Introduction
Children’s TV shows unintentionally reflect what is happening in the country at the time, as well as the latest toys, trends and gadgets, how does the language used reflect on changes to fashion, music, technology and subcultures through the decades? I am going to assess two British children’s television programmes, one from the 1970’s and one from 2011, to analyse the changes between the two programmes.
In order to carry out my study, I need to collect data that will provide me with a clear sample of a children's television programme from both decades.
In order to carry out my study, I need to collect data that will provide me with a clear sample of a children's television programme from both decades.
Methodology
In order to keep my study fair, I decided to choose two examples of children's TV programmes with a cult, adult following, as the popularity with both adults and children shows the large range of people that the programme appeals to.
It is important to use two samples of data which are easily comparable but still alike one another at the same time. For this reason I decided to use a 4 minute sample from the start of each programme as the opening language is very important due to it being the first part of dialogue the viewer will hear and if it was not interesting many people would change the channel before the programme even got off to a real start.
The television programme that will be the sample from the 70s is 'THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT' as it has always had a large cult following with both adults and children even to this day and is also a great example of stop motion animation. The television programme that will be the sample from the present day is 'RASTAMOUSE', which also has a large cult following with both adults and children, but also contains many references to life in the present day - I will go into this more in my investigation.
Investigation
The first difference that can be seen between the two programmes before the characters even begin to talk is the title sequence, the first impression of the show that the viewer has, and is created solely to stop the viewer from switching over in the first few seconds. The musical styles of the theme songs for both ‘The Magic Roundabout’ and ‘Rastamouse’ are both related to the programme. ‘The Magic Roundabout’s theme song is a simple carnival style, merry-go-round tune played on a pipe organ and no vocals, whereas the theme song for ‘Rastamouse’ has a reggae style theme song with lyrics. The lyrics for the ‘Rastamouse’ theme song includes introducing characters, what they do and the shows catchphrase (“make a bad ting good”), a perfect way to establish what is going to happen in the programme with children, the tune is also catchy and stays and repeats in one’s head for a long time.
Another point that can be made about the differences between the two programmes is the grammar used in each programme varies dramatically. The grammar used in ‘The Magic Roundabout’ could be called ‘correct grammar’ and makes the characters seem like responsible adults, e.g. when the train says “and what might you be doing if I may make so bold, Madame?” this is the sort of language that would not be seen being used today. The grammar used in ‘Rastamouse’ however is controversial as some Jamaican Patois words and phrases are used in the programme and could be seen as bad grammar by parents. In the excerpt that I have produced, phrases that could be seen as bad grammar include when Rastamouse says “Man, me love de way dis new riddim rest” by using ‘me’ rather than ‘I’ and the same applies when Zoomer says “nono me was talkin’ ‘bout dis boom game me just lost” this could hinder the programme in the way that parents unknowing of the Jamaican Patois style of speaking could see this as bad grammar and would not want their child to emulate this if they are at the age where they are just learning the correct way to write and speak. However, this could also work in the programmes advantage by being seen as teaching children another ‘language’ and culture.
A point that can be made about each of the programmes’ reflections on society is that the programmes have references to the type of people that can be seen in the UK at the time of the making and broadcasting of the programme. This can be seen in ‘The Magic Roundabout’ with Dylan’s speech emulating that of a stereotypical ‘hippie’. The ‘hippie’ subculture started in America in the mid-60s and as it developed, travelled transatlantic over to Britain and into other countries, hippies in the 60s were notoriously nonchalant and had a fundamental ethos which focused on peace and harmony, due to this, they also care a lot about human and animal rights, politics and justice. The nonchalant and fundamental ways characteristic of a 1960s hippie can be seen in Dylan’s language when he says: “like uh pay?...pay?” and “oh no man why pay?” his nonchalant, ‘chilled out’ ways can be seen in the way that he says ‘like’ and ‘uh’ as a filler as this is how the stereotypical hippie would speak. Dylan’s language also emulates a stereotypical hippie in the way that he refers to Ermantrude as ‘man’ despite the fact that Ermantrude is assumedly female, this is a way of also showing Dylan has hippie style tendencies. You can see the fundamental ways of a hippie coming through in Dylan in the way that he has problems with paying for a ride on Ermantrude; “like uh pay?...pay?” this shows how hippies believed in free love and living freely. Dylan’s appearance also likens to a 1960s-70s hippy, with his droopy eyes, denim clothes and fluffy hair and sideburns, it is difficult not to see the guitar playing rabbits likeliness to a hippy as more obvious than not. However, Dylan’s droopy eyes and spaced out character caused controversy with parents of the younger audiences as these personality traits have been seen by some to be like that of someone under the influence of marijuana, which was popular with hippies in the 60s. In ‘Rastamouse’ all of the characters reflect on Jamaica-Caribbean people with none of the characters looking or sounding Westernised. The Patois spoken by all of the characters is authentic to Jamaica, however is extremely toned down so that both children can understand the complicated language and so that adults who have no understanding of Patois can also understand. Phrases such as “You know what I’m saying?” and “Irie”: irie meaning powerful and pleasing or the highest of greatness, in the context in which it is used in the episode in which I took a transcript from, it is referring to the ramps they are skating on being the best. The fact that the mice are all Caribbean-Jamaican despite the show being made in Britain reflects on the fact that more and more nationalities and religions are coming into the United Kingdom. With there being a well-established Black-Caribbean community currently living in the UK, and Rastafarianism being a recognised religion, it seems suitable for parents to let children learn about their culture, however some Rastafarians have complained to Ofcom about the nature of the programme, not due to the stereotypes portrayed by the characters or untrue features of their culture shown in the programme but because of the Rastafari being represented by a mouse, as mice are seen as unclean animals along with pigs, they would much prefer to be represented by a lion as, like in most cultures, are seen as majestic animals.
The first difference that can be seen between the two programmes before the characters even begin to talk is the title sequence, the first impression of the show that the viewer has, and is created solely to stop the viewer from switching over in the first few seconds. The musical styles of the theme songs for both ‘The Magic Roundabout’ and ‘Rastamouse’ are both related to the programme. ‘The Magic Roundabout’s theme song is a simple carnival style, merry-go-round tune played on a pipe organ and no vocals, whereas the theme song for ‘Rastamouse’ has a reggae style theme song with lyrics. The lyrics for the ‘Rastamouse’ theme song includes introducing characters, what they do and the shows catchphrase (“make a bad ting good”), a perfect way to establish what is going to happen in the programme with children, the tune is also catchy and stays and repeats in one’s head for a long time.
Another point that can be made about the differences between the two programmes is the grammar used in each programme varies dramatically. The grammar used in ‘The Magic Roundabout’ could be called ‘correct grammar’ and makes the characters seem like responsible adults, e.g. when the train says “and what might you be doing if I may make so bold, Madame?” this is the sort of language that would not be seen being used today. The grammar used in ‘Rastamouse’ however is controversial as some Jamaican Patois words and phrases are used in the programme and could be seen as bad grammar by parents. In the excerpt that I have produced, phrases that could be seen as bad grammar include when Rastamouse says “Man, me love de way dis new riddim rest” by using ‘me’ rather than ‘I’ and the same applies when Zoomer says “nono me was talkin’ ‘bout dis boom game me just lost” this could hinder the programme in the way that parents unknowing of the Jamaican Patois style of speaking could see this as bad grammar and would not want their child to emulate this if they are at the age where they are just learning the correct way to write and speak. However, this could also work in the programmes advantage by being seen as teaching children another ‘language’ and culture.
A point that can be made about each of the programmes’ reflections on society is that the programmes have references to the type of people that can be seen in the UK at the time of the making and broadcasting of the programme. This can be seen in ‘The Magic Roundabout’ with Dylan’s speech emulating that of a stereotypical ‘hippie’. The ‘hippie’ subculture started in America in the mid-60s and as it developed, travelled transatlantic over to Britain and into other countries, hippies in the 60s were notoriously nonchalant and had a fundamental ethos which focused on peace and harmony, due to this, they also care a lot about human and animal rights, politics and justice. The nonchalant and fundamental ways characteristic of a 1960s hippie can be seen in Dylan’s language when he says: “like uh pay?...pay?” and “oh no man why pay?” his nonchalant, ‘chilled out’ ways can be seen in the way that he says ‘like’ and ‘uh’ as a filler as this is how the stereotypical hippie would speak. Dylan’s language also emulates a stereotypical hippie in the way that he refers to Ermantrude as ‘man’ despite the fact that Ermantrude is assumedly female, this is a way of also showing Dylan has hippie style tendencies. You can see the fundamental ways of a hippie coming through in Dylan in the way that he has problems with paying for a ride on Ermantrude; “like uh pay?...pay?” this shows how hippies believed in free love and living freely. Dylan’s appearance also likens to a 1960s-70s hippy, with his droopy eyes, denim clothes and fluffy hair and sideburns, it is difficult not to see the guitar playing rabbits likeliness to a hippy as more obvious than not. However, Dylan’s droopy eyes and spaced out character caused controversy with parents of the younger audiences as these personality traits have been seen by some to be like that of someone under the influence of marijuana, which was popular with hippies in the 60s. In ‘Rastamouse’ all of the characters reflect on Jamaica-Caribbean people with none of the characters looking or sounding Westernised. The Patois spoken by all of the characters is authentic to Jamaica, however is extremely toned down so that both children can understand the complicated language and so that adults who have no understanding of Patois can also understand. Phrases such as “You know what I’m saying?” and “Irie”: irie meaning powerful and pleasing or the highest of greatness, in the context in which it is used in the episode in which I took a transcript from, it is referring to the ramps they are skating on being the best. The fact that the mice are all Caribbean-Jamaican despite the show being made in Britain reflects on the fact that more and more nationalities and religions are coming into the United Kingdom. With there being a well-established Black-Caribbean community currently living in the UK, and Rastafarianism being a recognised religion, it seems suitable for parents to let children learn about their culture, however some Rastafarians have complained to Ofcom about the nature of the programme, not due to the stereotypes portrayed by the characters or untrue features of their culture shown in the programme but because of the Rastafari being represented by a mouse, as mice are seen as unclean animals along with pigs, they would much prefer to be represented by a lion as, like in most cultures, are seen as majestic animals.
