By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--December 26, 2017
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CNN wants you to be afraid. There's a threat out there - one you possibly haven't even considered - and it seeks to destroy all that you hold dear. It desperately wants to seize control of your children, infecting their young minds with an appreciation of fascism and autocratic rule, so they'll thrive in the wastelands of a corporate-totalitarian dystopia. If you think they're talking about the government, or any government for that matter, you're wrong. They're not even talking about a military power, or a political group."Thomas," the long-running television franchise about a group of working trains chugging away on the Island of Sodor, has been called a "premodern corporate-totalitarian dystopia" in the New Yorker, imperialist and sinister in Slate, and classist, sexist and anti-environmentalist in the Guardian. And yet people -- presumably parents -- spend $1 billion on "Thomas" merchandise every year. "Paw Patrol" is equally polarizing. The show, about a group of rescue dogs led by a boy named Ryder, is a regular source of complaint among parents and of adoration among their kids. Buzzfeed called the show "terrible" and pointed to instances of gender and social inequality that go unchecked on the show. In the Guardian, Ryder is described as a megalomaniac with an implied "unstoppable God complex." Nevertheless, "Paw Patrol" is ubiquitous. Branded merchandise featuring Ryder and the gang outsells most other television shows, according to recent data from the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association. A recent Amazon search for "Paw Patrol" yielded 24,814 results.
It's tempting as a parent -- especially those of us who are aghast at contemporary politics -- to be disturbed by the notion of our children tuning in for a regular dose of primary-colored authoritarianism. What ever happened to "Free to Be ... You and Me?"You may recall that "Free to Be ... You and Me" was a children’s' record, created by a gaggle of flaming liberals, that was foisted on kids in the 1970's. As one of those kids, I can tell you. We hated it. It was cloying, irritating, ham-fisted, and utterly insipid. I will agree with CNN (and Buzzfeed) in only one respect. Paw Patrol is, indeed, "terrible." I have a young child, and just the theme song gives me night terrors. It's insufferable. It is not, however, the story of a "megalomaniac with a God complex." It's about a little boy who rescues people with the help of his dogs. I know I've said this before, but can you imagine how sorrowful these peoples' lives must be? While other folks are leading real lives, with jobs, lost car keys, housework, and some occasional entertainment, these folks spend their days digging through a kiddie cartoon to find the ways in which it might exemplify their outrage-of-the-week. The misery must be ceaseless.
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On the other hand, children take comfort in the idea that someone is in charge. To them, Ryder isn't a megalomaniac, and Sir Topham Hatt of "Thomas" isn't a neocolonial autocrat. They're just the guys delegating responsibilities to their eager inferiors. And the fact that these leaders, both white males, look like most figures in position of authority in the real world is not lost on children.Betcha you never thought about that one before... This. Is CNN. I can't imagine why anyone would call it fake news.
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