If anyone has ever noticed, there’s a general comment we hear from anyone who has reached his/her mid age. “Oh the times have change”, “In our childhood days, things used to be so different”. I’ve heard this from my parents a lot. I’m sure they have heard it from my grandparents a lot. And there’s no reason why my children (if I have any, hopefully, someday) won’t hear it from me. I don’t see why this comment would stop from being passed as inheritance to every generation. I’m still in my early 20s but I too am inclined to say it. It’s obvious in the sense that with each generation the world is changing so rapidly that every one of us is bound to say it sometime or the other.
Why am I saying these???
Not because I have a longing to keep the loop going, but because some tv program I’ve been watching “with disgust” these days makes me want to write something about the effects of current television trends on little children.
Star in a minute
The program’s name is “Star in a minute” and airs on Derana tv. For those who don’t know: it poses as another reality tv show that has been crowding the Sri Lankan television and features singing and dancing of children of the age 4-6. Basically, it’s nothing but Derana’s response to the incessant tide of reality tv shows that followed Sirasa super star, in keeping up with the competition from other television channels to produce the most popular reality tv show.
So… it’s good… right? Little children, flaunting their talents in front of the country and making their parents proud. Well… not exactly. Here’s the deal.
At a time when they should be taught nursery rhymes, they are led to sing love songs. At a time when they should be taught fairy tales, they are being taught to sing baila songs. Watching the show is like watching a bunch of robots, blabbering their way here and there with an invisible force controlling them. And when they are done, the elite panel of judges (for me just a group of once-used-to-be-famous artists who seem to make their living these days by judging every reality show in every channel) gives the most baffling critics which even the adults have a hard time understanding. “Son, your pitch was too low” or “darling, your chorus was too edgy”. I mean… come on. They are just 4 years old. What the heck do they know about the pitch of a song? How would they even define what a chorus is? All that the little ones can do is to smile as best they could (as ordered by their parents) and hope that whatever the things that these uncles and aunties are saying are appealing to moms and dads sitting in the audience. I’m simply dumbfounded of the whole thing. How could the people not care about the children so much?
Why would the parents even think about sending their children to these tv shows? Is it because they want their children to become famous? Is it because they (the parents) want to appear more on television (which by the way is a success considering how much the parents are being shown on tv more than the poor children)? Or is it because the parents think that their child is extremely talented that the country should be aware of his/her existence? Well, if it is the latter case, this platform is certainly not the way to go. I hardly think anyone would agree that singing love songs at the age of 4 is the making of a virtuoso.
I just hate to see these little kids become selling material in a marketing campaign of a television channel. It seems that the useless stuff that’s being telecasted in Sri Lankan television channels have started attacking the people from their early childhood.
If the real intention is to identify the talented kids at this age, fine, do it appropriately. First of all, stop making them sing these adult songs. Second of all, stop going after the reality tv madness or at least stop using children for it.
Dubbing for adults
Since I’m still on that subject, thought I’d say this too.
It’s the holiday season and Sirasa is back on fire. During other times, they target the less educated general public to spread their germs and on holidays, it’s the little kids. And the poor kids. What do they know about good and bad? They are just glued to the television, one movie after another, all day long.
As always, Sirasa won’t give a rat’s ass about the quality of their programs. The holiday season is filled with dubbed movies and dubbed cartoons. The problem is not with the movies or the cartoons. Of course, they are well selected movies and cartoons but what about the dubbing? Well, there’s nothing wrong except that they are so damn inappropriate for the kids. The dubbing is undoubtedly funny and I myself found the funny side of it. Why wouldn’t they be when they are adult slang and near-filth used by the grownup society? No wonder the kids are becoming adult-like so early in their life when people like Sirasa lay the necessary ground work for that. And for the cartoons, just watch soora pappa (though it’s extremely hilarious) and decide how appropriate the language is for kids or better yet, compare it with cartoons like “dostara honda hitha” (if you can bring back the sweetest yet faintest memory of a your childhood) that used to appear on tv ten fifteen years back.
I’m just so disappointed of the way this country has evolved in the past ten or so years. I turn back and look at my childhood and all I can see is how the children today will miss that innocence we enjoyed in our surroundings. All I can see is how the kids of the “modern world” have become the promotional material for adult requirements.
Where this might end, or will it even end, I don’t know. I just hope there will be something unspoiled among our children so that they will be able to make the same comment to our grandchildren.