Kid's Programming that Makes You Want to Question Life Itself

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

I love Veggie Tales, and I consider it one of the absolute best testaments to Christianity in the media today. Let's face it, most Christian programming tends to be rather dull and quite preachy. Veggie Tales presents their videos in an incredibly entertaining manner, with unique characters, vibrant animation, fun-to-sing songs, allusions and parodies, and great storytelling. And they stick to values that are generally things most parents, regardless of religion, would want instilled in their children. There is no condemnation, no controversy, and no boredom. I hope it stays that way.

I've grown up in the Lutheran church, and I understand the frustrations those who are not Christian have with the Christian church because I have begun to feel them too. It just seems that in the past four or five years, Christianity on the whole seems much more oppressive and gloomy. I don't know why that is; I have to admit that there are several extreme right-wing Christians who kind of scare me. I have always considered Christianity to be about love and peace and joy, and I've been forced to question whether that's so a few times in the past few years.

Nonetheless, I think it is, or it can be. There are many, many caring, compassionate Christians out there who are able to find a good balance with their faith and the "secular" world. I've never really distinguished between the two that much, just discern on an individual basis how right I think something is. There are lots of things in the "secular" world that I find extremely uplifting and life-affirming, and quite a few within the church that I find depressing or disturbing. I do think there's a lot of questionable stuff out there in the media today, but there's a lot of good stuff too. When Clay Aiken came on the scene in February, I took heart because here was this squeaky-clean Southern Baptist Mama's boy who refused to dirty himself up to fit in with current trends and also had an endearing personality, great sense of humor, and amazing voice, and he became an absolute smash hit. Not only did he gain fans throughout the world, many of those fans were inspired to volunteer, donate to charity, or just be nicer because of the example of this young Christian singer. So I found that really encouraging.

My favorite theologians include C. S. Lewis and Robert L. Short, in whose writings I find passion for Christ and compassion for the world. That's how I like to see Christianity, that's what I think it ought to be about. I just have to latch on to what I find positive and not let the more threatening Christian voices dissuade me from my faith.
Erin

 

[frogboy4]

My main disappointment in the Christian religion is the lack of leaders denouncing such bizarre and hateful statements from the likes of Robertson and Falwell. Such damage control is up to every member of the religion, but it appears that the "more compassionate" leaders have opted to wimp-out. I feel many people understand the spirit of the religion better than the usual camera hogs. Some house cleaning is in order because the message that gets out is one of bigotry and condescension.

Bringing this back on topic, the most disturbing religious kids programming I've seen is the pale-skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus. That is a regional and historical improbability. It's a spin to make the figure more Caucasian influenced. I find this most disturbing. It's like those religions figurines Conan O'Brien has shown on his program. These statues depicting a Caucasian Jesus playing soccer and hockey.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

Bringing this back on topic, the most disturbing religious kids programming I've seen is the pale-skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus. That is a regional and historical improbability. It's a spin to make the figure more Caucasian influenced. I find this most disturbing. It's like those religions figurines Conan O'Brien has shown on his program. These statues depicting a Caucasian Jesus playing soccer and hockey.

I agree that Jesus probably didn't look like that, but He's been depicted that way in artwork for centuries. I guess wherever people are coming from, they probably figure Jesus looks like their ideal vision of a man. I kinda like those statues myself, just because they show Jesus as being down-to-earth and a part of people's lives. But any attempt to pin down Jesus' physical appearance is going to be problematic because no one really knows. It seems like for whatever reason, the stereotypical idea of Jesus is a Caucasian guy with longish blond or brown hair, beard and mustache, and blue or brown eyes. I guess that's kinda the image that's been fixed in people's mind, and there's really no reason you couldn't show, for instance, an African-American Jesus, but it might be harder for people to recognize right away who is being depicted.
Erin

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

"I LOVE MY LIPS" is the funniest Veggie Tales song ever! I LOVE IT!!!!

Just checking out some of the older posts on this thread, and I have to agree! This song totally cracks me up. It's interesting, on the video this appears in, Sonny Bono's face shows up during the inkblot test, but between that video and the first Sing-along, Bono died so they switched to a picture of one of the Big Idea people out of respect.
Erin

 

[sarah_yzma]

I think it's odd that you say christianity is an odd thing, nowadays, but I live in the bible belt, so I guess that's why I don't see the shift in culture as much

 

[somethingofafan]

If you guys think that things intended for children to watch are bad, you should see some of the drivel they make children perform. And I'm a Christian who's very active in church, so I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

If you guys think that things intended for children to watch are bad, you should see some of the drivel they make children perform. And I'm a Christian who's very active in church, so I know what I'm talking about.

Do you mean like church programs and such? I've seen some good and bad there. In my church we often don't do anything because we have so few kids, or at least so few kids who we know we can count on to show up for practices. The biggest thing production we did in the 15 or so years I've been there was like 5 years ago, when I wrote a 45-minute Christmas musical; I was tired of not doing anything at Christmas! I'd like to think it was decent... I remember one thing that really annoyed me another year was we sang "Mary's Boy Child," and I really like the song, but they made us change the line "and man will live forevermore because of Christmas day" to "and *folks* will live forevermore..." They wanted to be politically correct, but I thought it sounded really dumb.
Erin

 

[Marble Didymus]

Do you mean like church programs and such? I've seen some good and bad there. In my church we often don't do anything because we have so few kids, or at least so few kids who we know we can count on to show up for practices. The biggest thing production we did in the 15 or so years I've been there was like 5 years ago, when I wrote a 45-minute Christmas musical; I was tired of not doing anything at Christmas! I'd like to think it was decent... I remember one thing that really annoyed me another year was we sang "Mary's Boy Child," and I really like the song, but they made us change the line "and man will live forevermore because of Christmas day" to "and *folks* will live forevermore..." They wanted to be politically correct, but I thought it sounded really dumb.
Erin

Ah yes, got to love politcal correctness. It has ruined the world and many an internet forum *coughmobiusforumcough*

 

[somethingofafan]

Do you mean like church programs and such? I've seen some good and bad there.

That's exactly what I mean. Sometimes the songs are actually decent, but they are often poorly integrated with the surrounding dialogue, which is often corny in and of itself.

 

[Drtooth]

GOtta say, I can't discuss religion, since I just grown to think negative of it over the last few years. Nothing wrong with religion, bu9t the people who follow it... makes me think why they even bother practicing it at all..

I cringe anytime someone says the word Christian. It has turned into a hot-button term that is used to support prejudice and a particular political agenda against anyone different. I've heard people use Christian values to support arguments against everything from interracial marriage to murder of those who don't share the same values. Those are more extreme examples of course, but they are not foreign to many people. I guess the Christians need better PR or to stand up against this extremist faction. You know, the people who picketed the funeral of Mathew Sheppard for no other reason than to inform everyone that they believe he's burning in H-E- “double hockey sticks”. This is what the world sees, so I can see Cory's argument. The only people we see speak out on Christian issues are Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed and Jerry Fallwell and nobody in power has condemned such terrible behavior.

You could apply that logic to Islam and basically any other world religion... I mean, there are people who practice the values of love, peace, acceptance, and then there are the loony toons who go and smash planes into buildings, fight over scraps of land, and spread hatred, because "Their god told them to." I mean, the whole point of religion is so people from all walks of life can behave and not kill or spread hate and fear, and then the populous go and turn it into a competition, "My god can kick you're god's butt..."

Sigh...

originally posted by Chilly Down
In fact -- in terms of the broader issue, about animation being much worse than it used to be -- I think that's also a product of us looking at the past with nostalgiac eyes. Sure, we had some great stuff growing up, but we also had a lot of garbage. A LOT of garbage. Remember all those multiple incarnations of Scooby-Doo (from Scrappy on)? Remember Turbo Teen? (Probably not, and there's good reason for it.) Meanwhile, nowadays we have quality shows like Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Fairly Oddparents, and Time Squad. Not to mention cartoons for adults like The Simpsons and the Adult Swim block on the Cartoon Network. Plus we have all the great shows from the past in reruns, plus we have those same classics rolling out on DVD collector's editions for us. Frankly, I can't think of a BETTER time to be an animation fan.

I have to disagree with Scooby Doo to some extent. A lot of the Scrappy ones were crap, as well as the ones after it, but the What's New Scooby Doo series is pretty much brilliant compaired to the old days. Especially since the villians have more technology and better techniques at there disposal...

But I agree, a lot of stuff is pure crap. Though, I must say, Oddparents... I just don't like it or get it. I am a big fan of Andrea Martin, but her talent is wasted on such a ... goofy script... But Dexter, Courage, etc. It's great to see creators that have control over their cartoons. Especially since I am a cartoonist myself.