor of these current cartoon programs. Violence through cartoons leaves an indelible mark in the minds of these tiny tots. While growing up some of these young ones are inspired to enact the stunts of their “unreal” heroes seen on the television and video screens. And one moment of adventure with some intrinsic insanity of an individual can shake this whole civil society. Media cannot perhaps find answers to treat this “mental insanity,” but what it could definitely do is to mellow the depiction of images that can prevent an insane from expressing his “media inspired insanity.”

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Television_Act
2. http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/apr/apr397.php
3. http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article482.html