The Evolution of Children's Media: 18th Century to Now - Essay Sample

Introduction

Media products for children date back to the beginning of the 18th century. The Lockean theories of childhood innocence were compiled to create the origins of childhood as a concept used to instruct delighted young readers. The development of media content has been taking place over time, with many changes and improvements being witnessed all through the materials created. This has been concerning the target age of children, the intended impact of the media, and the development of technology by which the media were created. The media were first being published in magazines and newspapers before they advanced to being graphical with sound and moving pictures.

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“Little Orphan Annie” by Harold Grey displays the life of a character that wanders like a naïve vagabond through a corrupt world. The show began airing on Tribune and the New York Daily news radio show in 1930. The story begins with Annie in an orphanage home where she is often abused by a lady-Miss Asthma, who should be her protector. The listeners to the story have only to pay attention and get learning points from it. On the other hand, in the story “Winky Dink and You”, there is a magic screen attached to the television through static electricity. The children were required to purchase a kit that contained the screen and crayons. In every Winky Dink short film, it arrived at a scene where it could only continue with the help of the children watching. The stage contained connect-to-dot pictures that viewers were to complete the images to help him continue with the story. For instance, the viewers could be called upon to draw a bridge to enable him to cross a river. The differences in the two media affordances are critical as the Little Orphan Annie show only required listening. In contrast, the “Winky Dink and You” expected the viewer's involvement in the story to continue.

The “Winky Dink and You” required viewers to use the interactive screen to decode messages. There would be images displayed on the screen that showed the vertical lines of letters of secret messages being passed across. The children would then be required to trace on to the magical screen the horizontal lines so that a second image showing up completes the text. While for the “Little Orphan Annie”, the viewers’ skills are required to help them understand the message encoded in the cartoon film. It brings out a young female with the desire for self-empowerment and satisfaction

At a young age, children are required to do a lot of listening to develop the skill. That is why the Little Orphan Annie takes advantage of this and presents itself in a narrative manner in which kids have to listen to comprehend. This formal feature is of assistance to children as their listening skills are nurtured. It also teaches them how to be attentive and to understand the story. While the “Winky Dink and You” is presented in a child-friendly discovery and activity designs that children find interesting in completing the pictures.

The formal features of the Little Orphan Annie media's experience play a pivotal role in shaping the thoughts of children about self- struggle to achieve one's desires. Annie is displayed as a damsel in distress, in contrast with the portrayal of women, in particular with the culture of the time. Then she found a guardian in “Daddy” Warbucks, she often caught herself amid political intrigues and criminal schemes, showing that she was still in danger. Annie's role pioneered marketing to kids when the program started being aired on radio. On the other hand, The “Winky dink and You” program was a success because of its pioneering interactive marketing scheme. Children enjoyed making drawings to complete texts and messages with their television sets. This art kept many of the children actively involved in the scene. This was until parents complained that kids who did not have interactive screens were drawing directly on the television sets and, again, their concerns about the x-rays that were being emitted from the picture tubes.

The Little Orphan Annie is a creation of Harold Grey that was syndicated by Tribune Media Services. It gained its name from the poem of 1885, Little Orphan Annie by James Riley, and was launched in the New York Daily News in 1924. For Winky Dink and You was a CBS entertainment group television show that was aired between 1953 and 1957. Harry Prichett and Ed Wyckoff created the show. The show was praised as the first children interactive TV show of the time until it exited in 1957. The two shows are uniquely shaped, and their ways of delivery to the audience also distinguish them. The Little Orphan Annie was first aired on the radio while the Winky Dink and You were aired on Tv and allowed the viewers to interact with Winky Dink.

The Winky Dink and you’s experience to the audience at first were expensive as parents had to purchase a set of magic drawing screen and crayons. Children who didn’t have that would resort to making drawings on the TV set that sparked outrage from parents. Nevertheless, the show was praised as the most interactive TV show by both parents and children in the United States. It was not the same experience with the Little Orphan Annie, as the show was not as interactive as the Winky Dink and You. The children would follow the life and stories of the Little Annie from the orphanage until she found a father figure “Daddy” Warbucks, on her journey to self- empowerment.

The two media impact aspects to children of different ages may differ. The little orphan Annie is a story that impacts children and even adults on the journey of self-discoveries and empowerment. The children and parents empathize with Annie in her life at the orphanage, until she meets the philanthropist “Daddy” Warbucks. The show has a profound influence on the psychosocial development of children according to their ages and if they can discern the message encoded in the story. With the Winky Dink and You, the show helped children to be alert and assist the narrator in continuing with an account through the completion of pictures. The names in the show in todays sophisticated world on entertainment, sound goofy on the media children and parents may be watching. The impact it made when it was introduced to televisions may not have the same effect as the people watching it today. The creation of such content requires total attention to the audience to help in the continuity of the story, which might influence the social situations of the viewer.

The formal, conceptual feature of the two media could later be used in other media to advance what was already created distinctly. The Little Orphan Annie show may be used to tell another story of the struggle of an orphaned child as she walks to freedom. The experiences from it may be used in other shows created later to pass themes to the larger world on women's struggle and empowerment, for instance, Broadway Musical Annie in 1977. However, parents need to continually monitor the young children of different ages to ensure that the media products they are accessing are purely for learning purposes only

The Winky Dink and You were also developed in the 1990s and sold in a new digitized form with digital new episodes. The impact on the viewers of the media relates to their growth and interaction with others, as they for the Harold Grey show, the viewers develop empathy and this feature helps them in dealing with situations in real life. On the other hand, The Winky Dink and You episodes instil in children and others the essence of creativity and spirit of work. As they listen to the show and complete the pictures, they have to be keen and creative to do the right thing and coming up with the proper patterns to complete texts to carry on with the story.

References

Montgomery, K. (2015). Children's media culture in a big data world. Journal of Children and Media, 9(2), 266-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2015.1021197

Montgomery, K. C. (2000). Children's media culture in the new millennium: Mapping the digital landscape. The Future of Children, 10(2), 145. https://doi.org/10.2307/1602693

Zanker, R. (2012). Around panicking adults is not a right place for children to be: New intersections and old cross-currents within studies of children, families, media and consumer culture - Families communicating with children, children, media and culture in culture, children and youth in the digital media culture, media literacy education: Nordic perspectives, childhood, and consumer culture. European Journal of Communication, 27(4), 428-440. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323112470769