Article written by Dylan Bell.
In a recent article I mentioned that I would never force my idea of morality on anyone, with a few exceptions this remains true. However not everyone feels the same as I do, many people believe morality to be a black and white issue which I believe is the greatest challenge when dealing with morality. Morals are subjective, they change depending on who you ask and occasionally they change with time. You may be wondering why I am talking about morality in an article designed to talk about film and television, well I’m certain all of you are aware that morality exists in most media and the majority of the time I have little issue with this, however when it comes to morality in children’s programming then we need to have a difficult conversation, yay.
Now when I talk about morality in kid’s shows I’m not talking about basic morals that we teach to kids so they don’t turn into asses when they’re older such as sharing and don’t steal yadda yadda yadda. I’m talking about complex morals, morals that even adults struggle with such as acceptance, grief and love. If you had asked me a few weeks ago whether I believe complex morality should be shown in children’s tv shows I would have said yes, we should not treat children with kids gloves, however my opinion has changed slightly.
Although I still believe that we shouldn’t treat kids like they’re stupid, I am uncertain about allowing complex morals into children’s tv shows because children are impressionable and for the most part will take on the morals they are taught. However, flashback to the beginning of this article, morality is subjective, my idea of good and evil will certainly be different to many peoples own definition, and we finally come full circle because the question is not should we teach morals in children’s tv shows, but rather, should we force our idea of morality onto children, hence the difficult conversation.
A question you may be shouting at your screens is shouldn’t it be alright to force our idea of morality onto children if our idea is right? Well firstly, you don’t know you’re right, you only know your idea of right. Secondly, if we say yes to our, or even my, idea of morality being shoved into the faces of beady eyed little children, then we must allow others to show their idea of morality. Even if we disagree it must be shown or can we call ourselves moral? You may think well that’s unfortunate but isn’t showing our morality enough, other people’s idea of morality can’t be that bad can it? Well just think for a moment.
When I say morality in children’s tv, many people think of the typical kid’s shows such as Sesame Street, though aimed at young children it has taught both simple and complex morals for decades. However, some do not think of Sesame Street when they think of morality, they think of religion and as such religious tv shows. Now this article will not get into the difficult conversation that is morality in religion, but if any of you have seen religious children’s shows then you will understand my hesitation with allowing them to be broadcasted to children. For all those who are religious and demand their religion to be shown to children keep in mind your religion is not the only religion and if yours is shown, then other religions must be shown as well and frankly that is not something I want to have.
Once again, I hear you yelling at me through your screens, what is wrong with religious teaching in children’s shows, after all wouldn’t that be the pinnacle of morality, well if you are religious yes, but keep in mind for those of us who do not follow a particular faith, religious television can be extremely dangerous. Why I hear you say? Well many religions differ on what is considered good and bad and unfortunately, they are rarely open to discussion on that, teaching children that their religion is not only a fact but that anyone who disagrees should and will be punished, is dangerous. Whether you like it or not we live in this world with other people who are different from each other and if we go teaching children that it is not only acceptable but encouraged to hate and punish those who are different from them, then what hope do we have as a society? Now of course religious tv is not the only tv that has this form of twisted morality but no matter what demographic it targets, the outcome will still be the same.
However, like it or not, shows like this exist, both religious and not, one of my favourite tv shows is ironically a show about morality aimed at children. Steven Universe is a ground-breaking show and is one of the best shows for children we have seen in last decade, this show deals with morality in a beautiful way. It presents uncomfortable morality upfront for all to see and explores what life and morality is. Now yes this is a kids show, so it is more kid friendly. However the morals taught are some that I honestly would never have thought would go into children’s tv, such as a showing the grief felt by those who have lost loved ones, metaphors for abusive relationships and how unhealthy they are, as well probably the most famous part of the show, it’s LGBT+ representation showing females characters as outright lesbians as a fact and no one in the show questions this, which is the most beautiful part and Steven Universe is not the only kid’s show breaking ground in this way.
However I must reiterate, morality is subjective, although many have praised this show and others like it, many people have also said it’s an abomination and goes against their morality, and although it would be easy to say screw it all and forget them, well we can’t because they have a right to show their morality and they do in their own tv shows for kids which again, if you have seen you will understand what I mean.
So we have come to the end of this article with no clear answer and unfortunately just like morality this is not a black and white issue, the fact is although I support showing complex morals to children it also means that we must show all morals not just our own, which I think we can all agree is a very difficult conversation. So until a universal morality is created I suggest teaching morality to children yourself instead of leaving uncle television to decide how your children should feel.
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