I am a college student, my Media Studies case study is based on the recent decline in homegrown Children's TV shows.
If anyone, particularly parents, could give me your point of view on this issue and how important it is to have homemade shows for our children so that they can learn from British culture instead of just imports from America.
All feedback much appreciated, thankyou in advance,
Personally I think that Children's TV has been going to the dogs for yonks! Even the home grown stuff is pretty poor and most of the imported stuff is just pure drivvel.
There is just so much drivel, i only let my children watch Tweenies, (kept away from teletubbies becuase of stupid sounds), Balamory and a couple of others. In my day ( ) kids tv was great, camberwick green, roundabout, trumpton..... )
The decline in quality Kids TV shows is mostly due to Jamie Oliver.
His drive to have kids eating proper food led to the law being passed banning junk food adverts during kid`s shows.
This in turn meant a drastic loss of revenue for childrenn`s Tv programming.
Oh, and there`s nothing wrong with the Teletubbies. The show is aimed at a younger audience than Tweenies. Besides which, the Teletubbies were better behaved towards each other than the Tweenies were. The Teletubbies were also less frenetic than the Tweenies, which is better suited for the toddler age group.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
My parents did not buy a tv till I was 12. They were not keen on any electrical or battery operated toys. They are fantastic parents. I had a wonderful, imaginative childhood playing with Lego, dollshouse, jigsaws and toy cars. I had a collection of postcards from around the world I built into mazes for cars and often laid them out in a map. I had a tent in the garden for years made out of a carpet. I did not need tv to become a polite, intellectual, respectful, educated professional with a fantastic rounded family and social life.
Books are all well and good at describing scenes, but TV also helps visualise scenes which also helps stimulate imagination.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
The BOOKS of J K Rowling and Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter and J R Tolkien are all influential authors capturing generations of children. The 'spin off' tv series, books, cartoons are just a simple way of showing them.
Do you really believe, angelus, that tv is a prime mode of stimulating a vibrant inagination!
I challenge you, any one, any family, any children, to go for a week without tv.
Surely its worth trying to use your imagination if it could earn you the revenue these authors have acheived!
Why do so many children end up playing with the box the present came in. That is more than enough proof you do not need tv to have an imagination.
I agree imagination cannot work in a void. But there are SO many things out there that CAN feed it. OUTSIDE the house and in BOOKS are just starting points. The imagination does not have to be fed by electric things.
Why do schools get kids to read? Because they always get better grades when they read the story than see the film bacause they get so much out of the book.
It is my opinion that children and a lot of adults should open the curtains, wake up and look beyond the plasma box in the corner of the room!!!
Originally posted by Angelus the Vampire: Imagination cannot work in a void.
Books are all well and good at describing scenes, but TV also helps visualise scenes which also helps stimulate imagination.
what would shakespear and dickens have done without their little wind up portables eh?
Personally, I found Shakespeare incomprehensible to read. I said in a review of Macbeth several years ago the written page looks as though Shakespeare`s typewriter had a lisp. It wasn`t until I saw the play in a theatre, with the lead roles played by actors with good diction that I finally "heard" the words that Shakespeare had written.
And if you care to analyse exactly what Shakespeare has written, you`ll see that his popularity is not due to the briiliance of his writing, but the fact that he was clever enough to write plays that are full of sex and violence.
And these are what we are force feeding our kids to learn, year after year.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
Originally posted by Elizabeth-Ford: The BOOKS of J K Rowling and Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter and J R Tolkien are all influential authors capturing generations of children. The 'spin off' tv series, books, cartoons are just a simple way of showing them.!!!
AS far as I am aware, a lot of Enid Blyton`s books are now classified as politically incorrect, and are no longer available in school libraries.
As to JK Rowling, until the first film hit the cinemas, I`d never heard of her. After watching the film, I went back and bought all the books that were available.
quote:
Do you really believe, angelus, that tv is a prime mode of stimulating a vibrant inagination!!!!
Not a prime mode, certainly. But seeing something on the TV can stimulate curiosity, and leads to reading up about.
quote:
I challenge you, any one, any family, any children, to go for a week without tv. !!!
I do, and on a regular basis as well.
But going without TV just for one week is not enough to find out whether TV stimulates, or hinders a child`s imagination.
To find out for sure, a child would need to grow up without access to a TV at all, and to solely rely on books. And then compare that child`s imagination with one brought up in the real world with access to TV and books.
quote:
Surely its worth trying to use your imagination if it could earn you the revenue these authors have acheived! !!!
Having a vivid imagination does not automatically give you the gift of being able to sell vast amounts of books.
quote:
Why do so many children end up playing with the box the present came in. That is more than enough proof you do not need tv to have an imagination. !!!
I challenge you to draw something you`ve never seen, but only read about in a book.
quote:
I agree imagination cannot work in a void. But there are SO many things out there that CAN feed it. OUTSIDE the house and in BOOKS are just starting points. The imagination does not have to be fed by electric things. !!!
quote:
Why do schools get kids to read? Because they always get better grades when they read the story than see the film bacause they get so much out of the book. !!!
Schools teach children to read because they are legally required to.
Children have always had imagination, even in the good old days before education became compulsary. They didn`t use books to stimulate their imagination then, did they?
quote:
It is my opinion that children and a lot of adults should open the curtains, wake up and look beyond the plasma box in the corner of the room!!!
I think that sentence is rather condescending, to be honest.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
Originally posted by Angelus the Vampire: Imagination cannot work in a void.
Books are all well and good at describing scenes, but TV also helps visualise scenes which also helps stimulate imagination.
what would shakespear and dickens have done without their little wind up portables eh?
Personally, I found Shakespeare incomprehensible to read. I said in a review of Macbeth several years ago the written page looks as though Shakespeare`s typewriter had a lisp. It wasn`t until I saw the play in a theatre, with the lead roles played by actors with good diction that I finally "heard" the words that Shakespeare had written.
And if you care to analyse exactly what Shakespeare has written, you`ll see that his popularity is not due to the briiliance of his writing, but the fact that he was clever enough to write plays that are full of sex and violence.
And these are what we are force feeding our kids to learn, year after year.
fair point, i've never read shakespear lol. but my girl never saw any telly till she was 2 and her viewing time is limited still (she's nine)she loves reading, writes her own imaginative stories, loves to draw allsorts of bizarre stuff and plays at wild adventures with those friends of hers that still have the imagination to do so. those that don't have the imagination to role play tend to be the children who spend a lot of time sat in front of nickelodeon.
**************************** Beware of the Loons!!! FAF #40
Originally posted by Angelus the Vampire: And if you care to analyse exactly what Shakespeare has written, you`ll see that his popularity is not due to the briiliance of his writing, but the fact that he was clever enough to write plays that are full of sex and violence.
Shakespeare's "popularity" (did you mean "reputation"?) is based on his genius at marrying poetry with universal themes of human drama, which naturally deal significantly with love, sex and death.
Originally posted by Angelus the Vampire: And if you care to analyse exactly what Shakespeare has written, you`ll see that his popularity is not due to the briiliance of his writing, but the fact that he was clever enough to write plays that are full of sex and violence.
Shakespeare's "popularity" (did you mean "reputation"?) is based on his genius at marrying poetry with universal themes of human drama, which naturally deal significantly with love, sex and death.
yeah, and I`m sure the masses at the time greatly admired his mix of poetry. They just loved the sex and violence.
And no, I did not mean his reputation. That came later when folks tried to explain his popularity with rational explanation. The middle and upper classes couldn`t very well say they loved the sex and violence. So they came out with the artyfarty stuff about how brilliant the guy was at marrying poetry with human drama.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
I wonder what the next few generations wil have as their sources of information. I wonder if things popular today will be sanctioned with H+S policy and PCness.
It is rather extremist to think of putting all our kids into bubble wrap!
I think CITV's been scrapped for the most-part, but not replaced with American kids' TV. CBBC usually commissions British children's programmes as it always has. 'Sesame Street' might figure in your essay.
It used to be entertaining and also slightly educating which is needed for children. However, now children watch programmes with no meaning or educational help
) kids tv was great, camberwick green, roundabout, trumpton..... 
)
