University of Strathclyde

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Children’s Literature Week 5: Seminar on BBC Children’s Television

Consider the following aspects of the texts: try to think beyond the ‘story’, taking in to account use of colour, music and sound, pace of editing, costume, setting and other aspects specific to television. (You might think about whether these constitute an ‘aesthetics of innocence’.)

 LazyTown Episode 1: ‘Welcome to LazyTown’

• Where is LazyTown? Can children go there? (c/f Neverland as a psychic realm)

• Comment on the performance and construction of childhood in the text, especially through the child characters and their relationship to adult characters.

• What are the threats to childhood presented in the text and in what ways are these threats minimised or contained? (consider Robbie Rotten especially) Might we link these threats to the (postmodern) notion of the ‘death’ of childhood?

• The healthy lifestyle message is explicit regarding diet and exercise, but what other aspects of the model child or citizen are suggested in the text?

Shoebox Zoo Episode 2: ‘Friend or Foe’

• This programme is not an adaptation but are there resemblances to literary genres? What conventions does it employ? (It may be helpful to compare Marnie to Lyra and Lucy.)

• In what ways might this text be considered ‘Scottish’ or as obviously foregrounding or representing aspects of Scottish culture or heritage?

• Comment on the construction of childhood within the text – does this text fulfil a ‘public service’ as regards representing the child to self and others? (Is Marnie an aspirational figure? How does she compare to Stephanie? Are there problems with putting children onscreen?)

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