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How The WGBH's Arthur Television Series Shaped My Childhood And Socialization Skill

Writer's picture: Jordan JacklinJordan Jacklin

Reflecting back on my adolescent years, the WGBH show Arthur helped shape my childhood in a variety of ways. The show contributed to my youth learning experience at the primary education level and shaped my socialization skills for how I talked to my peers at the time.


Let's explore exactly how that happend.

The Childhood Impact From One Episode

First, the show contributed to my childhood experience through relatable themes. For example, when Arthur is showcasing his displeasure with snow in the episode “The Blizzard,” I could relate his disgruntled feelings towards the snowy weather. The adult figures in my life, from my parents to my teachers, attempted to convince me otherwise, but I stuck by my distorted feelings towards it. As discussed in the book “The Sociology of Childhood and Youth in Canada,” children have ideas and thoughts too that are considered acceptable.


The Sociology of Childhood and Youth by Xiaobei Chen, Rebecca Raby, and Patrizia Albanese

The chapter authors even reinforced this idea by having children's illustrations, and descriptions included in numerous chapters of the book. Youth may still be learning and developing, but they have the ability to showcase their thoughts in different mediums. Although the vast majority of adults perceive it differently, including the ones in my own life, I believed in the same ideas that Arthur did. Now, I eventually grew out of that phase of thinking, as did Arthur, through natural growth,. I didn't need adults to disprove my thoughts and opinions, I needed guidance into why I felt that way, and how to see the other side.

Shaping My Socialization Skills

Second, Arthur influenced my socializations skills from this episode, and many in general over the years. The show helped me see other perspectives and take different people’s stories into account. As discussed in "The sociology of childhood and youth in Canada," it stated that Canada’s poverty “report card” recently delivered the bad news that child poverty rates are on the rise, and are disproportionatley high among Indigenous children. I barely had indigenous students around my youth life to witness the severity of this issue.

Children socializing
Children socializing (Image: The Washington Post)

Author Kristen Drotner discussed how Co-Creation is a two way street, meaning that “media operates as powerful vehicles in the display, dissemination, and discussions of child hood.” (Drotner, 2022, p. 19). Arthur is unique in this conversation, as it’s an animated series portraying exaggerated versions of real world events. This is in an attempt to gauge a wider interest for the younger demographic. The themes of responsibility and empathy are evident, and it helped grain those characteristics into my youth brain. It wasn’t the book to help me learn, but it was cover page that peaked my eye. When talking to marginalized groups in my childhood, from classroom peers to sports teammates, it helped me understand their perspectives that I couldn’t necessarily understand from my viewpoint. Overall, it helped make my childhood enjoyable, knowing that I could make a difference from that age. These ideologies gave me a higher level of maturity compared to the majority of “youth” in my age group.



Citations

Drotner, K. (2022). The Co-construction of Media and Childhood. In D. Lemish (Ed.), The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents, and Media (p 17-24). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.


Chen, X., Raby, R., & Albanese, P. (Eds.). (2018). The sociology of childhood and youth in Canada. Canadian Scholars (p. 1-20).


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