Dystopian sci-fi for kids

One of the joys of parenting: watching kids’ shows with your little one. Occasionally you may find yourself still watching, while your bundle of joy has already lost interest and has moved on to playing with their toys.

It is intriguing to see what captivates the little ones’ interest, compared to what we think/assume to be valuable from our adult perspective. As adults we may find storyline important, or a wholesome message, while a child may not even yet be aware of that at all.

The difference in perception (eye sight) and processing capability (ability to recognise, have reference, place into context, and focus) is of course also a factor. Characters on shows for the very young ones often feature brightly coloured characters with very large heads – with various peripheral parts – against a non distracting, often bland, background: all to draw attention to where the action is. Great examples thereof are of course the Teletubbies, In The Night Garden, or Bing (with its large ears).

All very interesting to learn of course, but when the learning is done the mind doth wander. Because the worlds the brightly coloured characters live in tend to raise a fair few questions and eyebrow. Let’s take a closer look shall we?

The Teletubbies

The show “The Teletubbies” basically portrays a post-modern world where the population has regressed into a permanent infantile state, supervised and taken care of by an advanced AI (the sun). Their cyborg state, as immediately apparent by the integrated screens and probably not limited by, ties in with the highly technological environment. The Teletubbies are hedonism embodied.

Bing

Bing.. where are all the parents? Some apocalyptic event? Everything in the environment seems to be designed towards adults, yet you never see one. Instead, artificial patchwork puppet nannies seem to have taken over, and none of the children show any concern about that whatsoever. Seriously, it’s eerie. My bet is on the AI.

Fireman Sam

Pontypandy, the hometown of fireman Sam, suffers from a disproportionate amount of pyro related incidents. Especially considering how small the population really is. And fireman Sam is the hero of the hour, every single time. 

One would suspect sabotage, or one or more pyromaniacs. However, that does not provide sufficient explanation. The truth may be a lot more grim: Pontypandy is the coma dream of fireman Sam. After responding to his last call, Sam disregarded all protocol to try and save his beloved ones, yet failed. His coma dream emphasizes respecting the rules and protocol, and allows him to be the hero.

Alright, with that depressing last take on things that’s it for now. I’m off to watch Peppa Pig with my son. Surely nothing wrong with that one, right?