KID NATION? Or Notion to Create Power Hungry Teens?

Talking Points #8


Should Kids Be Seen? by Meghan Daum http://www.meghandaum.com/latimes_column/2007/091507_kids_be_seen.htm
illustrates the uncertain motivation behind the show “Kid Nation.” The idea of the show seems dictated by publicity hungry producers going against the dominant discourse by creating a money hungry “cast of Little House on the Prairie teens.” Apparently, we didn’t settle America’s desire for man-to-man money challenges with “Survivor” and now they are turning to kids with “Kid Nation.” Daum reports “the payoff for this gamble? Each child received $5,000, plus chances to win many times that amount in prizes. Every week on the show, one child is awarded a gold star worth $20,000.” Daum reports that the children of the show are unlike that of many teens in our society “the children on the "Kid Nation" promo appear more physically active, intellectually engaged and (no small thing) appropriately dressed than most kids on TV (and in real life) these days. Instead of tempting diabetes with junk food or singing 50 Cent songs to their Bratz dolls, they're working with their hands, breathing fresh air and wearing clothes.”

What I do not understand after reading this article is what the producers are trying to teach our teens today? By shining the spotlight on teens casting them in this distorted light, what are we trying to say? I believe that the producers are creating a fallacy that only kids like these selected “perfect ones” on “Kid Nation” have a chance at winning money and becoming successful. The show is not real! We are not promoting good values with producer mediated scripts dictated to the teens on the show. I think a more appropriate view of “Kid Nation” would be viewing a documentary of the kids of this entire nation! Why not have videos of teens in inner city schools, Catholic private schools, teens working part- time jobs, teens promoting healthy choices in groups like SADD? The world is not built like “Kid Nation” and the negative values instilled into the children of the show. Teen viewers might believe that only money brings happiness and success.

Daum’s ideas correlate with those of Greenfield, Christensen and Hines about how mass media and society’s stereotypes develop our own ideas of ourselves and other people. Christensen reminds us how terms like “the wicked step mother” and the distorted image of female cartoons not as real people but “play boy centerfolds” negatively shape our own self perception (Christensen, 130). Each writer invites us to see how we can “pierce the surface” of these stereotypes and misconceptions (Christensen, 126). Christensen invites us all “to see patterns in the media…and learn to decode the underlying assumptions” (Christensen, 127). We must all “unlearn the myths” and empower ourselves to think for ourselves and develop our own beliefs about people, race, gender, and society (Christensen, 127).

Daum states in her article, that “Kid Nation” goes against the dominant discourse for parents and “"having big plans" for your kids may be changing. A few decades ago, these same folks might have been pushing their kids to win a science fair. But now that the culture of celebrity worship spans several generations, and because it's a biological imperative for parents to want for their children what they couldn't attain themselves, it makes perfect sense that some may want to see their kids on reality shows more than they want them becoming doctors.”

I believe that at the end of the day, it is not about the money that a teen can win on a game show it is about what they can give back to the world by being who they really are! Parents can begin at home to instill positive values to their children. In the words of Laura Greenfield, “like young people everywhere, L.A.’s teens are greatly influenced by the television and films they watch, the magazines they read and the music they listen to. If anything Hollywood’s proximity amplifies its import and influence” (Greenfield, 1).

Like all of these authors and especially Greenfield and Daum, I would ask all of us, how much has the media really shaped our lives? Looking back to the movies we watch, cartoons and “reality shows” what are some of the main cultural stereotypes/ bias that surround us? What are we taught to think about our youth? Power? Money? Self Respect? What are your thoughts…