Rachel's Media Criticism Blog Posts

  Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhoo d is a television show on PBS, based off of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. The show utilizes observational viewing, in which Daniel Tiger provides children ages 2-6 an example of how to deal with day-to-day situations that help them develop their social and emotional skills. With the show’s popularity, one would think that reviews on Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood would be all the rage from parents and children. But to my surprise, I have found otherwise. In reviews on commonsensemedia.org , many parents and children have a bone to pick with popular Daniel Tiger.  In many of the parents reviews, it mentions that Daniel Tiger “never wears pants,” is a “spoiled brat”, or “too whiny.” While reviews written by children, mostly older siblings the age of 13, write that although the show is amusing and has some positive effects of teaching children how to deal with certain emotions in certain situations, it is absolutely nothing like Mister Rogers Neighborh...

  The series, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, is a series based off Mister Rogers Neighborhood, where young Daniel Tiger invites young preschoolers ages 2-6 to go about their day with him helping them develop social and emotional skills. Through observational viewing, young viewers and their parents get invited to the neighborhood of Make Believe, where they get to go on Adventures with Daniel, experiencing day to day situations and encounters much like how they do everyday as well. These day-to-day experiences include conflict with friends, experiencing something new, or learning how to cope with certain emotions. By watching Daniel and friends lead by example, the show’s success is mainly based off of viewers following after his example after watching the show.  In a quantitative research done by Texas Tech University , it is said that “127 preschoolers and one of each of their parents in our study. Over a two-week period, we had some of the kids watch Daniel Tiger’s Neighbor...

Sesame Street is a timeless classic children’s television series which debuted in 1969.It is a show that has been watched by generations of children, whom of which are now mostly parents and maybe even grandparents. After 50 years, it seems as if the popular children’s television show has done nothing but evolve, much like the world around us.  When thinking about the first episode, we think about how characters were first introduced, the curriculum behind it, and how differently presented the show was. Not much like other shows during this time, Sesame Street opened the show up with Gordon showing his niece or daughter around Sesame Street and introducing her to those who lived on Sesame Street . It is known that the show is known for its hidden curriculums. The show provides different commercial-like segments to indicate certain moral concerns made by parents that educate children about things such as numbers, letters, different animals, how things such as liquids move up and...

  Roblox is a free online gaming platform open to all ages . Being prominent with younger grade school aged children, Roblox is much like everything one would have wanted during the Club Penguin era and more. Users have the choice of joining an unlimited number of free games, realms, and “obbys” to interact and play with other users on one simple platform. With Roblox being a growing gaming platform for a whole new generation and industry, it must be regulated as carefully as possible. Although this popular gaming site and app has many benefits for users, the growing popularity has only raised concern for parents, especially with how open the platform is. With users as young as the age of 4 utilizing this platform, without the proper supervision, there is a risk of many things a child could run into. These problems include the access to inappropriate games for preschoolers that include violence, guns, and killing. There is also a risk for a child to be in contact with someone that ...

The Aesthetic Form of Cats

  In 2014, Disney debuted its cinematic version of the popular Broadway musical, Into the Woods. This Sondheim original is a dark satire musical featuring well known storybook characters such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack from Jack and the beanstalk. The musical intertwines the characters stories into one, showcasing each fairytale but giving them more of a realistic ending. The way Sondheim had written the musical, he utilizes the outer-directed tasks of art, which refines society and culture by offering the ideal, see into the present to reveal our world and to cope with the labors of life. He does this through showcasing fairytale stories which offers society and culture the ideal. For example, when Cinderella gets to go to the ball, or Jack gets the magical beans would be offering the ideal. When things take a turn, and these characters face reality, is when the audience can see into the present to reveal the real world. For example when Cinderella is having ...

       The Netflix film, Cuties, is known for its controversial scenes that have been brought to attention by angry viewers on social media.  The movie was originally a French film directed by Maïmouna  Doucouré who’s individual conscience of the film was not taken properly by viewers. Her true individual conscience of the film was to showcase the influence of social media on young girls, especially preteens. It is because of the provocative scenes of young girls dancing inappropriately and taking pictures of their private parts on camera that caused these scenes to become objects of moral judgement. Audiences in America are taken back by these scenes because of how uncommon it is to see things such as this on the big screen than in France where the film was first shown.       Most of these complaints came from Netflix’s financial supporters, which would be its subscribers in the United States. Although the film is not a Netflix Original...