I’ve always had interests in my life from the world of entertainment. I guess while other kids had imaginary friends, I had Star Trek, the Beatles and the Muppets, just to name a few. 
I guess you could say it was ingrained in my DNA. As an only child, there were a great many times when I was forced to amuse myself. Always present was the sound and pictures coming from the Television. The TV shows and movies I loved served to comfort me when I was down, entertain me when I was bored and enlighten me when I needed advice.
I know, I know, the image of a child spending their life in front of the TV is not particularly pleasant nowadays. Though I guarantee, there were people much worse than I was (Right?….Right? Lol) And I’ve also been smart enough to get an education, make many loyal friends and have a very successful life thus far. ::knocks the proverbial wood:: To be sure, parents need to make sure their kids know the importance of exercise, playing with other kids and having dreams for the future. Sitting in front of the TV is not living. Living vicariously through fictional characters just makes you miss out on your own life.
Still, I don’t regret having my entertainment interests. Many kids have good grades, lots of friends, maybe even good jobs…but they don’t fantasize; they don’t imagine, they don’t have dreams. They have nothing to inspire their minds. They don’t realize how much they can learn about life from classic literature, or even pop culture. I often wondered what purpose my entertainment interests have served in my life. Sometimes I felt guilty. Was it all just some silly trivial pre-occupation? Was it a sign that I had no life? Was I living in a big delusion and avoiding reality? Sometimes perhaps, hehe. But not always. I think my Mom said it best once. That I grab at these things, characters, stories etc, and take them in and learn as much as I can from there. I don’t just look to them for enjoyment. I look to them to help build my personality and decide what kind of person I want to be.
I hope there are people in the entertainment world over the years who have realized how important they can be to the development of a child and of people in general. Books, TV shows, movies, even commercials are our windows to the world. As South Park cynically put it, “Off to the movies we shall go, where we learn everything that we know. Cause the movies teach us what our parents don’t have time to say!” Now, thankfully, I did have parents who took the time to love and teach me about life. But obviously even the best parents can’t do everything. It’s also up to the rest of the world to educate and inspire children.
There’s an old Public Service Announcement from the 1970s (someday I must tell you of my love of the old PSAs, lol). First, you hear that “crinkling” noise on the soundtrack. You know what I mean, the sound you hear when a record starts, or an old movie that hasn’t yet been restored. A clear indication of the age of this clip.
To some, it’s an immediate turn off. This clip is OLD, broken and should be thrown away and forgotten. To me, it’s one of the most beautiful sounds there is. It’s almost an introduction, a signal to respect this clip. It’s a time capsule, an artifact left behind from a lost, forgotten world that is now humbly begging to be heard again. It’s part of history and therefore part of us. It helped shape every part of who we are today, both the things that changed and the things that remained the same.
Anyway, enough of my retro-rambling, lol. Back to the PSA clip! As the song “B-I-N-G-O” softly plays in the background, we see a child roaming around the woods. Jumping on logs, climbing hills, petting a turtle, even playing a “shoot ‘em up” game. He’s an innocent, sweet little boy, curious about the world around him. Perhaps even a bit ponderous of its, and his own, purpose. Then we hear the voice- over. The typical PSA voiceover; male, deep, authoritative. The sign that the TV has decided to stop being funny for a moment and demands some serious attention.
“Kids are impressionable.”, he says. “That’s why here at this station, we watch the programs and commericals your child watches, carefully. He may see bad guys, but not in the role of heroes. He’ll learn that crime doesn’t pay. Because your child’s welfare is our concern too. That’s part of our code. The code of The National Association of Broadcasters for Television and the Greater Public Interest.”……and there it ends, that crinkling sound playing away…
It’s a lovely piece of TV history, yet it also makes me rather sad. Looking at so many programs present on Television today, including kids programs, it doesn’t look like the code is being honored to me. The conduct of “bad guys”, instead of being challenged and beaten, is being celebrated. Selfish, cruel behavior is practiced by main characters, without remorse, without worry of recrimination.
Instead of kids being taught to stand up to bullies, kids are now taught to conform and sacrifice their individuality, in order to fit in. And this conformity is touted as a strength and victory, when it’s perhaps the weakest thing a person can do.
Kindness, generosity and belief in a higher purpose in life is now labeled as corny and simplistic. Children have allegedly “outgrown” such things. We will see in the near future what such a view will have wrought on our children.
To be sure, I don’t like it when parents blame the media for their own kids’ conduct. To once again quote South Park, “We must blame them and cause a fuss before somebody thinks of blaming us!” They are YOUR kids, it is ultimately your responsibility how they turn out. Yet at the same time, the old saying is true, it DOES take a village to raise a child. In this human world, we are all responsible for each other. The media does more than entertain, it teaches and inspires. And what it reaps, we do often sow.
What the musical Into the Woods might say to parents, I also say to the world of entertainment, “Careful the things you say, children will listen. Careful the things you do, children will see and learn. Guide them along the way, children will listen. Children will look to you for which way to turn, to learn what to be. Careful before you say, ‘listen to me.’ Children will listen…”
