In class this week, we discussed the definition of "children's media." We viewed The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1940). This time, I got to watch it with a new perspective. I never knew how much meaning could be derived from this short, especially pertaining to the relationship between children and creativity. Mickey uses the sorcerer’s hat, the supposed source of power, in order to get out of his chores. Mickey is engaging with his creativity, especially when he is dreaming about all of his new powers, but then it gets out of hand, and everything has to be resolved by the “adult.”

In contrast, we watched the Aries clip from one of his documentaries. He talks about an experience he has as a child wherein he had a great idea for a film, and he was really excited about it and supposed he must be a genius. He then found out that his idea had already been made into a movie, and was discouraged. The connection between this clip and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is significant. One clip is meant to be viewed by children, and the other clip has children as subject matter, but isn’t necessary targeted at a child audience. These clips show two different relationships children have with their world around them, and then how adults fit into that world as well.

We read a children’s book from a few decades ago called “I’m Glad I’m a Boy, I’m Glad I’m a Girl.” This book had children as subject matter, and it was targeted at a young audience. It showed the “correct” gender roles, and I believe it was meant to be a cute story, but also to teach children how to behave and fit the correct mold. I found this book to be a little bit problematic. Children are so moldable, and are so influenced by the media they partake of. I could see this book causing some internal struggle for children who read it, especially if they felt they didn’t fit the mold.

Our discussions in class this week made me think of a recent Flight of the Conchords video.

In this video, Bret and Jemaine are asked to write a charity song to help raise money for sick children. They turn to children to write the lyrics of their song. After they interview a handful of children, they make the song into something really great. This is a great example of children engaged in media and creativity. Bret and Jemaine are encouraging these children to get creative. Their responses are so funny and adorable, and are later arranged into a cool song! I can see how this could be considered problematic. I think this video is only going to be funny to adults. I showed it to a few of my little sisters, and they didn’t find it as funny as I did. But when I watched it with adults and other college-age students, we found it to be hilarious. It could be argued that this video is unfair to children, but I think this video was done lovingly, and is a great example of how children are capable of creating great things.

We viewed Son of Rambow (2009) in class. This film also had new meaning to me as I watched in the context of our discussion. Will is a child who has had very little contact with media, movies and television specifically. When he is accidentally exposed to the movie Rambo, he is so influenced by it, that it takes over all of his thoughts. This film was meant for an older audience, but also is such a good portrayal of children engaging in what they see, and then proceeding to create as a direct result.

Our discussion of the relationship between children and media, portrayal of children in media, and what is considered media for a young audience was really interesting, and makes me excited to keep learning about it in this class.