Children Essay, Research Paper

In comparing children’s programs for their use of cultural diversity I watched

several segments of Rugrats, Winnie the Pooh, and Out of the Box. The

animated programs, Rugrats and Winnie the Pooh, dealt with diversity in

much the same way. Out of the Box, however, was put together on a

different level. The Rugrats is a delightful cartoon about a group of

adventurous babies that are always getting into one thing or the other. The

baby’s personalities are all quite different and ones weakness is offset by

another ones strengths. Tommy, a very intelligent, articulate, courageous, and

compassionate one year old is the leader of the group. His best friend

Chuckie is a neurotic two-year-old who is afraid of his own shadow! Phil and

Lil, the twins from next door, look alike, think alike, and would follow

Tommy Pickles to the ends of the earth. They love the adventures, the

messier and scarier the better! They are the lovers of mud-pies, bugs, and

moldy things. Tommy’s older cousin, Angelica, rounds out the group as the

spoiled rotten princess who bullies the babies and manipulates the adults.

Angelica has one friend, other than the babies, a black girl her age named

Susie who she is always in competition with. The adults in the show represent

even more diverse groups. Tommy’s Dad, Stu, is an absent-minded toy

inventor who loves his son dearly but tends to let his preoccupation with his

inventions rule his world. His wife, Didi, is your classic, practical,

overprotective mother that is on a quest to be the world’s most perfect

mother. She, however, is completely unaware of just how much Tommy

knows and understands. Tommy’s Uncle Drew is a boring investment banker

that dotes on Angelica and seriously believes that she is an angel. Aunt

Charlotte, on the other hand, is the professional corporate type workaholic

and assuages her guilt by lavishing Angelica with undeserved gifts. Betty

Deville, Didi’s best friend and the twin’s mother, is a loud, big, and friendly

woman who lives for her twins. Her husband, Howard, is the quiet

techno-nerd type that hangs in the background. Chuckie’s Dad, Chaz

(Charles Sr.) Finster is a whiny, neurotic worrier and a single parent. After a

few seconds with Chaz it’s obvious where Chuckie gets his personality. Last,

but certainly not least, there’s Stu’s and Drew’s Dad and Tommy’s Grandpa.

Grandpa is the cantankerous old geezer with a soft spot for his grandson. He

tends to over indulge the babies and lives somewhere between the adult and

Rugrat world. The second animated show, Winnie the Pooh, also has a cast

of diverse characters. There’s Pooh, a wonderful bear with a huge heart and

a little brain. He has a happy and helpful nature and an innocence that makes

him a very straightforward character. Pooh bear’s best friend is Piglet. He’s

portrayed as a small a fearful type but is actually the most courageous

creature in the 100-Acre Wood. Piglet can face anything with his friend Pooh

at his side. Next there is Eeyore my personal favorite. Eeyore is a

gloomy-Gus donkey that pretends not to care what anyone thinks. He’s the

group’s resident pessimist who secretly loves when his friends appreciate him.

Tigger is the bouncy, one of a kind Tiger that has a wonderful self-image and

is brimming with enthusiasm. The last main character is Rabbit. Rabbit is the

solid citizen that always has a plan for something or other, usually to teach

Tigger some kind of lesson. He loves nothing more than to tend his garden

and keep everyone in order, although Tigger usually is in his way! Both

Rugrats and Winnie the Pooh are geared for young children. They do,

however, appeal to the older segment of children. Discriminations and

prejudices about race and ethnic groups are not openly portrayed and

addressed they are, however, present. In my opinion the interaction of the

characters deal with different types of diversity every day. Whether it’s the

way in which the characters interact with each other or the choices they make

when they find themselves faced with something new and different. I don’t

believe that this type of programming would confuse a child because it isn’t

dealing with prejudices on a conscious level. I do think that both programs

teach our children that everyone is different and being different is OK and

even good. Everyone is very different but everyone is treated equally and

fairly in all instances. Out of the Box is an entirely different kind of children’s

program. A black man and an oriental woman, who are taking care of a

group of children daily, host the show. Together, with the children, they have

built an elaborate clubhouse out of many different kinds of boxes. The

children are of different races. There is Cece, Aleisha, and Dane who are

black, Nicholas, who is oriental, and Brandon and Jill who are white. The

show deals with different kinds of diversity every day, whether it’s directly

related to race or simply the differences in the many kinds of boxes that they

used to build the clubhouse. Like the animated shows the program shows all

of the children and the adults interacting together in harmony. I’m not entirely

sure that I have watched enough of these programs to make a sound decision

on their daily content. Although, I have watched many episodes of all three

with either my daughter or granddaughter. My opinion is that all three

programs have good content for children. In the animated ones the characters

are almost always dealing with some kind of diversity, including the

differences between each other. The situations are handled in such a way to

teach our children that regardless of whether we are young or old, male or

female, cheerful or sad, we all are the same inside and that any kind of

problem can be solved if we all work together to resolve it. Out of the Box is

one of my three-year-old granddaughter’s favorite shows and if you ask her,

she doesn’t really see a difference in the children. In her opinion, being

different is part of what her world is all about