Chris Gets Critical

Following my presentation this morning I thought I’d type up a few thoughts which it provoked and which followed, including the avenues for investigation suggested by tutors and students alike.

To begin, here is a simple list of some of those key questions and other points raised this morning:

• How much of the output on CBeebies has to be original content, and to what extent does this detract from the budgets for CBBC productions targeted at older children?
• Charly, who spent much of her childhood in America, agreed that children’s television must offer a strong grounds upon which children can socialise, since she didn’t know many of the shows which were nostalgically mentioned but which saw others in the class relishing their memories.
• Following yesterday’s publication of the Byron Review, are children nowadays bonding over a shared love of particular video games and websites instead of their favourite TV shows?

My memory has gone a little dry, but if anyone can recall any further details from this morning or wants to leave me a retrospective comment then please do so below.

Next, I will acknowledge and further explore a source which I only started using this morning: Children Talking Television, a report produced by David Buckingham and published by RoutledgeFalmer in 1993. Its last minute discovery led to it ending up in my presentation simply through provision of a supporting quotation, but I present here a couple more key quotes. Firstly, Buckingham defines the core thoughts behind my choice of research subject and shows the criticisms I endeavour to challenge:

Critics of television tend to regard viewing as an anti-social pastime which has ‘killed the art of conversation’. Yet in fact television viewing is predominantly a social activity, which usually takes place in the company of others. Viewers do not, by and large, sit passively absorbing what they watch: they talk to each other, and may even talk back to the screen. Even when we actually watch alone, we will often talk about what we watch with others. Talk about television is a vital part of our everyday social lives.

With much of my focus being on the evolution of Blue Peter, here’s an interesting reference which tells how it is viewed as high quality British programming fighting against an influx of cheaply purchased American productions:

The anxieties about these [’new wave’ US] cartoons [such as Thundercats, Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles] are also part of a broader concern about the potential impact of the deregulation of broadcasting. In the British context, these arguments are heavily informed by a fear of ‘Americanization’ and by a kind of nostalgia for a ‘golden age’ of ‘quality’ children’s television, represented by programmes like the long-running factual magazine Blue Peter.

Within that paragraph David Buckingham also suggests that to find out more about the influence of American culture it is worth reading Dick Hebdige’s essay from 1982 ‘Towards a cartography of taste 1935-1962′, present in Popular Culture: Past and Present (Bernard Waites, Tony Bennett, Graham Martin; Croom Helm/Oxford University Press, 1982), and so I shall endeavour to locate a copy of this.

Finally, I’ve gone through the notes made during my initial one-to-one with Andrew and highlighted the topic areas which haven’t yet been tackled and which are hence next on my list:

• Did children all used to watch the same programmes?
• Do children now all watch the same programmes, or is their evidence of fragmentation? (Though explored through secondary research, this will also be a key point within my primary research.)
• The sociological issue of cultural bonding and togetherness - if this disappears, are there consequences?
• How do older children’s programmes compare with their modern counterparts?
• How have technical codes changed over time, and do today’s children like their world of whip pans and crash zooms?
• What does textual analysis of Blue Peter annuals uncover as changing over time? More than just fashions and hairstyles?

Right, that’s all for a little while. I have a one-to-one with Andrew on Monday when I suspect we will begin to consider how best to undertake my primary research, so maybe next up on the blog I’ll be uploading a draft questionnaire or linking to a Bebo page to ask kids their thoughts. Time will tell, but for now goodbye - please do leave me a comment if you have any thoughts at all.

Following on from Andy and Marion suggesting that we each establish blogs to organise our Critical Research projects, I have created this garishly coloured and cringeworthily named monstrosity to keep my research findings neat, tidy and collated in one place. A warm welcome to one and all. Let me know who is visiting by leaving me a comment below.

I am looking at the evolution of children’s television and whether it has been ‘dumbed down’, albeit under a rather wordier title, and will be posting primary research findings and links to secondary research as the site evolves. I also want to maintain a list of links to other students’ blogs, and so if you are an A2 student running a blog about your Critical Research then leave me a comment and I’ll add you into the sidebar to your right.

Finally, if you’d like to revisit my presentation on secondary sources from Friday’s lesson (he says hopefully and pre-emptively!) then the slides and accompanying notes are available to view from this blog. Please be aware that, being a product of PowerPoint which is itself a product of Microsoft, it only works properly in Internet Explorer… and even then it still looks a bit crap.