A young boy sits in a dark room by himself. The room is gently lit by dull flashes of light without any set tempo. There is a foreign voice that lets off a nonsensical quip followed by a laugh track. The boy lets out a tiny giggle.
That young boy is me. I was watching some late night television waiting for my mother to return home from work. Strange as it may sound, television played a large role in my upbringing. My family consisted of my mother, myself, Punky Brewster, Steve Urkel, Michelle Tanner, and other various television characters. My home wasn’t as large as the Brady house; it was more like Lucy and Ricky’s apartment. It was a tiny run down one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. My mom had to work 12-hour days, 6 days a week to afford that place. Because it was difficult making ends meet, formal daycare for me was not an option. We needed something cheaper and easier, so television was an obvious alternative to fill that void. Every weekday afternoon, while my mother was earning a living, I would trot the four block walk from elementary school to home, let myself in, flip on the television and enjoy some afternoon cartoons, followed by a couple hours of syndicated sitcoms and then wrap up the night with some primetime family television. Little did I know that all that television would go on to impact my imagination, my sense of humor, and my moral values.
The Cartoon effect. On the surface, cartoons can seem like nothing more than just a series of animated frames spliced together for a child’s enjoyment. But there is a passive effect that goes beyond the surface: presentation. Although I enjoyed watching Jerry smash a trash can lid into Tom’s face, there was more to it than just mouse-on-cat violence. I believe cartoons helped expand my imagination and enabled me to develop an eye for design. I do website development and elements such as layout, color schemes, and content are all very critical to designing an successful sites. When I was asked me to design a webpage for baby supplies, I thought back to when I used to watch The Muppet Babies. I remember little Ms. Piggy in her two tone outfit which consisted of pastels pink and a darker hue of rose pink which applied well to the “Girl’s” section of the webpage. Leaping from the baby supplies project to a project which involved a rock band with a dark mentality required me to switch gears and think of some of the villains in cartoons. For this project, I thought about Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. Dr. Claw was this mysterious villain that never reviled his face and dressed in a black and red jump suit with a spiked collar. I took this same villainous theme and applied it by using a dark background which consisted of black and shades of grey, matched with bright red trim to give the page a mystic feel. The presentations of cartoons are carefully designed to be appealing to kids and seeing examples of these designs have helped me with my designs.
The Sitcom effect. Every character on a sitcom is comedian. During an episode, each character either has a smart mouth, snappy comeback, or comical observation. Can you imagine a young child being exposed to that all the time? I thought that was how everyone was supposed to act. I remember watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and all the children, the parents, and even the butler had a smart mouth. There would be scene where the father, who was a little “jolly”, would walk into the kitchen and ask his family, “Does this shirt make me look fat?” and of course his family is speechless and doesn’t know what to say to not hurt his feelings, but hidden in the background is the butler who replies, “The fat makes you look fat, Sir.” [Audience laughs] Of course, this is a crude example and I would never say something so mean, but I do find myself trying to make light of everything. I use it in my day to day life when I interact with people at work, home or even school. I believe humor is not innate, but rather something that is learned. It is an action/reaction type attribute that requires practice and plenty of examples. Sitcoms are the perfect playgrounds for this.
The Family-show effect. The 1990’s saw a boom of family oriented shows. Shows such as Full House, Family Matters, Who’s The Boss, and The Cosby Show ruled the primetime slots. Although each show was different in its own manner, most of them followed a simple template: A light hearted opening, a dilemma brews, the problem is solved, the moral music is gently played, and then everyone learns a new lesson. These “lesson” were meant to educate people in doing the “right thing” such as apologize when you did something wrong and to always be honest. I always found this format to be a bit cheesy and fluffy. The skeptic in me thought that issues only get resolved like this in a “perfect” world. Little did I know that these light hearted, “let’s hug,” “I love you dad” endings would end up having such a profound effect on me. Much like the time Eddie Winslow took his dad’s car out for spin and wound up scratching one of the doors. He tried to cover it up and even lied to weasel his way out it only to get caught in the end by his dad.
[Cue the moral music]
Father: “Son, what you did was wrong. What’s even worse is that you lied to me.”
[Eddie bows his head in shame]
Father: “Next time, please be honest with me. I can go get another car, but not another son.”
[Both hug, credits roll, and exit music plays]
Like I said, “perfect” world. I’ve never scratched my mom’s car before, but when I did face a similar situation when I ruined some of the carpet in the house. When judgment day came, I was completely honest about it. I didn’t get a hug or any moral music. I got grounded. I definitely felt that my mother was more lenient with my punishment because I was honest. I don’t recall thinking of Eddie and his situation, but I think the producers’ message got into my subconscious.
Self-examinations of my personality and psyche have led me to believe that the shows that I watched when I was a child have greatly influenced my development. Is this the doing of television? I’m not sure, but I believe that television is partly responsible for some of the blame/praise. Television seems to get a ton of blame for the influence that it has on children’s development. As I did my research for this paper, I was only able to find articles blasting television and putting it in a negative light, but I couldn’t help but feel that is an incorrect portrait. In my case, I’ve found television to be a positive influence and really helped accelerate my imagination, my sense of humor, and my moral values. Was television my sole source of answers to everything? No. My mother still played the ultimate role in teaching me how to distinguish right from wrong and appropriate from inappropriate. Parents still need to play a lead role in their children’s development. They need to be the one who sets the good example. This should be the new lesson learned. [Everyone hug, credits roll, and exit music plays]”Sha-la-la”
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