Discussion of Assignments
Assignment # 1: 2 parts
i)
ii)
Design analysis:
Product Review:
Assignment # 2: research projects
Researching the Cultural
Industries
• Regulation: CRTC, Codes and Regulations, Panics: Hearings and
Committees, Advocacy Groups -- ie McDonalds, Via Com, Coke
• Stabilizing Taste: creativity and production economics
– cartoons: $, simplification (Hanna Barbara), labour, computers)
– developing genres (what do kids like to watch?)
– Business models, financing
• Programming: producing a children’s audience:
– programming choices and time schedules: sitcoms and cartoons – targeting for advertisers (segments -and the rise of syndicates and gendered
programmes)
– Advertising, audience flow and intertextuality (ie Ranging with Power-Kinder)
• Creation of a TV production aesthetic
– Values and tastes of producers, who controls family choice, differences between
parents and kids taste (Van den Voort study - kidfluence)
Yugi-dough
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video 3 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Sponsored Research Projects
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1) A comparative analysis of advertising on children's
time TV in the USA and Canada
2) A study of children's understanding and use of
money
3) Children's brand preferences and discretionary
purchases: what they buy for themselves
4) Family negotiation over food: children's strategies
for getting what they want?
5) Children's advertising skepticism: what do they
understand about marketing?
Research Ethics
• Informed Consent and Parental
Permissions
• Respect for subjects - not make them
feel bad or frightened
• Safety and Confidentiality
• Terminate the research at any time
• Deception is not advised concerning the
objectives of the research
Taking a Historical Perspectives on
emergence of KidVid
• Emergence of a Cultural
Industry
– Disney, Lucas, Viacom
(synergy)
• Construction of an Child
Audience
– Cartoon, Superhero
• Definition of the Cultural
Form
– Character Toys
• Perils, Panics, and Policies
– Mass, violent, commercial
• Impacts and Research
– Himmelweit to Robinson
Reisman: historical changes in the
matrix of socialization
Lessons of
History
-avoid same
mistakes
-imagine beyond
givens
-look at whole to
identify key
issues
State Policy
Media Industries
TV
Books
Comics
Movies
Family
Schools
Child
Peers
Children’s
Culture
Parent
Rhetorics of War: “FOR THE SAKE OF THE
CHILDREN”
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TRANSCRIPT: CLINTON ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON NATO AIRSTRIKES
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Ending this tragedy is a moral imperative. It is also important to
America's national interest.
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It is this challenge that we and our allies are facing in Kosovo. That
is why we have acted now -- because we care about saving innocent
lives; because we have an interest in avoiding an even crueler and
costlier war; and because our children need and deserve a peaceful,
stable, free Europe.….the challenge of ending instability in the Balkans
so that these bitter ethnic problems in Europe are resolved the force of argument, not the force
of arms; so that future generations of Americans do not have to cross the Atlantic to fight
another terrible war.
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Our thoughts and prayers tonight must be with the men and women of our
Armed Forces who are undertaking this mission for the sake of our
values and our children's future. May God bless them and may God bless
America.
Make Poverty History: Are we
a child oriented culture?
• 20% of total
population (0-14)
• 1.2 million children
live in poverty (18
%)
• 1:13 richest to
poorist 10%
• 1/3 of ‘racialized
families’ live in
poverty
UN convention on Human Rights of the
Child includes right to “enjoy leisure,
recreation and cultural activities” or the
children’s media charter.
Early TV
• McLuhan: through the rear
view mirror (medium in
search of a message)
– Puppets, clowns, circus,
talent shows; game shows
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
• Hanna-Barbera: the rise of
the kid cartoon
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TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
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From Rabit Ears to Mouse Ears:
Transformations of Story-telling
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Why Stories?
– Moral compass of a society
– Cultural identity of a people
– Psycho-social development of a child
(identification and modelling)
– Literacy and cognitive competence
– Social bonding and cultural capital
(peer and family)
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Lost in Translation?
– Oral to Literate to Electronic
Storytelling (Narnia? Rings?)
A medium in search of a form
• evolution of genres- puppets, circus and variety,
talent shows, drama, action adventure, comedy,
super-hero
• The Sat morning cartoon ghetto: From comic
book to cartoon :
– Visual language (comic)
– Slapstick Humour
– Episodic Plots
– The child as character vs the superhero as
character
Medium in search of its audience
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Live action and adventure - Sky King, Davy Crockett, Captain Midnight
Family Life/ Soaps: Luci, Father Knows Best, Beaver,
Nature- Wild Kingdom, Lassie,Sargent Preston
Tiny Talent, Kids say the darndest things
Children’s specials - wizard of oz, shirley temple
Science - Mr Wizard
Nursury -Mr Dressup, Howdy Doody
Frontier families
Game shows
Disneyland/ Mickey Mouse Club
Sesame Street, Electric Company, Edutainment
School Drama -Degrassi etc.
Reaganomics: Cable
and the Americanization
of Kids’ Culture
The Mandate of Canadian TV
To tell Canadian stories
To represent the diversity of Canada
To educate, inform, or entertain.
Canadian Broadcast Mandate
• Perched at the northern edge of the American Empire,
Canadian legislators were particularly sensitive to the
precariousness of its broadcast system: we funded a
national broadcaster, the CBC, to be an exponent and
guardian of those Canadian values and standards and
we mandated the whole mixed broadcast system with
encouraging the “development of Canadian expression
through programming that reflects Canadian attitudes,
opinions ideas, values and artistic creativity.”
• children were specifically mentioned as a key mandate
of the broadcast system: “Serve the needs and interests
and reflect the circumstances and aspirations..be varied
and comprehensive providing a balance of information
enlightenment and entertainment for Canadian men and
women and children of all ages, interests and taste.”
The Canadian production of
children’s TV programming
• Underfunding -The economics of children’s
TV industries in Canada (trans border
broadcast; cable industry policy in 1970’s)
• The financing to encourage Canadian
children’s TV production:
– Protection from American culture
– US-Canada production - cable
– subsidy and licensing of specialty channels
The Canadian production of
children’s TV programming
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The policy context:
– Spicer Violence Watershed (not apply to advertising)
– Protection from American culture - CBC, Educational Networks (but need cable!)
– US-Canada cable issues: transborder flows and cancon (different advertising regs)
– subsidy and licensing of specialty channels- fragmentation and funding
Have we effectively developed a policy framework for children’s TV? If not what needs to be
done to improve the role that media play in children’s lives.
Cancon Blues -The economics of children’s TV in Canada - Nelvana, Cinar, Reboot as leading
industries or Telefilm scams?
Educate inform and entertain: evaluating TV’s window to the world?
issues in kidvid industries: cynicism of finance?
Channel One, Treehouse, YTV, Education, Transborder?
Children’s Share
The Canadian Approach: Enlightened Self Interest?
Shaw has a keen interest in children's programming as evidenced by the
establishment of its $27.5 million children's programming fund
("SCPI"), its
acquisition of YTV and the launch of its new service for pre-schoolers,
Treehouse TV. Canadian children's programming has become a highly
successful
and internationally recognized sector of Canadian production. Despite
this
success, the genre needs continuing recognition by the Commission as an
under-represented category of programming and continuance of the
traditional
avenues of funding support for this category. YTV and Treehouse
currently
spend more than three times the total of private conventional
television on
children's programming. Ongoing support is required for this genre
having
regard to the levelling off of young audiences, their migration to
computer-based content, competition from U.S. media conglomerates and
the
important influence of this programming on the educational and
attitudinal
development of children.
The rise of KidVid: Growing
Up in a Media Saturated
World
Audience by age
QuickTime™ an
TIFF (Uncompressed) dec
are needed to see this p
К
Total
К population
К
Canada
Newfoundland
Prince Edward
Island
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Quebec
1
ККTotal
2
ККEnglish
2
ККFrench
Ontario
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
British Columbia
Fall 1996
adolescents
children 2-11
12-17
men 18 and
over
women 18
and over
22.8
24.0
hours per week
17.9
17.3
21.9
18.9
21.9
21.8
26.5
28.0
21.3
24.5
24.2
17.1
19.7
20.0
18.9
18.1
17.3
20.3
23.5
22.6
24.4
28.3
28.5
26.0
22.5
26.6
21.8
22.3
22.5
20.3
21.0
20.1
18.2
20.5
17.6
16.1
17.4
16.5
15.5
18.3
18.3
18.3
17.2
18.0
16.4
16.0
16.0
24.6
21.6
25.2
21.0
21.7
21.3
19.6
21.1
30.7
25.4
31.7
25.0
26.2
27.3
23.7
23.7
1. Includes respondents who did not indicate a language spoken at home or who indicated a language
other than English or French.
2. Language spoken at home.
Source: Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 87-211-XPB.
If you have any questions or would like to obtain more information, contact infostats@statcan.ca
Copyright © 1999 Statistics Canada
Children’s audiences - what
are kids watching?
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Examine breaks for
2-6
7-11
12-18
Boys
N
tota
l
Girls
N
total
Childre
n
Family
50%
33
66
16%
9
58
12%
8
66
40%
23
58
Teen
Adul
35%
3
23
2
66
66
30%
16%
17
9
58
58
Children’s audiences - what
are Canadian kids watching?
• Examine breaks for age and gender in
BBM’s
• Examine preferences by age and
gender
• 2-6
• 7-11
• 12-18
• Review Data
Boys
1. Bugs Bunny
17
2. Bart Simpson
12
3. Homer Simpson 8
4. Scooby Doo
1
5. Yu-Gi-Oh
6
Girls
14
2
2
6
0
Total
31
14
10
7
6
correspondin g Ratin gs
Boys
N
total
Girls
N
total
Children
Famil y
Teen
Adult
33
8
23
2
66
66
66
66
16%
40%
30%
16%
9
23
17
9
58
58
58
58
50%
12%
35%
3
Children’s audiences
15.3 Favourite television characters
It was of no surprise since The Simpsons and Yu-Gi-Oh were some of the top rated shows that 11% of the boys selected Homer and Yu-Gi-Oh character as their # 1 favourite shows. Bart Simpson was the second
favourite with 10%.
Of the 87 girl respondents 7% selected Lizzie McGuire and 6% chose Lisa Simpson. Bart Simpson was also seen as a favourite with 5% of the girl selecting him.
15.4 Reasons for why they liked these television characters
The students were asked to give 3 reasons why they liked the television character they had chosen, some of most popular characteristics of the boys included; their first choice were characters who were funny 37%,
second choice was funny again at 18% and stupid at 15% and finally their the third most popular choice was cool at 28% of the students.
The 33 girl respondents also selected funny (70%) as their first choice and pretty/nice/soft hearted as their second choice at 24% and pretty once again as third choice 44% followed by cool and smart/solves
mysteries both at 17%.
15.5 Favourite television show characters gender
Character gender preferences revealed a tendency for the 69 male students to select male characters 94% with only 6% choosing female characters. The 57 girl respondents again selected a variety, with 44%
selecting male characters and 56 % selecting female characters at 56%.
Leisure and Media
Preferences
Leisure Activities
Hanging with friends
Listening to music
Playing sport
Watching Movie or TV
Music, hobbies
Using Internet
Talking on phone
Playing Video Game
Doing something w ith family
Shopping
0
1
2
3
Scale: 1=no w ay to 5=really enjoy
4
5
Moral Panic, Taste and the
Quality
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Have we effectively developed TV as a
children’s medium? (educate, inform
and entertain vs selling audiences?)
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The vast wasteland debates – Sanitized Aesthetics: simple,
unproblematic, constrained and
middle class cultural traditions?
(class disappears - Tramp)
– Adultified Childhood:
Homogenization of culture
• Postman and growing up too soon.
• visual and popular culture is inferior?
– Escapist Imaginary - the scope of
children’s imagination broadened
but also became ‘uncritical’
(passive)
The impact of TV:Debates
• Content Effects: The new curriculumtv culture/ mass culture as common
knowledge and ideology in a
globalizing society:
– sexuality, violence, gender identity,
cultural identity, amoral behaviour
• Displacement of Time
– (children attracted to new mediumeffects on schooling, growth in time
spent)
– (trade off with play and family
conversation, exercise)
• Commercialization effects
– development of marketing to kids are kids capable of being good
consumers
– scripting the imagination
– Total consumers
Children’s TV Policy
• 1950’s: As the world turns: educational vs
commercialized mass society
– Equality vs. Individualism
• 1961 Vast Wasteland: high culture vs. popular
culture
– Passive viewers, America falls behind,
educational standards
• 1969 PBS: Project Headstart - Sesame Street
• 1970’s Media Panics:
– Grow up to soon
– Parents loose control
• 1981 Deregulation - time and content limits
dissolved
• 1995 Children’s TV Act:
• 1997 V-chip and 3% ruling