Vroooommmmm! And we’re off! 30 children’s television shows from around the world all in one day, led by the nicest tour guide you could ever hope for – David Kleeman. Indeed folks it’s the Prix Jeunesse extravaganza! Prix Jeunesse international is a bi-annual competition unique among other competitions because all participants can vote for the award winners. www.prixjeunesse.de. Each festival has a theme with research presentations, activities and discussions. In 2012, the theme was “Watch, Learn, Grow with Children’s TV.” I’ve had the pleasure of going to a few Prix Jeunesse screenings and David is always eager to emphasize that the submissions seen here are not typical what’s on TV every day in those particular countries – they’re festival submissions so everyone wants to put their best foot forward and submit the equivalent of the very special Family Ties where Alex’s friend got killed in a drunk driving accident. You get the picture.
I’m not going to go through each of the programs we watched but I will highlight a few that stood out for me and that sparked debate among the audience. For most folks, all the segments showing preschoolers doing things that our litigious society would never show them doing – using hammers, saws, and taking apart a giant industrial scale without adult supervision – caused the most stir. And every time I see these things I wonder if we underestimate our own kids and what they can or can’t do. I remember learning how to shoot a BB gun when I was around 8 years old and no, I didn’t shoot my eye out.
For me, as far as dangerous viewing went I thought the most egregious entry was a program from Thailand called Vitamin News. In this one they were trying to teach safe practices during a flood and the host quizzes two kids about dos and don’ts. One kid is giving the right answers and one kid is giving what I imagine are supposed to be glaringly wrong answers. My problem? I don’t know if someone who’s not schooled at all in the subject would know which answers were right and which were wrong and it seems that the host nodded and validated BOTH kids. But maybe in Thailand knowing these things is like my assumption that a preschooler knows shoes don’t go on your head?
My favs were a selection from the Netherlands called Sien van Sellingen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyHUUGHovFc) in which a little girl cuts off her grandma’s hair but for all the right reasons. And The Doll Adventure from Sweden wherein two girls totally trash their baby doll by making it “sick” and feeding it various goo from the kitchen as “medicine.” And then there was The Pirates from Sweden which I totally want to be on. A game show that immerses kids in a piratey world and gives them tasks to do and adventures to go on. In the clip we saw the group of kids had already had several mateys disappear mysteriously. It was awesome even if one of the tasks they had to do was a glorified pirate game of Jenga.
The most innovative award (from me) had to go to Open Story from Finland. The concept of the series is that schoolchildren entered a contest by writing open-ended stories. The best were produced for air with a call for viewer ideas on how to complete the story. We only saw the beginning but I’m rooting for poor Jimi to learn how to deal with his alcoholic mom and find happiness. Also, I think I wrote a very very similar story when I was 14.
There were also your fair share of documentary programs about very unique children: kids with autism (which gave a great view of the autism spectrum), the story of two brothers one of which is confined to a wheelchair with a degenerative disease and a show about boys who believe they should have been girls.
There was also the very controversial, bittersweet and sad Duck, Death and the Tulip from Germany which I thought was really beautiful and others thought was inappropriate. But you should check out Dade Hayes’ article on this from the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/arts/television/prix-jeunesse-suitcase-series-of-childrens-tv-and-film.html?pagewanted=all
All in all it was a day of great programming, great company and I’m not gonna lie, my fair share of candy.
Main Takeaway: I wrote a note that says our capitalism stifles us. How very socialist of me. These entries definitely brought home how we in the US tend to play it safe and many of our shows have a greater desire to tackle toy shelves than they do tough issues. There’s nothing wrong with that but I think our kids could handle some meatier content if everyone weren’t so afraid of offending everyone else.
Personal Takeaway: I so want to be on that pirate show. Think they take thirty-something contestants who are as short as kids?
Inappropriate Takeaway: David said Prix Jeunesse submissions are like beer. Some are more full-bodied and some are lighter. And not all of them are for everyone. Mmm…beer.
