Bleatings from the Sheep

Children's Media (and a few other random thoughts)

**Note: This is all in reference to Tuesday's class.

First of all, let me say that it has to be one of the most intimidating things ever to be specifically addressed in class. Especially when the professor is as...opinionated...as Professor Leeper can be. Yet somehow I still love it when it happens. Go figure; just another thing about DMA class that makes me scratch my head I suppose.

Also, as one final (?) note concerning the whole capitalism debate...I think I’m going to go ahead and disagree that the whole concept of capitalism is to succeed even if it means stabbing someone else in the back. Capitalism is simply the concept of placing economic issues into the hands of the individual; socialism, in contrast, is the concept of placing economic issues into the hands of the government. The human condition states that most people will try to screw someone over regardless of what system they live under, it’s only more obvious in capitalism because we have more freedom and opportunity to do so. People who try to live virtuously will do so no matter what system they live in; people who only want to take advantage of others will attempt to do so no matter what as well.

Anywho. Onto the subject at hand: children’s media!


Of the two films we watched in class today, I think that for once I preferred the live action piece, “Rocks and Chocolate” (by Teddy Sharkova) over the animated piece, “Little Dog Turpie” (by Ben Mars). Simply because...well...the animated piece was creepy as none other. I’m not entirely certain of how I would have reacted to either one as a little kid, but I do know how I reacted to them now. I enjoyed “Rocks and Chocolate” because it was a cute story about a little girl’s love for her father. I have absolutely no idea how I would’ve reacted to it when I was younger; I might have lost interest in it entirely, or I might have been able to relate, or...I don’t know. But I do know that I liked it at the stage of life I’m currently at, so that counts for something. As for “Little Dog Turpie” I’m fairly certain that I would’ve cried. I loved animals. Especially dogs. And even though the doggie was okay in the end, I still would’ve been too upset as his limbs were getting chopped off during the course of the movie to really care. Knowing myself at a young age, I probably would’ve wanted the man to be eaten at the end. Well...alright, I confess, I still DID want the man to get eaten at the end, and I probably wanted that more at this age then I would have at a younger age. Shame on me for being so vengeful.


I can’t really comment about what makes children’s media good. I guess that in my mind, it either is or it isn’t...I never really thought about why before. To be honest, kids freak me out; it's just the concept of being partially responsible for shaping a mind that’s still so impressionable that terrifies me. Even more so that being spoken to in class…haha. Yet, I am not so removed from my childhood that I can’t remember how I would’ve reacted to certain things. I have grown, yes...but as C. S. Lewis said, growth is an addition to one’s personality, not merely a change in one’s mindset. I can act the part of the “adult” when I need to, because that part of my personality has developed as a factor of growing up...but I have still retained some of that childlike fascination from being younger. When I view children’s media, my mind automatically clicks into that place, or at least attempts to do so. It’s not that I abandon what I’ve learned as I’ve grown, it’s merely that the lessons I’ve retained from my earliest days are those that are usually most useful to me. At least, that’s the best way I can think to describe it right now.

posted by Caitlynn @ 1:19 AM