Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 04.36 AM
2009/11/05
SUZANNA PILLAY
SUZANNA PILLAY finds out why some quarters find fairy tales and some cartoon characters offensive.| Daphne (top left) looks on as children design book covers as part of the programme. |
Another big problem is that the character, along with Dora, was one of 100 popular animated characters featured in a diversity video produced by the “We Are Family Foundation”, which religious groups allege promotes acceptance of homosexuality to children.
In Free2Read, a book cover art workshop for children between the ages of nine and 12, held as part of the festival, youngsters were asked to discuss the challenges they encountered in their reading journeys.
Many were aware of their parent’s reservations about their choice to read certain books.
The Dram Projects (dramprojects.wordpress.com) director Daphne Lee, who conducted the workshop with artist/photographer Wei Meng Foo, remarked that most children said their parents objected to books containing sexual content, or were too frightening, or contained magic or adult themes.
“They were also aware their parents frowned upon and did not approve of books on homosexuality and religion.”
But how do fairy tales offend? It is common knowledge now that when fairy tales were first introduced to the public, reactions were mixed.
The tales centred on magic, talking animals, etc and were considered unsuitable for children. The Brothers Grimm, for instance, had to make adaptations to their collection of stories, which they had originally meant for adults.
In 1931, the governor of China’s Hunan province banned Alice in Wonderland because it portrayed animals as having the same characteristics as humans.
Other fairy tale characters who have been banned around the world in the past include Sleeping Beauty for promoting magic and witchcraft.
In the US, a 1984 Caldecott honour book by Trina Schart Hyman, Little Red Riding Hood, according to an AP newswire article, was excluded from reading lists for youngsters because Red was carrying a bottle of wine in her basket of food for grandma.
| Just good buddies or more than that? Spongebob (right) and Patrick the Starfish |
Last year, a digital book based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale was turned down by a British government agency’s awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.
But can fairy tales and cartoons like Spongebob harm children’s thinking?
There is a possibility, according to TJ (not her real name), an English educator.
“Because we have teenagers who take concepts quite literally, I’m not surprised that children are also not really able to understand or differentiate the complex relationships that adults have.
“Monkey see, monkey do. They might just mimic and take it as it’s the right thing to do. A lot of children read only comics and if they are to pick up any ideas, these will probably be from comics.”
Mazlee Mokhtar, a father of three, has his reservations about “the happy ever afters” and the fantasy world promised in fairy tales.
“My concern is that they then cannot relate to their daily lives. They can believe in fantasy but must make sure that it is kept distinct from reality.”
Disagreeing with this view is Dhyaanah Low, a member of non-governmental organisation (NGO) Freedom and Fun For Kids.
She believes fairy tales are a necessary part of the imagination and help develop creative minds.
“Once you stop children from imagining, what is there left to read? They cannot just be reading factual books. The pros about fairy tales it that there’s always a happy ending and good prevails over evil.
“Sometimes people also tend to read more into things than what actually exists. If you have a warped mind and perception, that will distort the way you look at things. What is harmless takes on a negative connotation.
“Children have innocent minds and see the world through innocent eyes. But once you start putting ideas into their heads, they will start to see things differently.”
Also rooting for SpongeBob and fairy tales is Adibah Mohamed, who believes that kids must be able to grow up thinking there’s also good, not just bad, in the world.
“Positive messages in SpongeBob and fairy tales help to keep that sense of balance. They give children hope, make them believe in the goodness in people, dream of a better tomorrow and happier growing up.”
Adibah’s daughter is a big fan of SpongeBob and watches the cartoon on TV.
“I watch SpongeBob myself and don’t see any gay qualities in him. If anything, he is naive and childlike. Children probably see him the way I do.
“I was a child who believed there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, in happy ever afters, leprechauns, unicorns and a crock of gold at the end of every rainbow — and that didn’t harm me growing up,” said Adibah.
Hazimin Sulaiman doesn’t object to his kids watching SpongeBob, but believes there needs to be some form of a guidance when they watch any cartoon, not just SpongeBob.
“Parents need to know the characters in the toon and what the whole show is about. In the SpongeBob cartoon, my son has a liking towards Mr Krabs in particular, maybe because he, too, likes money just like Mr Krabs does.
“On many occasions, I’ve told my son that some of the things those cartoon characters do can’t be emulated in real life. Mr Krabs tends to go overboard with his greed; his actions don’t set a good example.”
He said his son, after catching several re-runs of the cartoon, is able to distinguish reality from the cartoon world.
“He points out that it’s just a cartoon and says, ‘We can’t do that, right?’ So I guess he’s not influenced by anything negative on TV. Well, he grew up on Teletubbies too. It had its own controversies and it hasn’t affected him in any way.”
Sitting on the fence is Penelope. a mother of two. She believes it all depends on the level of educational content the educator/ author is trying to convey.
“If there are values or moral in the stories at the end, I think a child could learn something from it.
“How the child relates to life will depend on the input, life being to them like a fairy tale, what they imagined, read or watched.
“But too much television can also make children exhausted, hyper and aggressive.
“It will not teach children the hard truth about life or prepare them to face life’s obstacles.”
But the positive side is that children learn through through having fun. Certain programmes also stimulate their learning.
Her daughter watches SpongeBob on TV and Penelope admits that sometimes she doesn’t like some of the silliness in some of the show’s characters.
Sri Ganesh G.B, believes that basically everything is fed subtly into the minds of children.
Voicing his opinion on SpongeBob, he said if we took an adult view, the cartoon certainly has gay elements.
“The creators of the series have translated the world today (inadvertently) for our children to view. The question is, is it right? Did they introduce a character like that with an intent to promote acceptance of gay practices?”
He believes it could influence children.
“Over the years it subtly fits into their reality as they observe gay trends in the world and begin to embrace it... simple child psychology!”
As a parent, he would like books to teach basic human values and character-building stories.
| Fairy tale happy endings make children happy. |
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