Child Development: Media education

Arthur A portrayal of Children in the Media Sarah DeLuca Syracuse University CFS 202

Sarah DeLuca CFS 202

On Tuesday, April 15th 2008, I watched two 15-minute episodes of the PBS kids show Arthur on WCNY channel 11. At 4:00pm I watched the first episode and at 4:15pm I watched the second episode. The show’s target audience is four to eight year old children. I will analyze and interpret the content of the two shows in how it portrays children and how children’s issues are addressed within the show as a means of cognitively influencing its young audience. I will refer to the aardvarks within the show and other creatures as actual human beings. For it is how they portray personality and gender that ultimately impacts children within the show’s young audience and assists the development of gender schemas.

The first episode was titled “D.W. All Fired Up!” During this episode, Arthur’s younger sister, D.W., struggles with a fear of fire in anticipation of her first fire drill at school. Arthur begins the episode with an objective narration stating that “D.W. loves school, but once there was a time when D.W. didn’t want to go to school.” This is an opening line that allows the children watching to relate to both feelings of like and dislike, and understand how feelings can change through personal experiences. What causes all of D.W.’s anxiety and dislike toward school is that she misinterprets what a “fire drill” actually is. The episode includes several delusions within daydreams and nightmares as to what she believes the fire drill will actually be like.

D.W. tells her mother that she doesn’t feel well and can’t go to school. Her mother accepts her statement and allows her to stay home for the day. Arthur argues with D.W. and his mother about how he should be allowed to stay home 2

Sarah DeLuca CFS 202 too; but his mother reminds him that he has a math test and gives him a kiss along with wishes of luck. This is an instance within the episode that reveals both sibling controversy and parenting style.

Siblings naturally tend to have controversy. Siblings are testing the rule grounds simultaneously to discover more about social conduct. Through engaging in instances of controversy and questioning, their behavior becomes refined due to socialization, a function of the family unit. Socialization teaches children beliefs, values, behaviors and motives that are favored by a cultural group of people, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.595). As a parent, Mrs. Read displays an authoritative style of parental child rearing. She encourages D.W. to express her feelings and allows her to communicate her own judgment and desires. With consideration, Mrs. Read permits D.W. to stay at home; this is a form of joint decision-making between the child and parent, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.601).

Yet, as a mother, she expects Arthur to attend school and take his math exam. She is warm in response to his temperamental disposition and provides a reasonable explanation as to why he will attend school. Providing a reasonable explanation makes the situation easier for Arthur to accept and obey his mother’s decision obediently. Mrs. Read also conveys a warm and sensitive response by kissing him goodbye and wishing him luck on his academic performance, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.601-603).

Reality check: are mothers this perfect in their own acts of child rearing?

This parental type of response is encouraging and benefits his development of self-esteem and possible academic performance. Yet, the cultural schema of academic gender interests and achievements are reinforced by the show’s script.

Within this episode, Arthur’s test happened to be a “math” test. Math, spatial abilities, and mechanical capabilities are thought and perceived to be masculine interests and qualities. The stereotypical gender schemas associated with masculine academia could have been challenged if the writers chose to make his

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Sarah DeLuca CFS 202 exam one assessing expressive traits, perceived as feminine, like art or literature, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.511-515).

What I found to be most prominent within this episode was not necessarily how children’s issues were addressed and how children were portrayed; but rather, how parents were portrayed and how they chose to both address and respond to their children’s issues.

D.W. had trouble sleeping at night due to nightmares about “fire drills.” In the middle of the night, she decided to get a broom and “test” all of the smoke detectors within her home. Her parents sprung up, suddenly wide-eyed, and abruptly communicated with each other, a distinctive example of successful coparenting, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.597). They are shown as protective, alert, responsible, and prepared in response to such a serious signal of endangerment.

When they discovered it was D.W., they did not lambaste, instead they gently responded to D.W.’s sense of fear and precaution. This type of reassurance emotionally supports the child’s cognitive development and social maturation.

The following day both Mr. and Mrs. Read discuss how to address D.W.’s source of anxiety and crisis.

They choose a creative approach. Her parents decided to purchase a fireman hat and whistle as a gift for D.W. with the intention that through cooperative and playful engagement in family fire safety that D.W. will become more familiar and prepared for her school “fire drill.” The whole family did test evacuations and learned safety precautions. This shared experience posed as a valuable opportunity for both Mr. and Mrs. Read to teach their children new knowledge through direct interaction. This is authoritative and co-parenting at its best! (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.601-605).

D.W. went to school the following day and learned that a “fire drill” wasn’t as awful as she had first envisioned. Her parent’s intervention made her highly

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Sarah DeLuca CFS 202 prepared for the event, which allowed D.W. to exude confidence during the drill and offer help to fellow peers who were confused and distraught.

Following the first episode was a small segment that revealed children within the real world and the topic directly related to the lessons that D.W. learned within her own experience. The segment showed a field trip that a class took to the fire department and their interaction with the firemen, their equipment and the fire truck. The children ask questions and discover how the world and civilized societies work through this experience and exposure. This preceding educational segment reinforces the moral and social lessons that the children observed and interpreted within the context of the show. This allows cultural messages to become personally embedded within the observing child’s personal sense of self.

The second episode I watched began at 4:15pm and it was titled, “I’d rather read it myself.” This episode portrayed D.W. within a peer social situation that challenged her own sense of personal achievement and individual abilities.

Arthur opens the episode with narration stating that, “the Twibble Twins can do things better than D.W.” The opening line is addressing a clear issue that children face on a daily basis: peer competition and personal esteem. D.W. suggests that the twins color in her coloring book and they scribble all over her pictures. D.W. is upset by the abuse of her property. She then seeks her older brother, Arthur, for advice in how to keep the twins occupied. He suggests telling a story. The twins tell D.W. that “the only real stories are in books and you can’t read!” The boys are directly challenging D.W.’s abilities! In response to their accusation, she pretends to have the ability to read a book. She intends to prove her peers wrong and temporarily strengthen her own personal esteem by reaching a deceived performance goal, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007, p.490).

The story that she pretends to read to the boys projects her as a super

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Sarah DeLuca CFS 202 hero and her older brother as the evil villain. She envisions herself with super powers, special abilities, materialistic possessions, and freedom from authority, like being allowed to share a room with her pet pony. In the story, she was a friend of the President of the United States and saved her parents from being transformed into “spinach heads.” She was imagining herself as a hero with powerful and impressive friends.

She impressed her friends, but what was most important to her within the social context, was the fact that her peers actually thought she was reading! She swiftly changed the protagonist’s name to D.G, so that her ploy was believable, but the story was obviously centered around her, as her imagination revealed on screen. She was able to think and act quickly within the given social situation and produce an auspicious outcome; she was clever, witty and able to act with good tact. By the time the twin’s grandmother came to pick them up, they didn’t want to leave!

The show promotes interests in reading and writing, as well as positive social skills. The commercials following the second episode included Chucke Cheese and other educational show promotions, but did not include any consumer based products or persuasive content.

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