Yesterday, after the expedition to the shops we came home shattered and so a bit of quiet time was in order. I put on Ponyo, it is the first time we have seen it and it is lovely. It is from Studio Ghibli and a Hayao Miyazaki anime, the same creator as Totoro, another of my favourites.
Ponyo is a little fish who is washed ashore and rescued by Sosuke, a five year old boy. Ponyo wishes to become a little girl and uses her magic to do so, the only problem is that by using her magic she as disrupted the balance of nature, the only way for her to remain as a human and the world to be saved is if Sosuke loves Ponyo for who she is, no matter of the form she takes. Of course, he does, the world is saved and they all live happily ever after!
Ebi-kun has fallen for Ponyo, he wants her to be his friend too, ahhhh. When I was at university, part of my thesis was to write and film a kids TV program and have suitable research for backing up my choices. Back then, you know in the olden days, the internet wasn't what it is today but there was a lot of interesting papers coming out about the influence of TV on children. I think a major influx of these papers were due to the James Bulger case, where the two boys were apparently allowed to watch 18 rated horror films. There are a lot of programs aimed at kids that I feel incite violence, they use the idea that it is good vs evil but the only way to overcome evil is through violence and the kids re-enact the scenes in the playground or park.
We were at the park a while back, Ebi-kun was playing with another boy of the same age, the boy started playing out one of these scenes and hit Ebi-kun with a stick, his mother apologised to me, saying that it was from the TV program he watches! Unbelievable.
Sorry, I seem to have gone off on a tangent, if you are like me, and fussy about what your child watches, I can highly recommend Ponyo and if you haven't seen Totoro yet, then what you waiting for?
I am interested to hear what you think is suitable viewing for little ones or your opinions about little ones and TV.
Thanks for posting this! I am a Totoro fan and was wondering about Ponyo. Sometimes Miazaki's movies can be dark...but I can't wait to see this!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, I love his work but not all of it is suitable for little ones. I like Spirited Away but I don't think I will let Ebi-kun watch that until he is a bit older, Kiki's Delivery Service I think is OK. My favourite is Mononoki but it will be quite a while before I let him watch that!
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher and a mother I am constantly amazes at the choices that other parents make. After all it is a choice we adults make on behalf of our children about what they watch and when. When parents apologise but use the tv as the excuse I always think - well why let him/her watch it then?
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher I am having to work hard with my 4-6 year olds to help them understand that what tehy see on tv is not real. Even real-looking programmes are acted and scripted. The worst is the new power rangers because it has real actors but is computer altered. The kids have no idea that if they kick each other it hurts. They seem to have lost the ability to predict real outcomes.
as a mother I am strict about what, when and where they watch tv. In the end, they are going to remember the fun stuff they did, not endless episodes of power rangers.....
I am the same. I let Manon (same age as EBI) watching TV, but only 45 mn at the most each day. Babar/ToupiandBInoo/Miss spider/Miffy are the favourites. She has never watched Diego or Dora and will not under my house anyway.. Compare to our neighbours who let their kids (same age) watching You think you can dance, long movies (more that 1h30)... we are find behind. I did once, had a neighbour who let her 4 years old watching the new Star trek.. It is clear that my daughter has a long way to go. Nevertheless I found that TV helped improved her english (we speak english/french at home) and helped to understand feelings and emotions better than the books. But we are avid readers at home and a minimum basic cable leave us without too much crap anyway....so books and reading time are mandatory in the household ....
ReplyDelete