If You'll Let Me Direct Your Attention... // Regular Show

Due to holidays, etc. I'm going to be cheating once again and posting one of my blog posts from this past semester, from my Television class. Enjoy!

Trade articles are one of the best ways to find out what is going on behind the scenes with various television channels and programs. Yet, the content in these articles is often focused on a specific aspect that the publisher or the network wanted to emphasize. For example, this article (entitled “Cartoon Network’s ‘Regular Show’ To Step Up Half-Hours”) spends about a fourth of the article focusing on Regular Show’s popularity and emphasis on friendship and fun, a point the creator J.G. Quintel feels is one of the reason it’s so well received by parents as well as kids. This confliction between the title’s focus and the actual content of the article helps to emphasis who’s being privileged in the publication of trade articles. Trade articles, while useful for finding information about a show from behind-the-scenes, should be read knowing that they tend to be biased toward the agendas of the network and the creators of a particular show, as well as the desires of the publication.

Regular Show is undeniably one of Cartoon Network’s most popular shows at present. It’s popular with not just younger kids, but also with their parents, older kids, and other adults and young adults. It does, as one can easily see in this clip, contain themes of friendship. However, it’s important to notice that the “friendship” in, at least in this specific clip, is a little warped in a way that might concern parents with younger kids. One prominent way is that Mordecai pushes Rigby at one particular instance, and this passes with no consequences (other than Rigby crying, which even that doesn't have any consequences). This reinforcement of physically violent interactions between friends may not be the kind of “friendship” that parents want to emphasize. This notion conflicts with Quintel’s statement that the show is popular with parents and kids due to its portrayal of friendships.

If the content of the show is at odds with the creator’s comments on the show in the trade journal, why is this still such a huge emphasis in the article that is supposed to be focused, according to the title, on the timeslot expansion of the show? The answer lies at the heart of trade journalism: the network’s agenda. Cartoon Network, while definitely pandering to young adult and adult audiences with its content (as discussed by many of the previous Cartoon Network blog posts), they still pride themselves on being a cartoon channel for kids and families. Therefore, the network wants to promote the concepts that appeal to parents, such as the emphasis on friendship in their shows, even if they aren't always completely accurate or ideal. In this way, this trade article, amongst other articles, effectively ignore the perspectives of audiences of television, choosing to emphasize the networks’ and creators’ agendas for a show or channel.

In this way, this trade article seems to reflect the efforts made on-screen in shows throughout Cartoon Network. That is, they choose to publicly emphasize the positive, family-friendly qualities that are included in their shows in attempts to win over parents. It’s the other content that attracts other audiences and forms such a wide following.

That being said, I really must say Regular Show is one of Cartoon Networks best shows right now, and I (being a twenty year old male) thoroughly enjoy the show. I'd recommend it to young adult audiences and whatnot, though I'd encourage parental discretion when it comes to younger audiences.

Until next time, when I'll hopefully have an original post for the first time in too long, 

I’m Michael, and this is my life.

The Separation of Parent and Child // BBC Shows

            So, it’s been awhile since my last update. Reason being I moved into an apartment just off campus for the school year that, until recently, was without internet. But we’re online, now, and everything is going smoothly.

            Interesting thing, moving out. Moving out is like purgatory with regards to your parents. You want, and on some level need, to be independent from them, but at the same time they want, and on some level need, you to still be mildly dependent on them. Don’t get me wrong, they’re probably super happy to get you out of the house, but at the same time, they probably despise the fact that they have to let go.

            For example, shortly after I moved out I went camping with some friends a couple hours north of campus. Despite the fact that I should have probably told my parents where I was going just in case something happened, I did not on the basis that I felt it was none of their business. (This was, admittedly, rather immature of me.) Whilst I was gone with my friends camping, my parents tried to contact me, because my loft bed frame had finally arrived. Not being able to contact me, they decided it was a good idea to swing by my apartment and drop it off. Now, it is my fault that I did not tell them where I was, but I still wonder what drove them to think that stopping by unannounced at my apartment, which is shared with three other tenants, was a good idea. They could have arrived at any number of inconvenient and/or awkward times for the other tenants. So, through a lot of failed communication and irrational thought processes, my parents and I created a wonderful example of the different positions held by the parents and the child upon the child moving out.

            The worst section of time, though, is the part just before a child moves out. Like, when the child is about 18 years old and wants so badly to cut his or her parents loose and run around free in the world. The child desires independence (morally, religiously, physically, monetarily, etc.), but at the same time he or she cannot have it.

            Too many parents think that they have failed as parents if their kid(s) don’t believe exactly what they believe. This, however, isn’t a failure in parenting, but rather a failure in their ideology. For example, many religious parents feel that they have failed in raising their child properly if he/she “strays” from his/her parents’ religious views. Examine this closely and you will see that this is not a failure in parenting. Instead, it is a failure in spreading the religious views further, which is innately what all religious views (as well as all other ideologies) wish to do.

If I were to raise my kid to believe that, say, The Vampire Diaries (a show I, personally, find to be utter garbage) is the best show that ever was and will be, would it really be correct of me to feel that I failed as a parent if my child grows up and realizes that BBC television shows such as are far superior shows to The Vampire Diaries? No. Rather, I should be proud that my child has grown to the point where he/she can judge what is good, even if it were to disagree with my own views.

Personally, I feel that a parent’s job is to raise a child to a level of intellect and maturity such that he or she can go out into the world and independently make rational and informed political, religious, academic, vocational, and moral decisions. Too many parents take this and add “that agree with my views” to the end of it, and that, in this blogger’s opinion, is wrong.

Well, that’s about it for this update.

I’m Michael, and this is my life.

*Update/Disclaimer*: I realized that this may seem like I want all parents to be super loose and not try and teach or guide their kids. This is not accurate. This post is talking exclusively about the time in a child’s life when he/she begins to separate both physically (moving out) and ideologically from his/her parents. It is at this point in life that I believe parents should take a step back and let their kid decide more for him/herself, even if they disagree with him/her. The parents can (and arguably should) still be there as a guide, but they shouldn’t force it.