The Backyardigans- I Think There are Some Subliminal Messages Involved
Written: Jan 25 '05 (Updated Jan 28 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Amazing computer graphics
Cons: Turned my kids into zombies, curtailed imagination
The Bottom Line: The Backyardigans is only the second children's show to make my "not allowed to watch" list. Sucks the imagination and life right out of my kids.
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| mmcphee's Full Review: The Backyardigans |
Disease has been rampant in this house for almost 2 weeks. That means my girls have gotten to watch more TV than they usually do. One of the “new to them” shows they quickly latched on to was the Nick Jr offering The Backyardigans.
The Basics
The Backyardigans is a 30 minute animated television show aimed at preschoolers. There are currently 10 different episodes being shown. The Backyardigans airs on Nickelodeon during the Nick Jr programming block at 11 am and 1 pm and on CBS on Saturdays at 8 am.
The Plot
The Backyardigans is an animated show featuring 5 preschool friends, who find adventure every day in their own backyards. In each episode the characters meet to play together in their backyards, which all butt up to one another. The backyard scene fades to white and then to the location of their next adventure. he characters have gone in search of a Yeti, spent time in Egypt and even steered a Viking ship. Each show contains a new song and dance numbers. The shows end with the children returning the their backyards and heading for a snack. Like most children’s show each episode teaches some sort of lesson about being nice to one another.
The Characters
Each of the characters is a different animal and each has their own personality. Austin is a purple kangaroo. He is new to the neighborhood and little slow to join in. In fact he only appears in 4 of the 10 episodes broadcast so far. Pablo is a cute little blue penguin. He is very excitable. Tasha is a yellow hippopotamus. She looks sweet and girly on the outside, but she tends to be a bit bossy. Tyrone is a laid back orange moose. Rounding out the friends is Uniqua, a pink polka dotted animal of unknown origin. She is the jokester of the group.
Our Experience
From my adult perspective the show is very well done. I find the songs to be very catchy and the animation is well done. The dance moves of the characters are incredibly smooth and life-like. The children all sing very well, in fact a couple of the characters a done by two different children. One to provide the voice and another to sing.
Sounds like some harmless fun, doesn’t it. I’m a bit scared by what this show does to my children. The theme music starts and my children, 3 and 18 months old, are drawn to the TV. And there they sit and/or stand for the next 25 minutes transfixed on the television. They don’t move, they don’t speak, heck I’m not so sure they are even breathing. Nothing else on television (with the exception of the Law & Order theme) has that effect on them. The show turns both of my normally animated children into zombies, and quite frankly I don’t like it. I’m left only with the theory that there are some subliminal messages that my pregnancy hormones have left me immune to so that the allure of this show remains a mystery to me.
I’ve seen the term “imaginative” thrown around quite a bit in conjunction with this televisions show. My question is where? What is imaginative to the child watching about some very talented computer artists being able to change a background scene. Of course it is easy for the characters to pretend to be pirates, they have magically been yanked out of their backyards and plopped on a realistic boat bobbing on the seas. Imaginative would have been to drag a picnic table around the back yard and toss one of mom’s old sheet over the clothes line and pretend to be on a boat. All I have seen this show do is suck the imagination out of my 3 year old. She used to enjoy “sailing” our couch to the coffee table “island” in search of coconuts (no, I have no idea where this came from). But yesterday when I suggested that I could use some coconuts, our couch “doesn’t look like a boat” and she needed one “like the Backyardigans.” That was enough to permanently put The Backyardigans on my very short list of shows my children are not allowed to watch.
Allow me to explain further. When my 3 year old watches other preschool shows, she not only interacts with the television characters but with her younger sister and me as well. She enjoys pointing out objects to her little sister and often asks me questions about she is seeing. This lets me monitor what she is taking away from the shows. I am aware immediately that she isn’t quite getting “the point” of the episode. Sometimes simply explaining that an umbrella can offer protection from the sun as well as the rain is enough for her to make sense of the rest of the show. I can’t do that when she watches The Backyardigans because she doesn’t make a sound. Even if I try to talk to her right after an episode airs she doesn’t seem to have any idea what transpired. I wouldn’t mind the catatonic state so much if I could at least figure out what she is absorbing from the show. I have no doubt that something is seeping into her head, I just prefer to be able to address any misconceptions she may be walking away with during or immediately after the show. When incidents and questions crop up 2 or 3 weeks later I find it more difficult to explain a characters actions when a show is not fresh in either of our heads.
This leads me to two conclusions. Are there some sort of subliminal messages that suck the life force out of children for 25 minutes? Probably a little farfetched, but I wonder since this is the only show they watch in a zombie-like state. The second is that maybe my daughter can’t tell me what is taking away from each episodes because she isn’t taking anything away. The slick graphics and catchy tunes may real them in and hold their attention but the content dissolves away from their memories much like the backyard scene in the show does.
Children’s shows seems to fall into two broad categories, those that focus on academics like counting and the alphabet and those that teach life lessons. The Backyardigans falls into the later category as do many other television shows on for children. Unfortunately my daughter seems to lose track of the “be nice to others message” when it is sandwiched in high tech computer graphics and strange settings. Perhaps that is my fault as a parent. Maybe we haven’t taken enough family outings to haunted houses or snuck into museums after hours, but some how I doubt that. There are plenty of other shows that teach sharing and caring without the blank stares I see only when The Backyardigans is on. My 3 year old relates better to being nice and helpful when it is a context she is familiar with, be it school, the park, the post office or just playing at home. In this house the pretty packaging of The Backyardigans drowns out the messages.
So, what is The Backyardigans? Sure there is lots of music, but I don’t need a television for that. Between their father and me my children all ready listen to a wide variety of music. In my opinion this show is fluff. Now there is nothing wrong with occasionally watching TV just for the fun of it, but I still want to know what impressions my children are left with. I occasionally pop in a Loonie Tunes tape and sit down and watch some “classic” Bugs Bunny or Roadrunner cartoons with them. I enjoy listening to them laugh at the cartoon slap-stick humor when Wyle E. Coyote falls off a cliff yet again. When we watch these fun cartoon my children are full of questions so I know where their focus is. My children aren’t put into a trance by Loonie Tunes leaving me to wonder what is entering their brains, on the contrary both are quite animated and full of questions, even just the simple “what’s that” from my 1 ½ year old. The complete absurdity of the settings of these cartoons does not seem to stifle my daughter’s imagination the way that The Backyardigans did. Bugs Bunny doesn’t pretend to teach anything it is there purely for some fun on the couch with mom.
Presumable they liked The Backyardigans when they watched, but I really can’t be sure. Since I can’t be sure they are enjoying it nor can I tell what they are taking away from the show, I can really think of better things for them to do with 25 minutes of their day. And since my 3 year old seems to want her backyard to work like the one on the show I just cannot see any reason to watch The Backyardigans.
Final Thoughts
I would much rather have my children yell back at Dora the Explorer than to have them stare silently at the television screen. I would rather have them pointing out clues to the dimwitted Joe or Steve on Blue’s Clues than to watch a show that fails to engage them in any way. I would rather have my children watch the Higglytown kids bounce around unsupervised in the library or grocery store than watch animals plucked out of their backyards and dropped on some wild search for a non-existent creature. I would rather have them knock over a few toys trying to imitate JoJo’s backward walk or other silly dance than have them not move a muscle while computer animated characters complete complex dance steps.
This is an entry in the Against the Grain W/O
Recommended:
No
Type of Program: Cartoon or Animated
Program Quality: Entertaining, but not intellectually or emotionally engaging
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mmcphee
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Member: Mary Ellen
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