Teletubbies (for its more mature audience)
When watching an 18 month old boy, you are allowed to do little else. No reading. No painting. No writing. You can't even really talk on the phone (sorry Kyle and Jason). The truth is, you must watch because, as soon as your back is turned, he will hit you with his favorite book, "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear." Sometimes he wants you to read the book. Other times, he just wants you to pay attention.
In any case, the one thing you can do while watching an 18 month old is watch TV, but you can't watch just anything. The kid wants to watch Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street and Teletubbies... For this reason, these programs have become an integral part of my life. The problem is that I can't just turn off my skills with deconstruction and cultural theory that I have spent years training up. In other words, I'm forced to analyze the Teletubbies with the same skill set I would use to analyze Gravity's Rainbow or Jazz (which I'm reading, you're better off reading Song of Solomon).
So, let us begin. First of all, the teletubbies are fat. They are, at the very least, a bit chubby. Actually, they're tubbie. It's interesting that generation X-Large was fed the teletubbies as children because they are kind of fat role models. I'm just saying.
Now, why are they "Tubbie"? Well, look at their name: Tele-Tubbie. Clearly, the message is that watching television will cause weight problems. You won't get enough exercise. You don't do enough. And the show bears this reading out. The teletubbies have their every need fulfilled for them by the vaccuum cleaner on acid "New-new." Now, I'm not saying that it isn't nice that the teletubbies have someone to take care of them, except that clearly New-new is a kind of parent figure, and he has been reduced to the role of cleaning up after the teletubbies who do little more than wear big hats and watch each other's bellies. I mean, maybe if their weren't the "New-new" around they'd learn to clean up their own damn Tubbie Custard. The teletubbies are so bereft of their responsability in this manner that the words for "Uh-oh" (I've had an accident) and "Hello" (here I am) are indestinguishable. There very arrival is a signal that something is going to go wrong.
But I digress. The teletubbies have a weight problem and their weight problem is caused from too much tele(vision). And so what do we, as viewers of the program, do? We set our children down in front of the teletubbies to watch THEM. The Teletubbies watch their bellies, the children watch the teletubbies, and we watch the children. The only people getting exercise are those kids in Amsterdam on the Teletubbies bellies, and they'll have to do everything twice just to make up for our own laziness. That, or we, as parents, clean up the various messes of Tubbie Custard lieing around the apartment enacting our New-new role as an enabler.
In any case, the one thing you can do while watching an 18 month old is watch TV, but you can't watch just anything. The kid wants to watch Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street and Teletubbies... For this reason, these programs have become an integral part of my life. The problem is that I can't just turn off my skills with deconstruction and cultural theory that I have spent years training up. In other words, I'm forced to analyze the Teletubbies with the same skill set I would use to analyze Gravity's Rainbow or Jazz (which I'm reading, you're better off reading Song of Solomon).
So, let us begin. First of all, the teletubbies are fat. They are, at the very least, a bit chubby. Actually, they're tubbie. It's interesting that generation X-Large was fed the teletubbies as children because they are kind of fat role models. I'm just saying.
Now, why are they "Tubbie"? Well, look at their name: Tele-Tubbie. Clearly, the message is that watching television will cause weight problems. You won't get enough exercise. You don't do enough. And the show bears this reading out. The teletubbies have their every need fulfilled for them by the vaccuum cleaner on acid "New-new." Now, I'm not saying that it isn't nice that the teletubbies have someone to take care of them, except that clearly New-new is a kind of parent figure, and he has been reduced to the role of cleaning up after the teletubbies who do little more than wear big hats and watch each other's bellies. I mean, maybe if their weren't the "New-new" around they'd learn to clean up their own damn Tubbie Custard. The teletubbies are so bereft of their responsability in this manner that the words for "Uh-oh" (I've had an accident) and "Hello" (here I am) are indestinguishable. There very arrival is a signal that something is going to go wrong.
But I digress. The teletubbies have a weight problem and their weight problem is caused from too much tele(vision). And so what do we, as viewers of the program, do? We set our children down in front of the teletubbies to watch THEM. The Teletubbies watch their bellies, the children watch the teletubbies, and we watch the children. The only people getting exercise are those kids in Amsterdam on the Teletubbies bellies, and they'll have to do everything twice just to make up for our own laziness. That, or we, as parents, clean up the various messes of Tubbie Custard lieing around the apartment enacting our New-new role as an enabler.
posted by Monstro D. Whale at
9:12 AM
1 Comments:
My daughter turned 12 this weekend, so it's been a while since the tele-tubby days. But, I distinctly remember putting my foot down about that show. I couldn't stand it -- nor the "Veggie Tales." But, Mr. Rogers was decent, as was Sesame Street, Lunette & Molly, Wishbone, etc. I think your analysis is spot-on.
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