How Does the Childhood Media You Loved Hold Up Today?
Rewatching movies from the 80s and 90s can be surprising. It showcases how much cultural norms have changed in a generation.
Since this week’s newsletter was all about roller coasters and kids’ activities, I thought it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane and have us all share some favorite movies, TV shows, and books that we loved as kids. What holds up and what doesn’t?
Rewatching movies from the 80s and 90s (or other decades) can be surprising and showcases how much cultural norms have changed in a generation. In some ways, this is a good reminder that we are showcasing more diversity and sensitivity in kids' programming than we grew up with, so that’s a win. Also, what kids find “engaging” has changed a lot, probably because current kid shows are heavily researched and focused-grouped to make programs as mesmerizing as possible.
Perhaps like me, you’ve had the experience of excitedly sitting down to watch a movie you loved as a kid with your kid (family bonding moment) only to realize it’s racist, sexist, full of stereotypes, bullies, or has questionable messages. Or perhaps your kid has looked at you with dismay after 15 minutes into your favorite kid film and asked to watch YouTube unboxing videos instead.
My most memorable experience with this was putting on the film Annie, the classic one from 1982 I loved, starring Yul Brynner and Carol Burnett when Asher was about 5. I quickly discovered Miss Hannigan was a totally inappropriate (IMO) alcoholic child abuser of poor orphans! No shade on Burnett’s amazing performance, but kinda terrible and scary for kids to watch. Also, the Punjab character with his “magic oriental powers” is very heavy on bad stereotypes. Anyway, despite the fact I watched that movie practically daily as a young child, it’s not in our rotation.
So now I’ll share a few pieces of media that I was into as a kid that still hold up:
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