In one of my articles from last year on Dad.ie, I mentioned one of the problems even the most responsible parent has with TV shows that may not be age-appropriate (or even appropriate in any way ever) – we can pick and choose what our children watch but we can’t really shield them from what other children are watching.

Since writing that article, my once-little Daisy has moved up to ‘big school’ and when that happened there was a pretty big explosion in violent expression. Not actions for the most part, but definitely words. Now kids are kids and they aren’t always nice to other kids. But you know the way big content producers make sure children know the brand and the elements unique to their product? Well, the side effect of that is that it often makes violent influences pretty easy to track.

Like the lightsaber example in my article, this isn’t just kids exploring violence as part of being kids. There are often sources, influences, inspirations. A huge amount of action shows for kids older than my girls, for example, don’t just show violence as an acceptable solution, they make it the solution of heroes. The way of champions.

It’s what the good guys do.

But I guess I do need to face one thing: TV didn’t invent violence. It’s obvious, I know, but important to point out. Just because studies show a relationship between viewing violent television and aggression (and they do), that doesn’t mean television can be a scapegoat for all the evils of the world. Same with music, or videogames or Ozzy or Lionel Ritchie or anything else.

The Vikings didn’t watch Power Rangers.

The Spanish Inquisition didn’t listen to Judas Priest.

The Huns didn’t play Grand Theft Auto.

They discovered violence all by themselves.

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But that doesn’t mean we can’t aim for better, right?

That our biggest threat is still ourselves, that people inflict pain and death on other people around the world all the time bugs the hell out of me. It is not something we should just take for granted. Not something we should accept. Look at the amazing things we can do and how far we have come already. We’re pretty fantastic in so many ways, and can do so much better.

Unfortunately, as the Vikings, Spanish Inquisition and Huns have shown us, removing television violence isn’t going to solve the world’s ills. I wish it were that simple. But we do know people learn from the television they watch as children. So, as an idea, how about this – let’s not make it worse. Positive messages, showing alternatives to violence, reinforcing how amazing we all are and that, as it happens, not everyone is out to get you, may go some way (even a very tiny way) to eventually leading to a time when we’re all just good to each other.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

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Tags: animation, Children, education, hopes, media literacy, Messages, parenting, role models, violence

I remember many years ago catching a bit of some show with designers discussing fashion trends for the next seasons. You know, the what would be the new black kind of thing.

And it hit me – these aren’t really trends. Because they are being dictated by the people selling the products. Designers basically tell people what the next new look is, put it everywhere, slap it on a celebrity and then, sure enough, it is the next new look.

What was also fascinating for a season that hadn’t happened yet was the amount of top designers selling the same new looks. I don’t know enough about the fashion industry to know how that works but, to the layman, it almost looks like they get together in a room, decide what they’re going to push and then they all go away and push those looks independently. Then it goes down the chain and the designers who weren’t invited to that meeting see which way the wind is blowing and push those same looks too.

And we have a new fashion next season.

Someone getting in on the action at that point would just say, well I’m giving the people what they want. In fact, ask the public and many will say that’s just what they want too, won’t they? It gets reinforced and reinforced between designers and the public. When the whole industry is pushing the same look, when that look is all over magazines, on every rack, it’s going to sell but is it what people really would have wanted? At that point, who knows. Who even cares? It’s very difficult to pull it apart.

Really though, it’s suppliers dictating demand. They’re designer trends, not people trends.

Great for the industry I’m sure but, when it comes to something like fashion, it struck me as somewhat ass-backwards.

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And now we have Lego Friends. Lego for girls. A topic of much discussion.

I haven’t weighed in on this yet. Why not? Well, to be honest, I have been conflicted. I can see some merit. Lego is a great toy and having a more obvious open invite to girls is something I’d support. They’re good looking sets that go some way towards restoring the balance in a product line that has gone quite dark. And the characters aren’t all bad. One is an inventor. One has a catchphrase about getting to work. We’ve all seen a lot worse when it comes to role models for our girls.

But then… am I to take it now that the airport sets, the police sets, town sets, Harry Potter sets and everything else with blocks of all colours, action and play possibilities, they’re just for boys? It is the way Lego have been marketing them.

And I guess therein lies a problem.

Whatever about my feelings, Lego Friends have their critics. And, as a father of two young girls, I can’t help but agree with much of what I read here at Marketing Media Childhood‘s collection of articles on the subject. So I’m watching it with interest.

But what does this have to do with fashion?

Well, someone in Lego (and maybe even people reading) will have thought, but this pink girly stuff is what girls want, right?

Perhaps.

But when almost the entire toy industry is selling the same limiting narrow view of what girls should be, it’s like the fashion industry – you can’t pull it apart. And yet, really, it’s suppliers dictating demand. How can anyone say it’s what girls want when they’re being sold little else? So Lego are just that last straggler playing ‘me too’ in the girl’s toy aisle. Is it hard to blame them? I guess the thing with Lego is that I’ve never seen them playing catch-up before.

Maybe people just expected better.

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Tags: Children, education, gender, lego, role models

Last week, I posted about safe children’s content and how that does not equal bland. As safe TV is something I tend to talk about quite a bit, a few have asked me how television can possibly be safe and yet still have any sort of edge?

Well different people probably have their own ways of getting there but, for me, I have found that it comes down to one of my main working methods. It’s a thinking I apply to animation, writing, just about everything. Here it is -

Work within your limits.

Now this is a dangerous thought in ways, because I have found that many don’t know where their limits are. Many will totally undersell themselves and under-perform because they see their limits, or their perception of limits being set for them, as being far more restrictive than they actually are.

But, if you can really know and trust where your limits are and set them yourself at the beginning of a project, it’s a great way of thinking.

Here’s an example I often use to animators of how it applies. Look at the animation in the television version of a Disney film, like the Aladdin cartoon show or something like that. Compare that to a stylised Cartoon Network style show like the old Dexter’s Laboratory. Usually, Aladdin’s TV show animation will look much worse. Now, technically, there’s much more in it than in Dexter’s Lab but Aladdin was designed for a movie budget, and looks great when it has that budget, whereas Dexter was designed from the ground up for a television budget. Aladdin becomes something you know should look different, should look better, but it’s compromised and feels incomplete.

Dexter works within its limits and, as a result, can reach the absolute top of that limit. It comes out looking better. Complete. Uncompromised.

Same is true for the creation, writing or directing of a show and how it applies to safety/blandness.

If you write a story or feature characters that aren’t age-appropriate, you will have producers cutting you off at the knees, broadcaster or distributor notes making you tone it down and remove whole chunks. And what you’re left with is a shell – a show or episode left without its soul. Without its edge. Something that feels incomplete. Like, if only…

But, if you pick your limits and know them, keep it age-appropriate from the start but try to maximise the fun, silliness, humour, adventure, whatever within those limits, then you’ve got a good chance at ending up with a safe show that isn’t bland. Safe with a spark. The key factor here will end up being responsibility – it requires you to own the responsibility of where the lines are in your content, not a broadcaster or anyone else. So if you push limits (and pushing limits is good), you know they’re your limits.

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Kavaleer

Just on another note, Irish animation company Kavaleer are celebrating 10 years in business and had a big birthday celebration last Friday. A wonderful gathering of almost (but not quite) everyone in Irish animation and a really great night. Good to see everyone there and to catch up with some friends and peers I haven’t seen in some time. Congratulations to Andrew, Gary and all at Kavaleer! You can catch their latest excellent show, Abadas, which explores words with children, on CBeebies.

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New Article

And finally, you can read my latest article on children and the power of labelling on Ireland’s parenting website, Dad.ie, right here – LABELLING.

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Tags: animation, Articles, Children, education, Kavaleer, Messages

I aim for shows that are safe for children. That parents will be happy letting their children watch. That was my first requirement when coming up with Fluffy Gardens. Cosmo has more of a comedy edge but I still want it safe for sensitive children.

Does this mean the watering down of children’s entertainment? The censorship of all that’s fun and interesting? The removal of the very things children love the most?

No. No, it does not.

Yes, there are some shows out there that seem absolutely soulless. Maybe they are. Perhaps they’re the products of committees or several years of conflicting notes. I don’t know.

But television that is safe for children does not automatically equal bland, dead television.

Most striving for better television or educational content are not trying to turn your children into grey, boring automatons. It is not some conspiracy to make your children conform.

Besides, that’s what school is for, isn’t it?

Yes, I believe children’s television should be safe and age-appropriate. I think, ideally, it should educate. But, in doing so, I also think it should challenge. It should provoke thought. Independent thought. Ask children to think about the world they live in. To think about who they are and maybe even present some positive messages to give them the confidence to be who they are against the opposition they will face at times in their life.

For that, if anything, children’s television needs a spark.

Safe does not equal bland.

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Tags: animation, Children, Cosmo, education, Fluffy Gardens, Messages

Here’s why we could do with more relevant local content here in Ireland:

My daughter calls wool ‘yarn’.

She has used ‘you betcha’ instead of a simple yes.

She once called nappies ‘diapers’.

She frequently uses the phrase, ‘reds under the beds’.

Okay, so I made that last one up but, as good as some of the US television is, we may have just a touch too much of it here in Ireland. The balance is a little off. Worse still, the US shows we get are often the least educational because they travel easier when it comes to localisation. We’re likely missing some of the best the US has to offer.

Language is just an obvious symptom. An indicator that a child’s world view is being formed. It actually goes much deeper than language. And it’s important to realise that what seems culturally relevant on the outside might not be on the inside. For example, colouring Barney green and calling him Seamus wouldn’t really make the show any more Irish. It’s just window-dressing. And yet a show with a purple dinosaur in a fantasy world could be culturally relevant to Irish children if the core delivers something needed by those Irish children and presents it in a way that works with the culture and ideals. Culture does not equal window-dressing. We need to look deeper.

It’s not always easy.

But it’s important.

Not just Ireland of course. Every country could do with good relevant local content.

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Tags: animation, business, Children, education, Ireland