Threatening an endangered breed
Perhaps it's officially time to start culling children's TV personalities in morally pristine isolation labs, as a PBS kids' network has fired the host of one of its programs, Melanie Martinez, because she once participated in a project involving–oh, god, shield the children!–sexual humor.
Here's the network's brilliant rationale:
As many kids that age can't comprehend cause and effect and still think the people on TV are actually in the box, what we have here is plainly another case of alarmist adults crying, "protect the children!" as a cover for their own unjustified over-reaction, to the detriment of the entire enterprise.
When a culture grows so cynical that it's perfectly acceptable to all parties involved to boot an actress off a children's TV show for at one point in her career doing something not pre-emptively sanitized, said culture is in a sorry state.
For though they're not good for much else, kids (the ones who aren't drugged, at least) are starting to look like the only segment of this society allowed to retain and indulge in even a tiny bit of imagination anymore.
It's gotten to the point that whenever we "adults" see anything truly creative or imaginative, at any level, we are woefully wont to write it off as trite or offensive and project a pernicious agenda onto its producers.
One would think an audience of children would have the fewest issues with letting an entertainer's backstage baggage taint his or her present performance, a phenomenon that has no doubt blocked many adult observers from being moved by some fine pieces of work.
Despite what many supposedly educated adults seem to think (just eavesdrop on theatre-goers' commentary after M. Night Shyamalan's latest if you're unconvinced), a piece of creative work is not a reflection or condensation of its creators' past experiences, personal philosophies or moral codes. If it were, art would be terribly, terribly boring.
Besides, people who lead G-rated, well-adjusted, consummately privileged lives rarely have the impetus or inspiration to create even marginally compelling art.
Instead of punishing them, we should be celebrating those who have the guts and the professional integrity to put things out there bearing their signatures without attaching signing statements hedging and disavowing what's contained within.
For in a country where a drunken, delusional draft-dodger can be born-again as a two-term president, should we really be demanding higher standards of our entertainers?
Here's the network's brilliant rationale:
"PBS Kids Sprout has determined that the dialogue in this video is inappropriate for her role as a preschool program host and may undermine her character's credibility with our audience," said Sandy Wax, network president.Yes, apparently drowsy pre-schoolers are differentiating this actress from her character, looking up her prior work, tracking down footage of it, comprehending it, getting offended, re-assessing her credibility and re-evaluating their decisions to watch her current project. Right. And Condoleezza Rice is an enchanted foreign policy fairy who can bring peace to the Middle East with a mere visitation.
Airing for three hours each evening, "The Good Night Show" airs soothing stories and cartoons designed to get an audience of 2-to-5-year-olds ready for bed.
As many kids that age can't comprehend cause and effect and still think the people on TV are actually in the box, what we have here is plainly another case of alarmist adults crying, "protect the children!" as a cover for their own unjustified over-reaction, to the detriment of the entire enterprise.
When a culture grows so cynical that it's perfectly acceptable to all parties involved to boot an actress off a children's TV show for at one point in her career doing something not pre-emptively sanitized, said culture is in a sorry state.
For though they're not good for much else, kids (the ones who aren't drugged, at least) are starting to look like the only segment of this society allowed to retain and indulge in even a tiny bit of imagination anymore.
It's gotten to the point that whenever we "adults" see anything truly creative or imaginative, at any level, we are woefully wont to write it off as trite or offensive and project a pernicious agenda onto its producers.
One would think an audience of children would have the fewest issues with letting an entertainer's backstage baggage taint his or her present performance, a phenomenon that has no doubt blocked many adult observers from being moved by some fine pieces of work.
Despite what many supposedly educated adults seem to think (just eavesdrop on theatre-goers' commentary after M. Night Shyamalan's latest if you're unconvinced), a piece of creative work is not a reflection or condensation of its creators' past experiences, personal philosophies or moral codes. If it were, art would be terribly, terribly boring.
Besides, people who lead G-rated, well-adjusted, consummately privileged lives rarely have the impetus or inspiration to create even marginally compelling art.
Instead of punishing them, we should be celebrating those who have the guts and the professional integrity to put things out there bearing their signatures without attaching signing statements hedging and disavowing what's contained within.
For in a country where a drunken, delusional draft-dodger can be born-again as a two-term president, should we really be demanding higher standards of our entertainers?
posted by Holly at 2:39 AM
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