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Malena Janson on how Swedish TV reflects society’s overprotective attitude to children

In the 70's, Swedish film and television producers wanted to discuss all aspects of life with children. But the video violence debate killed these ambitions. Today, Malena Janson, senior lecturer in film studies at Stockholm University, notices a return of fear of taking children seriously in film and television.

Malena Janson
“People are so afraid to upset kids nowadays," says Malena Janson, who after comparing children's film and television from several different eras, realized how exciting children's culture was in the 1970s.
 

In her dissertation Malena compared children's film and television from several different eras, and realized how exciting children's culture was in the 70s.

“A new view of children emerged. Previously, children's culture was very cute with fairy tale worlds, gnomes and trolls but in the 1970's producers wanted to introduce reality – fear, terror and death – into children's fiction. There was nothing you could not tell kids, as long as you did it the right way.”

In 70's movies like Kaj Pollack's Elvis, Elvis and Marie-Louise Ekman's early films, the children were fighting against oppressive adults.
 
“It was very political. Children were seen as competent human beings who were able to handle, and needed to see, all aspects of life.”
 
Malena Janson relates this approach towards children to other trends in society.
 
“There are similarities to the civil rights movement and the women's movement. The unprivileged made themselves heard. And in Sweden the women's movement, especially Grupp 8, put children's rights on the agenda. Simultaneously, psychologists and historians reacted against an exaggeratedly cute children's culture, and pointed out how children historically have not at all been over-protected, but have, on the contrary, been a part of the same world as adults.
 
Malena Janson's doctoral thesis Bio för barnens bästa: svensk barnfilm som fostran och fritidsnöje (Film in Children's Best Interests: Swedish Children's Film as Education and Recreation) was completed in 2007. As work progressed, she realized that TV is actually more rewarding than film if you want to analyse a zeitgeist.
 
“Television is a very direct medium. In my current research I investigate children's TV from the 70s. In addition to watching the programs themselves, I conduct interviews, read old debates and look at the minutes from Sweden's national television broadcaster SVT’s meetings, viewers' letters and complaints to the Radio Board.”
 
Viewers for example were opposed to unkempt men on the screen – some had long hair and beard – but above all to the left wing propaganda that some people saw in children’s programmes. As soon as someone mentioned the Vietnam War, environmental issues or the forest industry, some viewers went wild.
 
“It’s true that some popular children's programmes were political, and these were times when everything was under discussion, especially children's culture. Today, we are only a few experts who are involved in the children's culture debate, but in the 70's, children's culture had higher status and even big shots took part in the debate.
 
This radical children's culture died out in the 80s. In December 1980, a controversial story on violent videos was aired in the debate programme Studio S, and the programme was followed by an intense and polarized discussion about how films influence children.
 
“Following the video violence debate, many people became sceptical of all moving images for children. Previously, video was used in education, but many schools locked up the appliances because they became so associated with violence. As a result, both film and television became much more good-natured.”
 
Today's children's culture has lost in importance, says Janson.
 
“We are back in the 50s. The global commercial children's media has been fully unleashed. There everything is extremely run-of-the-mill and fairy tale-like – there is no real conflict, just happy smiles.”
 
Also, Swedish production has become a kind of children's versions of adult television.
 
“Contemporary children's programs are mostly about competition and self display. We see it in programmes like Idol and Wild Kids. It's very rare to see lavish drama in the style of 70s Swedish series like Den vita stenen (The White Stone) or Dagar med Knubbe (Days with Knubbe) today.
 
Malena Janson thinks that the overprotective attitude in media reflects the general attitude towards children today.
 
“People are so afraid to upset kids nowadays. Parents spend more money, time and energy on their children than ever before, but don't let them play in the yard without a helmet.”
 
Text: Jonas Holmberg

 

Web editor: Paul Parker
Last updated: September 6, 2011
Source: Communications Office

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