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What Danes consider healthy children’s television

economist.com

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Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#151

Post by interknot »

aedron wrote: post #44

The most astute observation is that characters on Danish kids TV are often completely, unapologetically flawed. This makes them relatable to kids, and kids enjoy watching them in all their dysfunction. And I actually disagree with the premise that this contains no lessons or morals. Children are able to see clearly how ridiculous and ill-advised the behavior of these characters is, and so learn to recognize it in the…

I'll punt as to the accuracy of your "moralizing America" sneer, but remember that Disney chose their mascot--not the American public.

Additionally, my understanding is that Donald Duck had at least a few American fans. Though their numbers are probably limited to the few Americans who enjoy Looney Tunes, Homer Simpson, and the stereotypical sitcom dad (among other characters).

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#152

Post by keenerd »

erelde wrote: post #17
tclancy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am old enough (40) with a daughter who is almost 3, to be a little horrified by kids' TV. It's not that there isn't a ton of "good" stuff for her, it's that there is only "good" stuff. There isn't anything not geared toward teaching her math, reading or morals. When I was a kid, that was PBS and a handful of other shows and the rest of it was people whacking the crap out of each other to make me bug my parents to b…

Get some copies of the classic Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry 1940-1950 for example. (not the sixties it all goes downhill, the drawing isn't as good, they begin talking, too much characters).

Rocky & Bullwinkle? Everything about that cartoon was top notch.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#153

Post by DanBC »

tclancy wrote: post #14
skrebbel wrote: post #8

Kaj and Andreea is fantastic! I'm Dutch but my wife is Danish. She does her utmost best confronting our kids with Danish TV (we live in Holland), so I understand a bit of what the author is on about. I was initially surprised as well. Truth is, it _is_ entertaining! But most importantly, once you get past the absolutely amateuristic way things are shot (hey, the kids don't care, why should you?), there's a lot of dep…

I am old enough (40) with a daughter who is almost 3, to be a little horrified by kids' TV. It's not that there isn't a ton of "good" stuff for her, it's that there is only "good" stuff. There isn't anything not geared toward teaching her math, reading or morals. When I was a kid, that was PBS and a handful of other shows and the rest of it was people whacking the crap out of each other to make me bug my parents to b…

> There isn't anything not geared toward teaching her math, reading or morals.

...and those wouldn't be so bad if they were not terrible at teaching math or reading or morals.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#154

Post by ganzuul »

akiselev wrote: post #119
ganzuul wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The premise is unfalsifiable, so claims of falsehood are unscientific. Doing this is just as bad as preaching from a book if you care about truth.

That's ridiculous. The claim that unicorns and hobgoblins don't exist is also unfalsifiable but we human beings aren't purely rational automatons that can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality. In the absence of falsifiable claims, the burden of proof lies exclusively on the person making a positive statement of existence (that there is a supreme being). If you care about truth, preaching from a book is s…

Do you always downvote people you disagree with?

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#155

Post by iammyIP »

sixhobbits wrote: post #142

Can we please edit the title to match the (correct) original "children's" instead of the modified (incorrect) "childrens'"

'childrens' is 'more correct' because it makes the most grammatical sense. Since it's genitiv, why would you apostrophe it, add another character for what reason? Whose ball is it? The dogs ball. Whose exhaust is it? It's the rockets exhaust. The apostrophe is used to mark silent letters inbetween the slew of two words. It is -> It's ~ It(i)s.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#156

Post by CM30 »

rralian wrote: post #92
tclancy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am old enough (40) with a daughter who is almost 3, to be a little horrified by kids' TV. It's not that there isn't a ton of "good" stuff for her, it's that there is only "good" stuff. There isn't anything not geared toward teaching her math, reading or morals. When I was a kid, that was PBS and a handful of other shows and the rest of it was people whacking the crap out of each other to make me bug my parents to b…

When she gets older, if you let her watch Cartoon Network, there's quite a bit of content with zero educational or moral value. In fact, the latest incarnation of Teen Titans seems to be written by people my age (40) _for_ people my age. With tons of references to 80s culture that the kids would never get.

"With tons of references to 80s culture that the kids would never get."

This is likely in part deliberate. A significant amount of Teen Titans Go seems to be about taking potshots that those who enjoyed the original cartoon. Like 'Revenge of Slade' and its entire plot being a poorly disguised lecture on how fans of the first cartoon shouldn't want this one to be more than randomness for really young kids.

Which of course means anyone actually in the target demographic would have no clue what half the episode means. It's simultaneously confusing to young kids and infuriating to older viewers at the same time.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#157

Post by branchless »

DanBC wrote: post #71
david-given wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go look up some old British children's television. It was made in an era when... um... let's just say that it wasn't focus grouped. Chorlton and the Wheelies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Ng7VMqet0 Noggin the Nog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bKAYH3Sl8s The Trapdoor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eEXyg1lsZc Bod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfFoj-gFP2M Bagpuss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9beAp3TG…

I love Bagpus. There's also Mister Ben (not sure this stands the test of time) and Ivor the Engine. (And I have fond memories of Danger Mouse, but I'm not sure that's any good either).

my kids love the old dangermouse, the new one is _rubbish_.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#158

Post by benologist »

marcusgarvey wrote: post #138
tclancy wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a woman who calls herself "Ms. Hands" ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV6P5rRVmiTL637byUZBTrQ ) and I can only assume she's a billionaire given how often I hear her awful voice as she pops toys out of Play Doh "eggs". I find the whole genre depressing as hell because I can't help but think of kids watching the videos who have 0 hope of ever actually playing with those toys. OTOH, I've been thinking off an…

> I've been thinking off and on about how to start a channel since it's clearly a great way to pay for kids' toys based on the one show we watched where a kid and his dad assembled a gigantic Spider-Man drivable car. There's your self-licking ice cream clone. I wonder why it's so pleasurable to watch these kind of unboxing vids. Mirror neurons?

I think watching people play with toys ~= playing with toys,

It's not all unboxing though, whole stories get acted out with toys and different camera angles and lots of editing. There's a lot of elaborate music video reenactments too, like the songs from Frozen.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#159

Post by m_mueller »

interknot wrote: post #151
aedron wrote: post #44

The most astute observation is that characters on Danish kids TV are often completely, unapologetically flawed. This makes them relatable to kids, and kids enjoy watching them in all their dysfunction. And I actually disagree with the premise that this contains no lessons or morals. Children are able to see clearly how ridiculous and ill-advised the behavior of these characters is, and so learn to recognize it in the…

I'll punt as to the accuracy of your "moralizing America" sneer, but remember that Disney chose their mascot--not the American public. Additionally, my understanding is that Donald Duck had at least a few American fans. Though their numbers are probably limited to the few Americans who enjoy Looney Tunes, Homer Simpson, and the stereotypical sitcom dad (among other characters).

TIL that Donald Duck isn't very popular in the US.

I grew up with a weekly Disney comic book that was a collection of mostly Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse (detective) stories. Almost always skipped Mickey, he's just way too boring as a character.

But didn't you guys have Duck Tales as well? I thought that was massively popular.

Re: What Danes consider healthy children’s television

#160

Post by Nadya »

m_mueller wrote: post #159
interknot wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll punt as to the accuracy of your "moralizing America" sneer, but remember that Disney chose their mascot--not the American public. Additionally, my understanding is that Donald Duck had at least a few American fans. Though their numbers are probably limited to the few Americans who enjoy Looney Tunes, Homer Simpson, and the stereotypical sitcom dad (among other characters).

TIL that Donald Duck isn't very popular in the US. I grew up with a weekly Disney comic book that was a collection of mostly Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse (detective) stories. Almost always skipped Mickey, he's just way too boring as a character. But didn't you guys have Duck Tales as well? I thought that was massively popular.

>TIL that Donald Duck isn't very popular in the US.

A large part due to how utterly annoying it is to listen to him "talk".

>But didn't you guys have Duck Tales as well? I thought that was massively popular.

Yes - at least in my childhood/area it was very popular. They also didn't talk like Donald Duck though. That probably has a lot to do with it.

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