Sesame Street to Introduce HIV-Positive Muppet

[MuppetQuilter]

Originally posted by SCOOTER_101
Well if you guys don't remember correctly they talked about Death on Sesame Street when Mr. Hooper died in 1983, so why shouldn't South American Street be able to talk about HIV???

Well, um, because Sesame Workshop has decided to introduce an HIV+ Muppet in South Africa, where the AIDS crisis is rampant, not South America.

We've talked a lot about Mr. Hooper's death in the threads related to the HIV+ Muppet. To be fair, while Mr. Hooper's death is a wonderful example of Sesame Street tackleing a difficult subject with grace, the death of an elderly person is very different from a disease that is as politcally charged as AIDS. I think Sesame Street can and should do this (and in more places than just South Africa). Sesame has always had a social agenda (when it premiered, there were movements to ban it in some southern States because it showed Blacks and whites living and working together). But I know there are plenty of people who believe HIV is not an appropriate topic for a children's show. Some because they do not fully understand HIV, some because they don't want young children to watch someone they care about die from a disease as horrific as AIDS, some for purely political reasons, and some for reasons we haven't even thought of.

As for South America, I don't think there is a South American Sesame Street. Some of the individual nations in South America may have versions, but given the range of diversity on that continent, I'd be surprised if one version of Sesame Street were appropriate across the board.

 

[sstVideo]

Actually, Plaza Sesamo, produced in Mexico City, is distributed throughout South America. It teaches basic Spanish letters and numbers as well as the usual social skills. It is aired in the States on many of the spanish language stations.

 

[MuppetQuilter]

But in Brazil, the national language is Portuagese not Spanish. How does that work?

 

[sstVideo]

Spanish scripts are dubbed into Portugese for the Brazilian audience.

 

[MuppetQuilter]

sstVideo--

thanks for the info!