In the increasing amount of television Marisol is allowed/defaulted to watch, an umbrella theme of the kids' shows she sees is the rescue of baby animals, the return of animals to their families, and the conspiring among their cartoon saviors to bring families together.

I don't think this represents the shows' commitment to underlining the importance of the family so much as it reveals how negligent cartoon animal parents are.

And it would be reasonable to assume that if this plotline is spread across shows like "Dora the Explorer," "Diego," "Wonder Pets" (I actually like that one; there is an episode below), and "Super Why," that producers must feel parental negligence and the hope of rescue is something that would resonate with kids.

Marisol watches a lot of television. Too much, I think. I can't help but think that my negligence in not providing an alternative is only being underscored by the abandonment-centric shows she watches.


"Where are these animals' parents?" my wife and I say, and it's a big joke. But where are we?

There are some shows I enjoy watching, but it is not a family experience the way watching our shortlisted child-friendly movies are, like the Pixar films and "The Iron Giant." Most of the kids' TV we see seems to justify lowering the bar for substantive content by hammering home some message.

Take "Dora the Explorer," for instance.

Dora and her cousin Diego are busybodies who have sustained some kind of brain damage that prevents them from 1.) speaking quietly, ever, and 2.) sticking to one language. In this latter regard they are the linguistic counterparts of a driver who can't stay in the same lane. They alternate between English and Spanish in the same sentence, and this does nothing but force my daughter to speak in italics.

While Diego and his older sister, Alicia, can "pass" as having normal brains (until they begin shouting), Dora is clearly hydrocephalic.

Anyway, every episode of these programs features an animal in distress that Dora et al and their talking animal retinues must save. The net message is that your parents can't protect you; your only hope is in a braying bilingual Giganto-Head, or cabeza gigante.


And the self-doubt spreads. This morning I listened to a heartwarming story about a Golden Retriever who became the wet nurse for a litter of tigers whose mother had abandoned them, and I immediately thought of Dora. What would Dora do?

No idea, but it would undoubtedly be en voz alta.

See also: Dog becomes tigers' momma at Kansas City Zoo

Labels: child abuse, entertainment, television