Television Programming

[piasharn]

I sometimes find myself frustrated with my generation. So many of them (in this part of the country at least) seem to have trouble thinking for themselves. They simply follow the crowd and go along with what the media tells them.

It's more than frustrating, it's downright frightening at times.

What if that go-with-the-group mentality isn't a coincidence, though? Seriously, stick with me for a second... I'm not one to get into conspiracy theories and whatnot, but I found something the other day that got me thinking. I'm referring to this article by Mark Evanier. I doubt many people will recognize the name, but he was involved in many of the 1980s cartoons that we grew up on, including the Dungeons & Dragons animated series.

Most of the article is just anecdotes about his time at that studio, including some rather amusing memories. Near the end, however, there is a section that made me wonder about this whole issue...

"The kids [of the D&D series] were all heroic -- all but a semi-heroic member of their troupe named Eric. Eric was a whiner, a complainer, a guy who didn't like to go along with whatever the others wanted to do. Usually, he would grudgingly agree to participate, and it would always turn out well, and Eric would be glad he joined in. He was the one thing I really didn't like about the show."

"So why, you may wonder, did I leave him in there? Answer: I had to."

"As you may know, there are those out there who attempt to influence the content of childrens' television. We call them "parents groups," although many are not comprised of parents, or at least not of folks whose primary interest is as parents. Study them and you'll find a wide array of agendum at work...and I suspect that, in some cases, their stated goals are far from their real goals."

"Nevertheless, they all seek to make kidvid more enriching and redeeming, at least by their definitions, and at the time, they had enough clout to cause the networks to yield. Consultants were brought in and we, the folks who were writing cartoons, were ordered to include certain "pro-social" morals in our shows. At the time, the dominant "pro-social" moral was as follows: The group is always right...the complainer is always wrong."

"This was the message of way too many eighties' cartoon shows. If all your friends want to go get pizza and you want a burger, you should bow to the will of the majority and go get pizza with them. There was even a show for one season on CBS called

The Get-Along Gang, which was dedicated unabashedly to this principle. Each week, whichever member of the gang didn't get along with the gang learned the error of his or her ways."

(Pia's Note: Holy shit... I remember watching that show.)

"We were forced to insert this "lesson" in D & D, which is why Eric was always saying, "I don't want to do that" and paying for his social recalcitrance. I thought it was forced and repetitive, but I especially objected to the lesson. I don't believe you should always go along with the group. What about thinking for yourself? What about developing your own personality and viewpoint? What about doing things because you decide they're the right thing to do, not because the majority ruled and you got outvoted?"

"We weren't allowed to teach any of that. We had to teach kids to join gangs. And then to do whatever the rest of the gang wanted to do.

"What a stupid thing to teach children."

That isn't the only message that they constantly shoved down kids' throats, either. Not too long ago, I found some old tapes that my parents had recorded episodes of Rainbow Bright and Stawberry Shortcake on for my sister and I. One thing I quickly noticed was how everyone always had to be happy and cheerful. Always. Being sad or upset was not something that was approved of.

Now, no one likes feeling down, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to feel. There are always going to be events in our lives that will depress us. There are always going to be times when is is natural and normal to feel bad. It's part of life.

So often, people get the idea that they aren't supposed to be sad... ever. The next thing you know, we've got people everywhere clammoring for Prozac and any other anti-depressant they can get their hands on. I do believe that some people honestly have chemical imbalances and so forth and do need these medications. Many others, though, simply believe that they shouldn't ever feel blue.

As I was reading this book not too long ago, I came across an essay by Susanna Kaysen (the author of Girl, Interrupted) in it that discussed this very issue. She described an incident in which she got into a bit of an argument with a woman over anti-depressant medication. The woman stated something along the lines of, "My dog died, so I had to go on medication!"

Feeling sorrow over the death of a pet, or any loved one, is not bad. It's part of the grieving process and is actually healthy. But so many people seem to rationalize their use of medication in this way. After seeing the reoccuring "You must be happy or there's something wrong with you!" message in many of my childhood shows, this mentality is starting to make more sense.

Suddenly, I'm very, very glad that my parents didn't let me watch much television as a child...