A member of Women in Children’s Media, I recently had the privilege of attending this year’s 10th annual KidScreen Summit. With just over 1000 attendees and hundreds of speakers from across the country and all over the world, this truly was a Mecca for all those who are in the business of creating kid’s media. I, however, attended as an observer absorbing what I could from workshops that really delved into the inner workings of the content and production of children’s media. I arrived at this three-day extravaganza with one question – what is the kids’ media industry doing to serve girls and children of color?
I couldn’t help but feel frustrated by the answer. While programming aimed at children in preschool and ages 5-7 seem to do their part with shows like Dora the Explorer, Maya and Miguel and Little Bill, ‘tween audiences (ages 8-12) seem to be left in a vast cultural wasteland with a dearth of empowering female role models and an even greater absence of featured children of color. This hole in representation is glaringly more apparent in animation. Dr. Maya Götz, head of the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI), conducted a study which surveyed television shows throughout the globe. In it, IZI found that “Only 32% of all main characters in children’s television are female. The ratio of male to female characters in animation programmes, especially if the main character is an animal, monster, etc., is as disparate as 87% male to 13% female.” The same study found that “72% of all main characters in children’s television [around the world] are Caucasian.”
I willingly admit that this experience has done a lot to invoke my own childhood interactions with media. I am a Latina that grew up in a single parent home, living in a small, broken apartment. I heavily consumed media as a child, perhaps for escapist reasons, but know that this experience exacerbated my frustrations. All I saw staring back at me were male rabbits, white super heroes, or helpless white princesses. Whether live action or animated, I almost never saw anyone who looked like me entertaining or teaching me in my ‘tweens. As an adult I feel a similar frustration on the behalf of children when I see, twenty years later, virtually the same perpetual television culture. While there has been a noticeable increase of female leads, there needs to be a shift in the way we see diversity – beyond just black and white and beyond families that are strictly heterosexual.
A major cause of these television inadequacies can be attributed to the lack of diversity that plagues the community in charge of buying and producing content. I was pleasantly surprised (though not fully, given that it is supposedly more “acceptable” for women to work in anything child related) to see that there was a very healthy mix of both women and men execs who are at the upper rungs of production and children’s media business at the Summit. However, I was extremely disappointed to see that there were very, very few executives of color. Meaningfully diverse content that is more reflective of the children in our country and around the world cannot be created without these media generators being more culturally and racially inclusive. Kids of color need to see more of themselves in leading roles. The “token black kid” is no longer sufficient.
Money cannot be ignored as a driving force in this seemingly homogenous programming. I can’t help but think that it could be due to the increasing spending power of the ‘tween market. It seems that as kids get older, programming becomes more and more targeted at those perceived to have more disposable income (i.e, white, middle class and upwards). However, the industry, on a whole, seems to miss the golden opportunity to marry empowerment and more inclusive representation with successful, money-making programming. These opportunities are not always lost by all – True Jackson VP, currently on Nickelodeon, is an example of successful, mainstream ‘tween (and teen) programming that features children from diverse backgrounds (going beyond mere tokenism and the typical black-white model of “diversity”). And while it does not address all racial and cultural deficiencies, such shows can begin to serve as golden model for other kids’ content producers to build on. Not surprisingly, it is much harder to find such examples within animation. While money will always be a driving force in selecting “the next big thing” there is no reason why content producers can’t acknowledge the increasingly heterogeneous population that the United States is and becomes every day.
On the third day of the almighty KidScreen Summit I left with much ambivalence. Feelings of awe at the power of creativity and technology intermingled with the dissatisfaction of the sad, simple answer to my question – Not very much.
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10 Comments
It is sad and frustrating, for sure. But don’t be discouraged – that’s why YOU’RE in the biz – people like you will forge a path and break new grounds. You will be the change you want to see, and you will be ever the prouder for it!.
This is so true. I, too, grew up in a single parent household, I am half Latina and half Greek, and although my home was not “broken” per se, I spent endless hours sprawled on my carpet watching whatever the children’s television networks had to offer. More often than not, I looked nothing like the kids I saw on TV. The glaring disparity between culture, race, religion, language and customs was obvious to me. I, unfortunately, had to simply accept this. But, as the author stated in her response, it really doesn’t get you anywhere. The upside to this is that it certainly makes us much more aware, and as a result, perhaps more passionate about these issues. I now work as a clinician and advocate for children in the educational system. It helps for them to have a role model, of immigrant parents, with a similar culture and traditions that children can relate to. I’m happy to find the surprised smiles on their faces when I greet their parents in Spanish. I couldn’t agree with your sentiments more and wholeheartedly support the cause you a pioneering.
It’s funny. I feel the non-commercial creators of children’s programming (namely PBS) does a much better job at creating racially complex programming. At least 20 years ago they did. I grew up in a Caucasian house hold two parents, lots of love. Sesame Street was essential in our house hold. I learned how to speak spanish which is something my parents wouldn’t have gone out of their way to teach me without this programming. As a tween one of my favorite shows was a PBS program called Ghostwriter. It was about 6 children of very different elasticities and they solved crimes via word puzzles. Dorky, yes. But educational and grouped many different kinds of kids that were different from myself. My friends were mostly Caucasian like myself. I lived in a sheltered suburb. Children’s television has always been something I have cared about a lot and I agree these are two important changes we need to see happen across the board. Thank-you for writing and sharing about your experiences. I look forward to seeing what else you have to share.
Thank you all for your thoughtful and supportive comments. Emily — I appreciate your take on this issue as a Caucasian woman of the same generation. I, too, was hooked to PBS as a child and loved “Carmen Sandiego” when I was a ‘tween. It seems as if these sort of shows aimed at older children have decreased, which is very unfortunate. Sesame Workshop is addressing part of the ‘tween audience with the revival of the “Electric Company” (ages 7-9). However, I had a hard time finding good programming aimed at children in the upper bracket of the ‘tween population (ages 9-12).
This is so true… and interesting! There has def been more done w/ the younger shows but still lots of room for improvement w/ older age ones. It’s a good thing people like you are involved & determined to make a change!!!
I too grew up in a single parent household for most of my life and television was the source of everyday entertainment, more numbing than entertaining now that I look back 20 years ago. You mentioned people of different backgrounds has been and still is lost in this day -n- age. Strange that it was invisible to me as I took whatever the media portrayed as the “norm.” I hope the disparity between reality and what’s depicted on television improves to reflect people that we can all identify with. Maybe then people will stop trying to conform to unrealistic images.
I think you are so right in saying maybe people will stop trying to conform.
Dove sponsors workshops to help young girls and women do just that, but it is hard to put one on in a school or church.
The kids want people who they follow.
What we need is grown up parents who do not allow their kids to absorb this garbage.
Many of the private schools where I have taught spend extensive time teaching kids to be themselves, and to not just be consumers. All schools should follow their lead.
I’m half dutch/african -american and I live in Holland.
I’m a picturebookmaker and in all the books I make, african/american children play the leading role. Especially here in Europe there’s a great shortage of such books.
One of my bestselling books is ‘Princess Arabella’,
this will also be published in the States coming fall.
The publisher is ‘Mackenzie Smiles’. It’s about a strong-willed little princess, who gets more than she can chew…There are 3 books about Arabella now and there wil be a play about her in december 2009!
I agree with Mylo Freeman. I am a fan of her books and my daugther Jasmina has all of her dolls which come in all different colors. Princess Arabella, an african princess who wants an elephant for her birthday is her favorite. I strongly suggest you google her and go to her website. She has been creating princesses of color for many years. Especially created to raise girls with a healthy dose of self esteem. She also tried to launch them in the US but America has been a little slow with these hugely popular dolls in Europe.
Wow great to see nice post here i will surely visit this blog again wish you good luck