Spirituality in Children's Media

One of the greatest storytellers in the world was Jesus Christ.  He taught in parables, which were allegorical and metaphorical.  They were meant to be read into deeper than just the surface discussion.  One of the great uses of these parables is their capacity for personal interpretation and application.  The Prodigal Son can be on the one hand a story that warns of the consequences of sin and the joy of repentance.  It can also be all about humility and the need to forgive others.  Or it can simply be a discussion of the infinite love of God.  This is one of the great uses of parables as well as naratives that emphasize spirituality in general.  When a child reads The Good Samaritan, they may understand the plain and simple fact of needing to love each other and help people who are in need.  As they get older they may understand some of the underlying messages of not being hypocrites, or being willing to ignore prejudice and show tolerance and charity.  They may even get something out of it that only they can understand or apply.  This is useful as they seek to grow in a spiritual nature.  It is one thing to be told what to believe, but another to choose what you believe of your own will and agency.

Agency is one of the biggest themes in a spiritual narrative,  the righteous use that brings about blessings or the unrighteous use that brings about punishments.  But there may also be deeper themes too.  In Babe- Pig in the City there can be found a metaphor for Christ in Babe's dealing with the pitbull.  He chooses to save the dog that would've killed him in a heartbeat a second before.  Christ is the perfect example of turning the other cheek and helping others even if they hate him.  So a story doesn't need to be explicitly spiritual in nature in order to be useful in teaching a spiritual lesson.  In fact, any story that has a moral lesson to be taught or else an act of selfless love and service can fit into this category. 

We read "The Giving Tree" in Class, which can be seen on the one hand as simply a sweet children's tale, or as an allegory of a parent and child, or even as a spiritual story of God's dealings with his children.  The tree gives selfless service and sacrifices everything for the happiness of the boy.  But often the boy is too busy to notice.  This is too often the case between God and us his children.  We only go to him when we need things, and yet despite this, he continues to give and share and love.  One of the purposes of a spiritual narrative is to teach by proxy.  We can learn from the action or inaction of a character and avoid the adverse consequences of their choices ourselves by learning from their mistakes.  You may or may not ever have a chance to experience the same sort of thing that a character in a story goes through, and thus you are able to learn something that you would never have learned on your own.  Children often learn through experience, and tend to struggle with learning by proxy, often needing to experience the adverse consequences themselves before a lesson is fully comprehended.  But the more they are exposed to this form of media, the more likely it is that they will get the message.

As we watched Ponette, we saw the incredible faith of a child, as she dealt with conflicting opinions of where her mother was and how to communicate with her at all.  Her father claimed there was no God and therefore no purpose to Ponette's continued attempts to speak with her mother.  Other adults gave her differing points of view of who God was, who Jesus was, and how she could communicate with them.  Even her friends, little children as well, tried to convince her of the truth of things as they saw it.  But despite these discordant opinions and concepts, Ponette never gave up faith and hope, as her faith was placed not in an attempt to understand and reach God but in her loving attempt to see her mother again.  She never gave up, and she held to the one thing that stayed constant, her love for her mother.  This is what allowed her to see her mother again.  One message that could be taken from this story is that it doesn't matter how you believe in something, what matters is that you never give up faith.  There also must be a purpose to faith.  Ponette's faith was based in a desire to see her mother again.  If we all could have that same faith and desire to see our Heavenly Father again, we probably would.  The Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon was able to see the Lord because of his incredible faith.  He couldn't be "kept within the veil" because he believed so strongly.  Nor could Ponette be kept from seeing her mother again.  While it is a sweet story, it is only useful if we learn something from it.

Family and Children

The film we watched in class was I Wish.  The story revolves around two young boys and their divided family.  While one boy suffers and wishes they could get back together, the other boy seems to just try to ignore the situation and make the best of it.  This familial strain is very indicative of the problems that come with divorce.  The kids always suffer most.  In the end, the boy who wanted his family back seemed to finally realize that he couldn't be selfish and wish for his family back if it was going to cause further damage.  This metaphor is found in his wish that the volcano would erupt again forcing their family back together, which he finally decides against in order to save others from pain.  He also grows up a bit in the moment as he learns to play with the hand life has dealt him and be happy with it.  The youngest brother who was more or less using a defense mechanism to keep from facing the reality of his family's problems (ex. the scene where he turns and watches TV while his parents and brother yell,) also seems to learn a lesson as he starts to believe in his father and his brother at the end.  He even makes a selfless wish for his father.  The growth that occurs in these boys occurs not because of familial relationships but because of the lack thereof, which implies that happiness can be found even in less than ideal family circumstances.  We can't all have the perfect family, but we can make our family perfect as we work at it.
Children learn their place in society through their family.  This sometimes occurs for them because of the stigmas that are associated with broken families.  Often a child will struggle due to the fact that they don't have a father or mother, and society can cause that suffering to be increased.  When a film portrays a family, ideal or broken, there are social implications and stereotypes that can often be associated with it.  But the point is often to show how those stereotypes are wrong and a child has the power to rise above the labels and make their own way in society.
One way media can relate to a child is through home videos.  My sister has 3 adorable boys who are always doing funny things, and when they do she gets out the camera and documents it.  She laughs about it and shows it to her friends, which cause the children to be interested in the home movie making process.  They even start to do funny things on purpose just so they can get filmed.  They interact with my sister in a very unique way through these films as they love to watch themselves on video and share it with those they meet.  They become more social through this use of home videos.  Home videos can also provide a means of getting to know each other, documenting processes and experiences that define the individuals involved.
In relation to the reading we did, Peter Rabbit portrayed the young rebel who chooses to defy his mother's wishes and explore the world around him, but through his experience, he learns the value of his mother's experience and is able to recognize her wisdom at last.  Often this is a necessary step in a child's learning process.  If a parent tells a child not to touch something or they will get burned, the child isn't likely to heed it fully and without question until they feel the pain of a burn for themselves.  They then become more likely to trust their parent's other warnings.

Tumbleweeds Children's Film Festival

I have to admit, I was expecting a lot more from the Tumbleweeds Film Festival in Salt Lake last weekend.  I guess I had the image of a one of the big film festivals in my mind so I was expecting booths and panels and propaganda and such.  And I suspect that there was a bigger deal made when they first opened the festival Friday night.  Since I couldn't make it Friday, I went Saturday and it wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped.  The films themselves were the only focus.  If you weren't seeing a film, there was literally NOTHING to see or look at.  I think there might have been a gift table where you could buy things that said Tumbleweeds on it, and that is it.
Despite my disappointment regarding extras, the film I saw was actually quite good.  I saw Will, a British drama about the triumph of a little boy as he learns to cope with the death of his father.  A brief summary- a young boy, Will, is living at an orphanage when his apparently dead beat father comes to collect him, promising they will be a family again.  Will's father purchases some tickets to a football (soccer) game being held in Istanbul where Will and his dad's favorite team, the Liverpool Football Club, will play.  But a week before the game, Will's father dies of a brain hemorrhage, leaving him alone again.  Will is then faced with the challenge to run away from his orphanage and get to Istanbul himself to experience the game that he and his dad were supposed to attend.  He makes his way to France where he meets a has-been footballer named Alek who reluctantly helps him on his quest to see the game.  Will becomes a sort of runaway celebrity, and through his genius love of football and positive determination, he not only gets to the game but is able to run in with the players he so loves.
Will may be a bit of a cut and dry story, with a boy losing everything and doing everything in his power to hold on to the one thing he still has: hope.  But it is definitely well executed and well acted.  When it started, I was expecting a deadbeat dad story, about a man trying to make family a priority but finding himself not up to the challenge.  Thus, when the father died, I was literally shocked.  Truth be told, the story up until the dad dies is a bit boring, but once he dies and it becomes a quest the story really picks up.
The production design for this film was actually really impressive.  They filmed in very beautiful locations such as England and Paris, and there are some establishing shots that are quite breathtaking.  Set design and costuming were also very good.  All in all, it struck me as the sort of film that, in the wrong hands, could've been a total flop, but as it was executed so artistically and directed so poignantly I really liked it.  I actually went to the festival with a couple of friends who are not in the film program and they enjoyed it as well, which says to me that it doesn't just have appeal to the high-minded film connoisseurs who can find reasons to enjoy a movie that the general populous finds dull.
With regards to its relation to our discussions in class, I found it to be very adventuresome.  Will is faced with adversity and is only able to confront his problem by going out into the unknown world on a quest.  The main lessons he learns are not taught to him from parents or outside sources, but learned from his own experience connecting with the world around him.  The child is seen as being a source of hope and light for others as well as himself.  At one point, the police are searching for him as a runaway, but, inspired by Wills determination and love of the game, everyone protects him.  They allow him to experience the world, instead of protecting him from it.
When the movie ended my friend turned to me and said, "Well, that definitely glorifies running away doesn't it?"  And he definitely has a point.  Will stole money and ran away from home, doing all sorts of dangerous things like getting into cars with strangers.  But the whole time he is lucky enough to find nothing but help and support and encouragement on his quest.  At no point does he ever feel that running away was wrong, a point which is exacerbated when his friend Alek chooses to defy the police and help him get to the game.  Adults are supposed to be the moral compass for children, helping them to choose the right, especially when the wrong choice is so glamorous and exciting.  But the adults all seem to just have a change of heart by the end and decide that him running away was the best thing for him.  Will does at one point get his wallet stolen but since he meets Alek soon after the effects of this are very short lived.  In all, the message a child may take from the film is "If you have a really good reason to run away, things will work out and all your wildest dreams will come true!"  Definitely not a message I want my kids learning.
Aside from the problematic interpretation that could be made, I found the film to be very heartwarming and tender, very funny at times, and all together a very enjoyable experience.  I probably wouldn't have seen this film if not for this Festival so I am very glad I went.

Children's Media as Nostalgia

Nostalgia has a very powerful effect on the human mind, both as a means of escape from what may be a difficult present, but also to recall important moments in our development that can help us cope with our current circumstances.  Fond Nostalgia can often provide a return to childhood or else childlike qualities such as faith, hope, love, humility, honesty, and kindness.  Children are able to look at the world in a very raw and innocent way, which allows them to escape many of the harsh realities that in many ways they are either sheltered from or else simply do no understand.  Responsibilities are all but unknown to children, thus a return to childhood can be an escape from responsibilities and difficult choices.  While this may be a good thing in some situations (learning from past mistakes in order to deal with current situations, recognizing childlike virtues that can lead to a stronger moral compass) it can, when taken too far, have very detrimental consequences.

Nostalgia is really only something that applies to adults.  Children don't really experience nostalgia since they are living their childhood now.  Seeing things like "Power Rangers" or reading Christmas stories are fresh and new to them, but as such, they are likely to create memories related to these media sources that will become nostalgic for them later in life.  We are living in a time now where nostalgia is a great source of ideas for many films and other media, for example all the reboots of old movies/franchises like Transformers, Marvel comics movies, and even more gritty things like the remakes of classic horror movies, looking to bring the old scares to a new generation while simultaneously reminding the older generation of the classic scares of their youth.  Sometimes these ideas are big hits, while others are flops, and the reason for flops usually is because the intellectual property (nostalgic element) is no longer applicable (like in the case of John Carter) or else it is just too antiquated for the current generation to care.  

As we watched Hook in class this week, I was impressed at how well it fits into this category.  It embodies nostalgia in many ways.  First, I saw this film as a kid at my friend's house.  I loved it and would ask to see it every time I went over to his house.  He got bored of it pretty quick, but I never did!  When my parents got a DVD player for the first time, Hook was one of the 5 DVDs they got along with it, so I watched it over and over again (partly because of nostalgia, partly because I had no other DVDs).  The second reason this movie is nostalgic is that it is a retelling of the Peter Pan story, which I also loved as a kid.  The tiny jokes and nods to the old play and movie are just thrilling!  Finally, the story itself is a story of nostalgia, where Peter has forgotten all about his past and must remember in order to deal with his current family problems, as well as to save his children from a demon from his past.  He finally remembers, but is caught up in the memory and loses himself, his goals, and his focus on reality.  Only when he remembers his responsibilities as an adult is he able to find a happy medium between what he used to be and what he has become.  This is exactly what nostalgia can do for anyone.  Brilliant filmmaking and the perfect choice for this week's viewing.

Diversity in Children's Media

As we look back on most of the discussions we have had about diversity we see that there has been a trend of focusing on mainly the mainstream, with the white male role as a dominant feature.  Often, this can cause difficulties, particularly when it comes to being able to reach a wider audience.  A story about a young, good looking white boy from the suburbs who is struggling to find his way may not connect as well with a latino girl from the ghetto.  The point of diversity in media is to relate stories that recognize opportunities afforded and missed by people in good or bad economic, cultural, or social situations.  It recognizes often that cultural and economical limits can give limited agency to a child, but may also recognize the limitless potential and agency that child has in spite of their limits due to their capacity to explore.

In our viewings for the week, we watched a couple of "Storycorps" videos that portray very diverse circumstances while telling stories that are relate-able to all cultures and people.  One was a simple story told from the point of view of a mother and her son having an interview.  The son has aspbergers syndrome.  But the point of the video is not only found in the very heartfelt and raw interview, but also in the confronting of stereotypes and stigmas.  The little boy is heard interviewing his mother, and you can tell he has some struggles but you also hear his voice and know him as a human being.  Diversity allows us to learn more about others beyond the stereotype.  The boy clearly has overcome many challenges afforded him by his mental disorder, and we are able to learn about him as a person.  His condition isn't an issue anymore.

In Bicycle Thieves  we see a different side of diversity.  We see a family that is in a very poor financial situation, and yet they have happiness, joy and love.  Hope comes into the picture in the form of a new job for the dad, but trials and obstacles pop up everywhere.  The economic struggles that are portrayed are not new or unique but they might be missed if we don't give them the attention they deserve in media. We

Media as Documentation

Media is a powerful medium for documentation.  Documenting the world around us is one way of interacting with our world and is also a way of sharing culture, faith, knowledge, imagination, interpretation, and understanding.  One thing I found most interesting from our last Children's Media discussion, was the way that children document things.  We watched a brief documentary about Anne Frank.  The thing that stood out to me in that documentary was the way that she desired to simply tell about her life since there was really nothing more she could do.  And yet, her description and story telling ability shone through her journal and though she didn't know it, she was able to touch the lives of millions and millions of people who would come later.  Hers isn't just a historical account, which is why it is so valuable.  

Many forms of documentation focus on the materialistic side of reality.  We read a brief excerpt from a piece about Abraham Lincoln and it was unique to notice that the first few pages were all about his height, his appearance, his face, etc:  the "materials" that made Lincoln who he was.  This materialistic view of the world comes from a sort of reaction to Romanticism.  Romanticism looks at the beauty of nature and our interaction with our world, whereas materialism focuses more on what we can do with that world.  

The theme of Alienation often shows up in documenatative media, where the confict in the narrative stems from self conflicting with society. There are many films which focus around this kind of story telling.  Avatar, Ratatouille, in fact most of the Pixar films relate a conflict of one character either being unhappy with the world they live in or else forcibly alienated from their natural happy world.  Alienation brings a raw realism to the story that many people can relate to.  We all have felt lonely at one time or another.  We want to be free.

The last thing I want to discuss is Magical realism, or finding magic in the reality that is around us.  The film we watched in class, "Little Fugitive" had this in spades.  One thing I found funny was that I kept expecting the worst to happen to this little kid.  That he would get lost, attacked, arrested, yelled at, or have some other form of conflict.  But instead, the story was more about the magical way in which he saw his world.  Once he was on his own, we saw things through his eyes.  Cares and worries were reduced to his own personal momentary desires, such as "Get money to ride the horse."  Reality was not necessarily ignored but simply seen through a child's eyes.  I think this is one of the unique traits of this kind of story telling.  

Week 3 - Media as Inquiry

Ever since The Enlightenment, there has been a huge emphasis placed on inquiry, or the search for truth.  The Enlightenment brought free thinking, new ideas, scientific discovery, invention, innovation, and even religious curiosity and freedom of faith. New forms of media were invented and innovated, from the printing press to moving pictures, which have led to the incredible boon of media sources we enjoy today.  Inquiry is still one of the main sources of creativity in media today.  In our reading/viewing, we read about how to build a cathedral, and saw how crayons are made.  The crayon creation was especially interesting to me, as it was a very hands on way of seeing how things are done.  Being able to watch something be made rather than being told how to make it is a very unique form of learning.  While the book was full of pictures, it was harder to follow and you had to imagine the process much more.  The crayons were more straightforward, taking you through the complete process and explaining things as you saw them happen.  Obviously there is a place for both of these.  A book about crayon creation might be pretty interesting, but wouldn't be able to capture the full experience, and a film about cathedral building might not be able to show clearly how they are made as the subject matter is so antiquated.

In class we watched multiple examples of visual learning.  The two documentaries we watched, one on seahorses and one on lemmings, had very different ways of portraying the information.  The lemmings documentary tried to keep things interesting by providing a narrative flow to the information, while the seahorse documentary seemed to focus more on a logical flow of information, not so much on a story or process.  But both had problems.  Both seemed to present the information with a bit of a slant, allowing the opinion of the narrator to influence the information provided.  There was also a distinct humanizing of the subjects in both documentaries that caused certain opinionated descriptions to sound like logical fact.  There was also a problem in that the lemmings story had information that was completely fabricated (Lemmings commit mass suicide).  This can cause obvious problems, particularly if it is the only source of knowledge the viewer partakes of.  We need multiple sources of information and media in order to get the full picture.

In class we also watched "Chang" a silent documentary about a family living in the jungles of Siam, that likewise portrayed a certain humanization of the creatures involved.  It was narrative driven and often contrived.  While very different from modern documentaries, there were very informational pieces such as seeing how the family solved problems, the influence of community in these people's lives.  Also different from modern documentary, it didn't presume to be the source of all knowledge.  It was obvious when it deviated from the truth, and thus wasn't as misleading as the lemmings documentary was.   

So while media based on inquiry and knowledge can be beneficial and useful, it can also be detrimental and destructive if used incorrectly.