[essay/小品文/短論] Tale as Old as Time, True as People Think/ 兒童節目、影視作品、文化、教育
Tale as Old as Time, True as People Think
Cultural coding of indifference, sex, and violence bombards children’s programs, and all that’s connected has melted into the air. The connection among people, however, should be the focus in a children’s program. Featuring pro-social content and diversity to evoke some thinking, Animated Tales of the World definitely has some positive influence on children.
Animated Tales of the World is an Emmy award-winning animated series that aired on HBO for three seasons from 2001 to 2003. It is also podcasted on PTS (Public Television Service) in Taiwan. This series introduced various cultures and even challenged some standardized content in TV programs nowadays, such as the binary of good and evil, the invisibility of nature, and small family kinship. I would like to take three episodes, Raven Steals the Daylight, The Magic Paintbrush, and Timoon and the Narwhal as examples. Furthermore, I will elaborate on why this production is aligned with the values that some TV programs can provide shown by research: pro-social content can foster positive social interactions and encourage viewers to be more tolerant and helpful (Mares and Woodard, 2005).
Raven Steals the Daylight, a tale from Alaska, does not strengthen the binary of villain and hero as most Hollywood or Disney cartoons do. Raven, a canny figure who can transform into any animal, boasts about stealing sunlight from Sky Chief for the people in Alaska. He is disguised as his grandson in order to successfully sneak into Chief’s house, and finally steals the lights away. From this story, we see a world of ambiguity. Shouting and singing, “I created it all, you’re in the presence of a brilliant mind,” Raven steals sun simply to outwit other people but accidentally becomes a hero in Alaska. Sky Chief, a greedy, selfish leader who locks stars, moon, and sun as private property, also shows generosity to his offspring and offers him some treasures. The ambiguity between a hero and a villain in this episode gives our children a chance not to whip anyone with their own displeasure, but to give a more subtle commentary on a tangled situation.
Nature is impactful and highly respected in traditional East Asian culture and in The Magic Paintbrush. Obviously, this episode imparts a moral lesson that people shall be mindful of their power and be kind. But what draws my attention the most is the repetitive imagery of nature to educate our children to stay connected with nature. Ma Liang, a boy from the lower socioeconomic class who was fascinated by drawing and could not afford a paintbrush, accidentally got a magic paintbrush from God. Ma used his imagination on these animals respectively: carp, goat, cane, and dragonfly. Singing “paint my destiny” with playfulness, he rides on a puppet dragon instead of a real dragon, which symbolizes the extreme authority of an Emperor. Even when Ma is encountered with danger, he summons fire and wind rather than some deadly weapon for self-defense. Trapping the greedy Emperor in an island by his drawing, Ma walked away in the sunset smiling. The harmony between Ma and nature, appreciation for nature, and the final scene of this episode strongly suggest that the connection between nature and a human could surpass that between human beings. It reminds our children that there is always a chance to be alone as a non-conformist in a community and we can choose a community that happens to be inhumane.
Speaking of atypical kinship, Timoon and the Narwhal, a story from Native Canadian’s tale, is highly recommended. The story is about a visually challenged young boy living in the Nordic area with his father, mother, and little brother. However, he is most affectionate with his aunt, a “quiet,” “restless” woman, who does not agree that a small family warrants her happiness. Rather, she is emotionally attached to nature with extreme sorrow for the death of a seal. The whisper of hers, “Everything that wants to be free,” foreshadows her later transformation into a Narwhal to liberate her. Following a fateful calling from the ocean, she is “happy at last” with a “beautifully carved” harpoon as her tusk and true bonding with Timoon. The kinship between a niece and aunt—a human and nature, but not always in a small family—is beautifully portrayed. As an isolated igloo glowing beneath the sky with traveling aurora in this episode, Timoon and her aunt are having each other bonded in this wild, snowed nature.
As we can see in these episodes, things like simplified truth and judgment on people, overly human- centered thinking, and fixed imagination of interpersonal relationship are reconsidered. And it is why it should be praised. It is not a strange thing that people nowadays raise a racial issue and promote LGBTQ+ equality, whether they are political or simply looking for political correctness. Yet, so much otherness in our daily life could be alienated and turned away from if we don’t resolve the issues mentioned. Imagine: if a child is holding the belief that there is a binary of good and evil, how can he confront the reality that bully isso often happening in the school out of no reason? How do they understand and approach the bullied victim if even the bullied one has not done anything wrong? Will he really stand by other people if he could just stay silent because he cannot find who “the bad guys” are? It is very likely that this bully will be silenced by our kids because it is totally out of the realm of the binary of hero and villain.
Animated Tales of the World, from this point of view, is very issue-sensitive to give the center stage to those themes. Besides discrimination based on race and sexual orientation, there are people, so much, will be scolded and shamed without our notice. A victim of sexual abuse, an introvert who feels more conformable alone walking by tress than socializing, a single fortyish lady living happily with her cat’s company, a person who cuts himself off from his family forever,...and many other unnamed. It is less possible to make every representation of some unusual theme or underrepresented group on TV shows, but there’s much opportunity for the next generation to learn that the world is full of people who are “not so like you,” that are “not so great,” and that are “not so easy to understand” with some sophisticated stories. Education-wise, the three episodes really bring out the potential to foster social interaction and encourage the viewers to be more tolerant and helpful in real life.
On an educational level, I believe that the TV series of Animated Tales of the World has done a great job on the fusion of some old tale and some unusual themes in children’s programs. The spirit that makes our children think with an open mind, please let it show, and let it proudly steal the show in Animated Tales of the World and our kids’ vision of this world.
Reference
Mares, Marie-Louse; Woodard, Emory. “Positive Effects of Television on Children’s Social
Interactions: A Meta-Analysis.” MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY, 7, pp.301–322.
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