Children's Television - John Gallagher

Overall I found the Children’s Television presentations very interesting, informative, and entertaining.  While many of the students presented on the same programs, it really put into perspective for me the underrepresentation of females and strong showing of males.  I thought that Meg started off nicely with her evaluation of the show, Curious George.  She talked about how the show was narrated by a male, and the one female, Mrs. Renkins, broke gender norms by wearing overalls and worked on a farm.  However, on the contrary, the man with the yellow hat also broke many gender norms as he was jobless, patient and caring, and not rough and tough.  Many of the students did the show the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  First I want to point out that I find it interesting that there is a significant difference in appearance in terms of Minnie’s image from when Walt Disney was first created and now.  Over time, she has become more “lady-like.”

            

In almost all of the shows there was a lack of a lead female character.  Shows that were presented on a lot such as Arthur, Max and Ruby, Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Team Umizoomi, Go Diego Go and Super Why all are led by male characters.  Only in Dora the Explorer is the lead a female character.  I thought Dakota did a nice job explaining the significance of Dora’s role in the show, and how she is a good example for both boys and girls.  She is a strong female that solves problems and is active.  I also thought that Dakota rose an interesting point when she brought up and discussed the significance of the commercials shown for Team Umizoomi.  There was first a baby girl with calm music, but then suddenly the next commercial switched to aggressive music with a showing of monster trucks.  PBS is more wholesome and family oriented, while Nickelodeon is not so much.  Nick lacks parents and a family atmosphere, and the commercials on Nick are very gendered as Dakota also pointed out. 

            

Lastly I wanted to emphasize Jae’s point and how Go Diego Go is slowly taking over the Dora the Explorer phenomenon.  For a while, Dora has been highly watched by both boys and girls.  However recently, once Go Diego Go began airing, it slowly began taking the Dora viewers.  Diego is more active and interesting, and also a male.  Diego goes around on his travels with a jaguar, which is also appealing to his viewers.  These presentations were all very interesting and allowed me to view these children shows in a much different light.  Well done.