I just watched the premiere of CBS’s much-maligned reality show Kid Nation (Where 40 kids are left for 40 days in a “ghost town” with minimal adult interference to organize their own society). For backstory on the hullabaloo, see yesterday’s Washington Post story or today’s brutal Baltimore Sun column. I turned it on, expecting to be outraged (awful conditions, unchecked anti-social behavior, exploitation of the kids, etc.), but I wasn’t — not really.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, while I wasn’t exactly outraged, I did cringe on multiple occasions, particularly when 2 of the younger kids are shown crying because they are homesick/scared and another point when a 15 year old gets in the face of an 11 year old. There were moments like that when I thought, those poor kids. They need adults for security and comfort, as well as to be arbiters of justice… don’t they?
On the other hand, I was impressed by the leadership shown by many of the kids as well as their ability to make mature decisions (e.g., the group opting for extra outhouses over a tv that they can watch whenever they want) and the kindness many extended to one another. In this premiere episode, it felt less like Lord of the Flies (the parallel that commentators have beat into the ground) and more like Little House on the Prairie.
This won’t last. There is plenty of foreshadowing that suggests things will unravel. There’s the brooding 15 year old boy who has troublemaker written all over him, there are weekly survivor-esque competitions to determine the (markedly unequal) division of labor around town, plus producers introduced an element sure to corrupt friendships and promote petty jealousy — a $20,000 prize to be awarded each week to the best pioneer. So, no, it won’t stay nicey nice, and given that it’s children - it could get downright mean.
Having said all that, as I watched, I kept thinking about what a great springboard for discussion this would be if my kids were between the ages of 8 and 13… the community offers interesting lessons about responsibility (and a window into all that adults do - hold jobs, earn money, cook, clean, provide emotional support, etc.), democracy, leadership, capitalism, and social inequality. But, even more, it offers kids (and dare I say us all), an opportunity to develop their own thoughts about the good society, communitarianism vs. indvidualism, threats to social solidarity, how best to deal with deviance (and deviants), and the consequences of economic and political power that is unevenly distributed. How might your child handle issue X? Organize the division of labor? Who would they want as a leader?
I think if my kids were older it might make very quite good family viewing (especially if you consider the “alternatives”), even if, as critics have shouted from the rooftops, there are costs (might there not also be some benefits?) to those who are participating. I’m not supporting exploitation of kids - I’m just thinking about what kids might be able to learn from watching other real kids.
This is where reality TV has something to offer. The girls and boys on the show are real girls and boys, regardless of how contrived their scenario may be, and real people defy stereotypes. The girls on the show aren’t obsessed with appearances and shopping like the charicatures that are written into scripts, they are real girls, with strengths and weaknesses coping with adversity (this episode showed them leading and reading maps and cooking and caring for animals and resolving conflicts!). And the boys, my word — we saw at LEAST two boys cry last night and others make friends and others struggle – such a refreshing break from the macho, too-cool, punk image they are offered in fictional tv. Will there be flirting and fighting? I’m sure, but in a reality based program (editing dependendent), these experiences are contextualized as part of childhood (and masculinity/feminity), instead of depicted as the defining feature of tweendom. So, Kid Nation, I’m not sure who thought this was a good idea to produce, but I do think it might be worth consuming.
…and if you want to, the full episode can be viewed on the show’s website.
Academama
September 20, 2007 | 12:44 pm1
This is good to hear…I was leery after hearing all the recent press. H is often very idealistic and naive in her thinking about social relationships, fairness, and the “way the world works,” so this might be a good way to help her understand both the “ideal” or what we (our family) can strive for and what some of the reality is. My only concern is her seeing the crying kids. She’s super sensitive. She saw Jenny McCarthy’s appearance on Oprah the other night, in which McCarthy described her autistic son’s seizures, and H started crying, telling me “This really freaks me out and makes me sad. Can we please turn the channel?” Despite my efforts to explain that learning about the difficulties other people face (physical, mental, social, or otherwise) helps us understand, respect, and respond to differences between people, she had seen enough.
I’ll watch this with her and see what she thinks!
dh
September 20, 2007 | 1:03 pm2
I suppose it would make for boring tv if the producers didn’t gin up some conflict and confrontation with elements like the $20K prizes. I’d be more interested to see what happens if the kids were just left to their own devices to organize themselves and survive…but then who would tune in to see a bunch of kids working together in harmony?
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