The first post for this blog was “Five Tips for Picking Great Children’s Media”. The list was created based on the criteria I apply to my four year old son’s media library. While writing the article I originally had a sixth criteria: Children’s media should feature meaningful diversity. I ended up pulling this from the article as I determined the topic should stand as its own separate article to be completed at a future time.
That time is now.
This past Saturday our community in Squirrel Hill (a neighborhood in Pittsburgh PA) was attacked in part because of its diversity and its commitment to the ideals of diversity. Because of this I can think of no topic more important to write about. This will be a multi-installment feature discussing the value of diversity in media, as well as the value of having a diverse team in creating that media.
The State of Diversity in Children’s Media
For the past seven years the Children’s Television Project at Tuft’s University has been conducting diversity-focused content analyses of top-rated children’s television programs. The Tuft’s team has three main tasks:
Documenting different races, gender and ethnicities within these shows.
Documenting and analyzing portrayals and performances that reinforce stereotypes.
Developing ways to study and collect data about how children process the images they’re exposed to in media.
So let’s take a look at just a few points in their findings:
Female characters make up about ⅓ of all characters in popular cartoons. This number is still disappointing, but it is vastly better than results found in previous studies (⅙ in the 1970s and ¼ in the 1990s).
When looking at 1500 characters in the most popular children’s programs it was found that
5.6% were African-American (African-Americans make up 13.6% of the US population)
1.6% were Hispanic or Latino (whereas 17.8% of the US population is Hispanic or Latino)
11.6% were Asian (Note: the researchers indicated that this number was slightly skewed due to a few popular television series that featured primarily Asian characters - such as Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.)
As for stereotyping, the team cautioned that there work has no yet been completed, but they have already found strong evidence linking a character’s status as “bad” or “evil” with an identity (language, accent, appearance, etc..) that feels distinctly “foreign” (ie non-American).
Why It Matters
First, we know that there is a value in children seeing characters who look, act and sound like them. Negative portrayals of minority groups in media can lead to low self-esteem and decreased community affinity among other issues. Numerous studies on a variety of media types have reinforced this lesson.
We also know that children’s natural tendency to sort by appearance, coupled with their innate ability to detect patterns can lead to issues when viewing media that is homogenous or reinforces stereotypes. The Tuft’s team found that children easily sorted original cartoon faces into “good” and “bad” based on visuals alone - no supporting story, voice or other information was given. Children were able to do this based on their preconceived notions of what “good” and “bad” looked like (some children cited “This is what a princess looks like” and “This is what someone who goes to jail looks like”). Children making these assumptions should be concerning to parents for numerous reasons - we want our children to trust based on someone’s character, not their appearance.
Finally I would argue that creating and consuming meaningfully diverse children’s media is just the right thing to do. Our country has been heterogenous for a long time (though some would like to pretend it is not) and that diversity only continues to increase. While shamefully our media has not been representative, we should still encourage consumption of children’s media that reflects the nature of our world. It is easy to fear what we do not know or understand, meaningfully diverse media can show our children that our differences make stronger and should be celebrated.
What To Look For
When monitoring my son’s media consumption, I look for shows with meaningful diversity, which includes:
Gender Balance
Racial and Ethnic Balance
Avoiding Stereotypes
Diversity in Experience
Diversity in Gender Roles and Expectations
We want to look for media that features not only diverse characters, but characters with diverse characteristics. Protagonists can be anyone - black, white, male, female, etc… Minority characters aren’t just relegated to sidekick and comic relief roles. People with accents can be good guys AND bad guys.
Media Designer and Professor of Learning Technologies Kevin Clark said it best “Just as a healthy diet requires eating different foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy proteins, a healthy media diet should include diverse characters, perspectives, formats, approaches, and interactions.”
In my next article, I want to address the value of a team with meaningful diversity.
Sources:
Children’s Television Project - https://sites.tufts.edu/ctvresearch/
Diversity in Children’s Media is More Than Just Race or Gender - Kevin Clark http://www.fredrogerscenter.org/2013/07/diversity-in-childrens-media-is-more-than-just-race-or-gender/
Oscars May Be So White, But So Are Kids’ Cartoons - Julie Dobrow
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-dobrow/oscars-may-be-so-white-bu_b_9375072.html