thoughtfulWe’ve all heard that violent screen time makes kids more physically aggressive. But surprisingly, educational TV (which most of our kids watch regularly) seems to make kids mean in a different way. Studies have shown that the more educational television kids watch, the more relationally aggressive (manipulative, insulting, and so forth) they are to their peers. Shows like PBS’ Arthur seem innocuous, but the lessons aren’t as desirable as we think. Researchers say that children’s programming contains a heavy dose of name-calling and put-downs that parents would never condone if it happened in real life. Even though the end of a show might have a nice moral conclusion, if 90 percent of the screen time is rude and hurtful, that will be the take-away.
So that got me thinking, it's based on plot structure. Most stories introduce a conflict early in the line and resolve it near or at the end. But what if we didn't do that? What if we introduced a conflict, went through the steps of solving it, and then did something ELSE with the rest of the story? It would be a very different experience of entertainment.
Standard YA plot: John and Mary are playing. They have a fight over a toy. They go away angry with each other and complain about what happened. Suggestions are made, they try different things, and eventually they make up. The end.
New plot: John and Mary are playing. They have a disagreement. They work it out. Then they go for a walk in the woods, where they discover something really cool, which leads to an environment-based challenge that they solve using at least one of the practical or social skills that first came up in the opening disagreement. Someone is impressed by their accomplishment/discovery. The end.
This is a new plot structure, or at least, one I haven't seen in the tens of thousands of stories I've read. I have seen a few -- I can think of two or three -- stories with a double-tapped plot structure but those were either middle peaks, middle and end, or both right at the end. Even that is very very rare. I haven't seen two peaks at beginning and end with a valley or ridgerow between them. I think this could work.
*ponder* Minds me of my centaurs, who are conflict-alert to the point of encoding it into their pronoun grid. (To say "we," you have to specify whether you and someone else are in agreement or in conflict, and how close-knit you are; about like having to specify "he/she" gender in English.) This seems like the kind of storytelling they'd favor.
I think I might be able to make this work. It's new and therefore likely to be tricky. But I could see it meshing well with Hart's Farm in particular, and possibly with Fiorenza the Wisewoman or Schrodinger's Heroes. Next fishbowl is about "conflict resolution" so I'm open to trying this if anyone thinks it would be fun.
August 28 2013, 21:48:08 UTC 7 years ago
I'm pretty sure I've also seen episodes of children's TV that include this format, including Maurice Sendak's Little Bear animated show.
Most of the social-skills stories just end at the end of the social skills lesson. I love the idea of taking them into another context. That is often so lacking!
Thoughts
August 28 2013, 21:55:32 UTC 7 years ago
How awesome!
>> I'm pretty sure I've also seen episodes of children's TV that include this format, including Maurice Sendak's Little Bear animated show. <<
That's cool. Come to think of it, Sendak had a tendency toward uncommon plot structures. He did journey-stories quite well, and those often have the conflict up front followed by a long interlude and then the resolution.
>> Most of the social-skills stories just end at the end of the social skills lesson. I love the idea of taking them into another context. That is often so lacking! <<
I think it's what happens when people are more interested in presenting a lesson than telling a story. Or what happens when people are in a society that says "be good" but practices that so little that everyone has a hard time thinking up examples of how it actually works, and they don't have the imagination to go find a culture that's less fucked up and look at what they're doing. (That's my solution to writing about things I'm not terrific at myself.) It's too much tell and not enough show, and I can see how that would wind up with kids focused on the bad parts instead of the lesson.
I find it far more effective to get people deeply invested in some characters and maybe an unusual setting where they live, and then explore what kind of trouble those characters get into and how they work through the inevitable challenges. It also helps to have a mix of character types, because that always generates some friction as people want to do things in different ways.
I remembered the books!
August 29 2013, 02:06:51 UTC 7 years ago Edited: August 29 2013, 02:11:14 UTC
I read Sparkle some kid books based off of this television show.
Each episode also is done in a different musical style. (Example: 60's style rock as they are saving blue beetles stuck underwater in a Yellow Submarine, or Musicals when they are saving the Fiddler Crab on the Roof.)
-edited to include-
From the Wikipedia article: "Usually, the Wonder Pets encounter some sort of obstacle before leaving the classroom. The solution is invariably similar to the action they will need to take to save the animal in trouble.
When saving the animal, the Wonder Pets often fail on the first few attempts. Then the danger escalates, prompting Ming-Ming to once again sing, "This is se-wious!" Suddenly, the Wonder Pets remember how they solved the problem in the classroom and realize that the rescue has the same solution. Then they have to work together to achieve the rescue."
Re: I remembered the books!
August 29 2013, 04:02:08 UTC 7 years ago