Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Video as Theatre

1989; University of Toronto Press; Volume: 60; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3138/ctr.60.011

1920-941X

Ioan Davies,

Digital Games and Media

Parents and pedagogues are frequently frustrated to find that their adolescent children’s conception of dramatic entertainment and performance bears little relationship to their coordinated strategies of what mimesis, performance, narrative, didacticism and play should be all about. After a kindergarten and early-primary phase of apparent harmony between TV and classroom, in which Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, Polka-Dot Door, or You Can’t Do That on Television are at least there to compete with the purely commercial nature of the Strawberry Shortcake or Thundercats absurdities, the influence of educators on TV and video production (notwithstanding the efforts of the new Youth and Family TV channels in Canada) seems to have minimal effect on what adolescents actually watch and play. For the age group 11 to 15, unbridled commercialism dictates extra-curricular viewing habits. Here I would briefly like to indicate what is watched – primarily on video, but also on TV and film (the overlaps are, of course, very great) – why, and whether this should give any cause for concern.