Vostrejs 1

Julia Vostrejs

Chelsea Layton

English IV

12 March 2019

Inside Children’s Media and its Importance in Culture

With media becoming more and more involved in the everyday lives of average people,

it’s important to continue making quality media for kids. Since the future generation is

impressionable and always learning, it’s important for the artistic works to which parents expose

them to be thoughtful, challenging, and genuine. Society as a whole needs to take media,

especially that which is aimed at kids, more seriously and treat it with care and respect. This

issue affects children around the world, but especially in America, where media for kids has

drastically changed throughout the years. Right now the future of this sector of the artistic world

is looking brighter, with noticeable quality increases within the animation and media industries

in general. ​Though children’s entertainment is often pushed aside in the discussion of media, its

importance in the lives of young people demands that both its creators and critics treat it with the

utmost respect and care it deserves.

Media for kids became a huge industry starting in the 1980s, especially within the

cartoon sector. This is because the Federal Communications Commission revised its rules

regarding children’s programming, with the biggest rollback of regulations involving the use of

“character marketing,” which is a method of advertising where fictional characters are created

based on toys or other products. This allows for a legal loophole where programs using this tactic
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do not have to be labelled as advertising. The trend of using such tactics lasted at its peak until

the late 1990s, when the Children’s Television Act was passed. This act required children’s

media to contain educational/instructional material, and was targeted at these advertiser-heavy

shows (Nussbaum). Things have improved drastically overall, with shows made specifically to

sell toys still on the decline. However, this doesn’t mean things are perfect. Toy sales still make

up most of the profits companies gain from animated media, especially that for kids. This in

itself is not a bad thing. Animation is a very expensive medium, and it’s hard for it to be

profitable on its own without some sort of supplementary material. However, many shows

created for children today still bear the markings of their past in shady advertising tactics. For

example, many people have pointed out how various companies are rebooting their old material,

in an attempt to make a low-effort attempt to boost toy sales. A good case study would be the

Powerpuff Girls reboot on Cartoon Network, which was notoriously plagued with animation

errors and shallow storytelling, on a network that had become famous for starting what was

called “the cartoon renaissance” in the early 2010s (Nussbaum)

Making media for children is a complex process that requires just as much effort and

work as any other form of art, and as such it also has the same cultural value. Bob Persichetti, the

director of the animated film ​Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse ​did an interview about how the

film’s unique art direction went through development and the challenges that came with such a

big project. He describes how the crew “had people write new code​ ​and come up with new

theories on how to make cloth move, all this in-the-weeds stuff that always prevented a new

style,” (Maloney). ​The people working in the animation industry are clearly passionate about

what they do, with the people working at Sony creating an entirely new art style for a film.
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Something like this is an achievement in both art and technology, and it being a film made for

kids doesn’t diminish the accomplishment in the slightest. To discredit kids films like this one

would be discrediting the work of hundreds of innovative animators. Furthermore, the art made

for kids is a reflection of the wider culture, just like any other form of art, and analysis of said art

can be incredibly useful. ​Christina Desai describes her work as an academic researcher, and her

specific focus on children’s literature. She states that it serves as a good historical reference

towards social views and norms at the time, as well as the political conditions of the era. It also

serves well for academics in other fields to research children’s lit, because they often find useful

insight. For example, sociology and history scholars may analyze notions of family or class in

books such as Charles Dickens’ ​Oliver Twist​ to get an accurate representation of views at the

time it was written (Desai). ​Art, even that which is made for children, is not created in a vacuum.

Like any other cultural work, it has a lot to say about society and especially about the values one

wants to instill in kids. To ignore the value of such art is to turn a blind eye to the art that is

ultimately teaching the future generation.

Children learn best through storytelling, and media has been serving that purpose for

many years now, to the point where people who have grown up with media, like cartoons, have

grown up to enter the industry themselves. Peggy Albers, a reporter for The Conversation, details

how children internalize ideas at a very early age, with “an understanding of social structures and

identity starting to develop by age 5,” (Albers). Stories tap into a child’s imagination and

empathy, making it the easiest way through which children absorb knowledge and social

awareness. Stories are a child’s first step into understanding the world. Thus, it’s extremely

important to take them seriously. Sometimes the most important lessons a child learns are not
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taught by their parents, but by fictional characters. In fact, storytelling has such a profound

impact on kids, that those who grew up on the stories of the past are now writing their own.

Rebecca Sugar, creator of the hit kids show “Steven Universe”​ ​faced a lot of pushback from the

higher-ups at Cartoon Network when she wanted to add personal aspects of her life to the show,

to make it more authentic. She, being bisexual, fought hard to get LGBT representation in her

own show, because she knew that there would be kids who would relate to it. She herself

describes in an interview how she felt “alienated” by the shows she watched in her youth, as

much as she enjoyed them, and wanted to make something for those like her (Sugar). Rebecca

Sugar’s experience with the cartoons she watched as a kid stuck with her for so long that she felt

the need to create her own stories. The depth at which one can be affected by media as a kid can

be inspiring, even life changing. When a form of art is profound enough to stick with someone

for decades of time, that says a lot about its importance in people’s lives.

When media for children is taken seriously, it can do real good in the world in priming

kids for challenging situations within a diverse world. Julie Dowbrow, another academic reporter

for The Conversation, has written an extensive article about the importance of seeing diverse

characters in children’s media. She cites the fact that the world, the US in particular, is far more

diverse than most media for kids portrays, by as much as 10% per group. She also describes how

scientific studies done on the subject have determined that it is important for children to see

positive representations in media who look like them, and in some cases especially, people who

don’t. Children’s views can easily be shaped by media, and the values/representations of people

shown to them are going to stick (Dowbrow). Children today are growing up in a diverse world,

and they need to be prepared to live in it. If their media portrays this world in a positive light,
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this will lead to more open-minded kids growing up in modern society. This will not only make

it easier for many kids to navigate, but make it a safer place for others, and that’s an important

goal. There are signs of improvement in the industry as companies realize this push for more

radically diverse and accepting media for kids, and the continuing push for new perspectives is

important. Dan Hade, in a speech given at Penn state, describes the importance of children’s

literature in the development of a child’s psyche, and also puts a huge focus on the importance of

the addition of new voices within the industry. He states that “currently only 8 major companies

in the market of children’s literature.” Though this article was written in 2007, this fact still

remains true. Hade then stresses the crucial nature of the indie book market, with all sorts of

diverse voices first popping up in that sphere (Hade). Though improvements have been made,

there is still work to be done in the industry. Progress is slowly occurring over the course of

years and even careers, but it is still being made. It’s important to recognize this art form as an

important gauge of social progress, as what the kids are taught is often the most crucial for

knowing what society deems acceptable.

“Though shallow media aimed at kids is rather useless, and possibly annoying to parents,

it doesn’t actively harm them.” This is more or less a claim made by people who more or less

don’t think about/know how children act as viewers. More often than not, they are passive

viewers, and aren’t actively making choices about what to watch. Especially with the rise in

online content for kids, parents who don’t pay attention to what their children are watching could

be exposing them to some unpleasant things. With the rise of Youtube Kids, children are

watching a lot more online content. This in itself is innocent enough, but when algorithms are put

in charge of what children watch, things get messy. James bridle describes a “confusing
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hellscape” of children’s content made on youtube by third parties hoping to gain money from ad

revenue. The content is mostly bland clones of the sme children’s songs played over rudimentary

animations, but as the algorithm continues, the videos get stranger, and more disturbing (Bridle).

Children are potentially seeing graphic content on these platforms, and many already have,

because exploiting the algorithm at the expense of kids is easy and profitable. So apathy towards

children’s media is actually starting to do real harm. Video Essayist Dan Olson also made an

analysis of this topic and how shoddily these children’s videos are made, and how it is

exploitative in nature. He describes these videos using the terms “metadata slurry,” referring to

how these videos are seemingly churned out by machines, and that whether this is true or not is

impossible to tell. They are created with nonsense titles and descriptions, with the only goal

being to make them easily findable through search algorithms (Olson). What Olson’s analysis

uncovers is that children are still seen as a very exploitable resource for shady companies, and

this issue is still occurring in the modern day, perhaps even getting worse. Parents must remain

vigilant and attentive to their kids and what they’re consuming, because it’s going to stick with

them. It’s better to make sure they don’t get scarred for life, even if it means paying more

attention to the media aimed at them.

Media made for kids is art made to teach the future generation, and out of respect, must

be put under the same scrutiny and critical lens as any other field of art. It has thousands of

people within a huge industry working hard to make quality content, and creates a lasting

impression on the children who grow up with it. That, and the potential within media for kids to

create meaningful change is to great to be ignored. Inside children’s books, cartoons, everything,

lies an important role: to teach them. Though conditions have changed since the character
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marketing of the 1980s, work still needs to be done, and it requires the attention of the

mainstream, and those who critique it. Observance and attentiveness to culture is key. If all

payed a little more attention to what their kids were learning, it could create a massive cultural

shift, one that is already set in motion, slowly.

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Works Cited

Albers, Peggy. “Why Stories Matter for Children's Learning.” ​Theconversation.com,​ The

Conversation, 31 Aug. 2018,

theconversation.com/why-stories-matter-for-childrens-learning-52135.

Bridle, James. “Transcript of ‘The Nightmare Videos of Children's YouTube -- and What's

Wrong

with the Internet Today.’” ​Ted,​ TED, Apr. 2018,

www.ted.com/talks/james_bridle_the_nightmare_videos_of_childrens_youtube_and_wha

_s_wrong_with_the_internet_today/transcript?language=en.

Desai, Christina M. “What's so Important about Children's Literature?: Nostalgia Meets

Research.”

College & Research Libraries News,​ 2014,

crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/9090/9968.

Dobrow, Julie, et al. “Why It's so Important for Kids to See Diverse TV and Movie Characters.”

The Conversation,​ The Conversation, 20 Sept. 2018,

theconversation.com/why-its-so-important-for-kids-to-see-diverse-tv-and-movie-characte

rs-92576.

Ifeanyi, KC. “‘Steven Universe’ Creator Rebecca Sugar Embraces the ‘Dangerously Personal’

Side of Creative Inspiration.” ​Fast Company,​ Fast Company, 17 Dec. 2018,

www.fastcompany.com/90271462/steven-universe-creator-rebecca-sugar-embrace
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-the-dangerously-personal-side-of-creative-inspiration.

Maloney, Devon. “Into the Spider-Verse's Directors on the Film's Groundbreaking Style.” ​The

Verge​, The Verge, 17 Dec. 2018,

www.theverge.com/2018/12/17/17609436/into-the-spider-verse-directors-interview-style

nimation-filmmaking-behind-the-scenes.

Nussbaum, Emily. “It's Good Enough for Me.” ​The New Yorker,​ The New Yorker, 9 Nov. 2018,

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/02/13/its-good-enough-for-me.

Olson, Dan, director. ​Weird Kids' Videos and Gaming the Algorithm.​ ​YouTube,​ Folding Ideas, 22

Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=LKp2gikIkD8.

Hade, Daniel. “Story Power! The Impact of Children's Literature.” ​Penn State University,​ 2007,

news.psu.edu/story/141114/2007/04/09/research/story-power-impact-childrens-literature.