Age and Gender Socialization in Popular Culture, Research Paper Example

Research Questions

• What good influence(s) do cartoons give children viewers?
• Which toys do you think bring the most mind and physical stimulation for children?

Field Observation: Age and Gender Socialization In Popular Culture

Introduction

Program time of day shown:  “Dr. Seuss’ Cat In The Hat” movie was shown on Sunday, April 11, 2010, 6:15 PM Pacific Time in TBS Network.

Content of the cartoons: “Dr. Seuss’ Cat In The Hat” depicts humor, fun activities, talking cat and other animated characters, two children and their mother.

Advertisements accompanying the cartoons: The movie version of   “Dr. Seuss’ Cat In The Hat” has several clips from the movie, posters and banners in the internet and certain roads as advertisements.

My general impressions of the cartoons: They are cute, funny, give me a warm feeling and leaves moral lessons for children to learn.

Other Pertinent Observations I Made About The Movie

This movie, “Dr. Seuss,” enhances the counting skills of young children who are at early stages of learning math as evident when the cat entertains the children by bringing out “Thing One” and “Thing Two” clearly numbered “one” and “two” that flies kites. “Dr. Seuss” also teaches children viewers the sense of responsibility when taking account for one’s actions. The movie proves this when the cat cleans up the mess he left in the children’s house before he disappears and the mother arrives.”Dr. Seuss” also teach children not to be afraid of performing daunting tasks that require them to juggle doing numerous things at the same time. The movie does this when it shows the cat balancing numerous things at the same time while also performing another task. The movie also enhances the children’s spatial skills as it introduces numerous creative concrete construction skills when the cat tries to balance numerous things at the same time.

Through online research I conducted about the movie, I also found some interesting facts about it as follows (“The Cat In The Hat” 11):

“The book has been popular since its publication, and a logo featuring the Cat adorns all Dr. Seuss publications and animated films produced after The Cat in the Hat. Seuss wrote the book because he felt that there should be more entertaining and fun material for beginning readers.” (“The Cat In The Hat” 11).

Over 11 million copies of The Cat in the Hat have been disseminated to the readers worldwide (“The Cat In The Hat” 11). The book is available in more than12 different languages (“The Cat In The Hat” 11).

This movie can solicit more positive reactions the younger the children who watch it are (“Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat Review-Read Variety’s Analysis Of The Movie Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat” 2). This reaction solicited from the youngest children just amuses adults and make them thankful their youngsters are able to indulge in a good movie to keep their kids busy even during idle times (“Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat Review-Read Variety’s Analysis Of The Movie Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat” 2).

Among the most famous quotes of Dr. Seuss’ that are somehow related to the theme of ”The Cat In The Hat” are the following (“Dr. Seuss Quotes” 2):

• “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is younger than you” (“Dr. Seuss Quotes” 2).
• “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened” (“Dr. Seuss Quotes” 2).
• “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple” (“Dr. Seuss Quotes” 2).
• “I meant what I said and I said what I meant” (“Dr. Seuss Quotes” 2).

Toy Store I Visited: Brown Bear Toys in Ukiah, California

Detailed observations about the toys themselves: Brown Bear mostly sells toys geared for mind stimulation for children. They sell bears that could talk, puppets and other cuddly stuffed toys.

The arrangement and context of toys marketed to different ages and genders:  The toys were displayed in low shelves so small children of various ages and genders could easily see and examine them. The toys were distinguished by their colors and sounds to cater to children of different ages and genders. For example, blue bears and puppets are catered for boys while pink bears and puppets are catered for girls. However, there are more numerous blue colored than pink colored bears as bears are toys geared for boys due to the sounds they make when they talk that make them livelier than the puppets. Vice versa, there are more pink colored puppets than blue ones.

Detailed Observations I Made While Visiting the Toy Store

The toy store exhibits a homely appearance with its small store site space. It gives the children who visit it the sense of comfortableness as the store staff members were very friendly towards young children. Children who visit are quickly engaged by store associates in lively conversations, and some were even engaged in rhyming song sessions with the store associates.

Parents who brought in their children at the store quickly felt at ease having the store associates accommodate their children. The associates exhibited friendliness and kindness to the children that us why the parents immediately placed their trust into these people even though they were literally strangers. The children also seemed to feel they can trust these people who were strangers as children have the most accurate gut feelings at times.

Conclusion

Cartoons inspire creativity within the children viewers. Cartoon characters usually find to a creative solution to solve a problem no matter how difficult the problem is.  In my opinion, the puppets were the toys which brought the most physical and mind stimulation. Moving the toys within the hands and making them talk at the same time exercises the hands and stimulates mind creativity through ideas which are put through the puppets.

Works Cited

Dr. Seuss’ Cat In The Hat. Dir. Bo Welch. Perf. Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, and Spencer Breslin. Imagine Entertainment, 2003. Film.

“The Cat In The Hat.” Wikipedia.org, In Wikipedia, 12 April 2010, Web. 12 April 2010.

“Dr. Seuss Quotes.” About.com, In About.com, n.d. Web. 18 April 2010.

“Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In The Hat.” Variety.com, In RBL, Nov. 21, 2003, Web. 18 April 2010.