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<title>Songs in Children's Shows and How They Can Educate</title>
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<p>Much of what has been discussed within this class so far largely concerns rather
serious genres. The choice of a song from a children’s show was, then, an
attempt to break down something that I assumed would have a bit more levity to
it. The genre of songs within the recurring situations of episodes of children’s
cartoons and even in the much broader entertainment scene is fairly common. So for this analysis, I chose
to look at a song named “Here Comes a Thought” from a currently on-air and
rather popular children’s show called Steven Universe. This song, written and
composed by Rebecca Sugar, who is also the creator of the show, surprised me in
the fact that, despite my initial thoughts, it is rather serious in its purpose.
It is clearly meant to further the story, as well as drive character
development, much like every other song produced for shows. Yet, it is also
<argument type="main">an effort to teach the audience something that can be
very helpful to people of all ages, which suggests that overall, as a genre,
songs in children's shows have the potential and ability be highly
educational- and for more than just learning the alphabet.</argument> That being said, the audience for
this particular show isn’t restricted only to children. Rather than strictly
focus on the one audience you’d expect a kids’ show to focus on, Steven Universe
eagerly welcomes people outside of the traditional audience for kids shows.</p>
<p>Despite Steven Universe being primarily marketed towards kids, it has a large
following of all ages and is well known for exploring important themes, with the
creator herself stating in an interview that she’d <q>“really like to talk about
identity and individuality, and self love”</q><citation>("‘Steven Universe’
Creator Rebecca Sugar Talks LGBT Themes and Season 3.") </citation>. As a
result, people of all ages and demographics are invited to partake of the show
itself and the messages it provides. However, what’s unusual about this specific
show, which extends into some of its other songs, is that it while everyone is
invited to watch and take part, it specifically seeks to include LGBTQ children
and members of the audience, something that, frankly, could be considered rather
revolutionary in the world of children’s television.</p>
</intro>
<bodyPara><argument type="supporting">“Here Comes a Thought” attempts to, as its purpose,
promote at least the beginnings of self-acceptance and love by exposing the
audience to some of the basic principles of mindful meditation.</argument> “Here
Comes a Thought” plays within a specific episode of Steven Universe titled “Mindful
Education”. Between this episode’s name and the lyrics of the song, urging the
listener to “take a moment and find yourself”, the mentor figure of the series,
Garnet, is seen teaching the technique of mindfulness, also known as mindfulness
meditation. Mindfulness, according to UC Berkeley, deals with acceptance through
having <q>“our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather
than rehashing the past or imagining the future”</q><citation>("What is
Minfulness?" 1)</citation>. This song is designed to show that these techniques
can help with self-acceptance and forgiveness, which is something that people of all
ages can have trouble with. Through this, for the first time in the episode, the young girl, Connie
begins to accept and acknowledge her own emotions concerning her accidental injury
of another student. The tone of this song is very much that of a mentor trying to
impart an important lesson, with a repetitive structure reminiscent of
repeat-after-me lessons. Despite Connie’s initial panic when confronted with what
she did, with Garnet’s reminder to, once again, <q>“take a moment and ask yourself
if this is how we fall apart”</q><citation>("Mindful Education")</citation>, as
well as her own use of the repeated mantra <q>“but it’s not”</q><citation>("Mindful
Education")</citation>, she begins to calm down and accept her own remorse over
what happened, allowing herself to cry. Only after this strong moment of catharsis
do the swarming, troubling thoughts blow away, signifying that taking the time to
calmly examine your own thoughts can allow you to step back from the edge of panic
and stop yourself from overreacting. This segment visually draws people in and, for
older members of the audience perhaps, asks them to revisit their own similar
experiences and reconsider how they handled it. As a very public piece of media,
there is no surefire way of determining the kinds of uptakes different members of
the audience will make.</bodyPara>
<bodyPara> Even the visual storytelling on screen for the duration of this song suggests
to the audience that the principles of mindfulness meditation aid in self-acceptance
and love.<argument type="supporting"> As "Here Comes a Thought" fits in the genre of
a song in a children's show, many members of the audience likely expect that any
message it attempts to send will be positive. The visual choreography, in
conjunction with the words of the song itself, builds on top of this preexisting
supposition in order to further promote the aforementioned ideas of
mindfulness.</argument> Through the first half of the song, Ruby and Sapphire,
two charcters who physically and mentally
combine to form the mentor, Garnet, are shown struggling with their own troubled
thoughts and emotions. While those problems remain vague and aren’t displayed, it
lends credibility in the eyes of the audience to the practice of mindfulness by
demonstrating that it is something that a cherished and respected authority figure
also uses. By clearly showing that these characters have managed to find greater
peace with themselves and their past actions through mindfulness meditation, the
episode very openly seems to attempt to suggest that it is something that the
audience sitting at home could try, even without blatantly naming the technique. By
demonstrating the methodology of mindfulness meditation and displaying it in a very
positive light, the show attempts to at least create an uptake
involving a positive reaction to the technique and its principles, in the hopes that
doing so may aid audience members.</bodyPara>
<concl>
<p>Although I initially made the assumption that songs from kid’s shows would mostly
be lighthearted and educational, this particular song, in addition to a few of
the others from the same show demonstrate that the two don’t necessarily go hand
in hand. Additionally, this specific show at least, defied another of my
expectations by expanding its audience beyond the realm of just children, and
specifically making a point to include LGBTQ themes. Intended uptakes are also
aimed at the extended audience, not just the core audience that the show, Steven
Universe, is marketed to, kids, which seems to be quite unusual for the
genre. However,
given that I don’t watch that many kid’s shows and listen to songs within them,
it is rather difficult for me to say whether this is the norm or not within the
scene itself.</p>
</concl>
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<title>Works Cited</title>
<listBibl>
<bibl>Estelle, and AJ Michalka. By Rebecca Sugar. Perf. Jeff Ball. Here Comes A
Thought. 2016. MIDI. </bibl>
<bibl>Fuster, Jeremy. "‘Steven Universe’ Creator Rebecca Sugar Talks LGBT Themes and
Season 3." <style type="italics">TheWrap.</style> N.p., 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 5
Oct. 2016.
http://www.thewrap.com/steven-universe-creator-rebecca-sugar-talks-lgbt-themes-teases-season-3/.</bibl>
<bibl>"What Is Mindfulness?" <style type="italics">Greater Good.</style> Ed. Leah
Weiss and Steve Hickman. University of California, Berkeley, n.d. Web. 5 Oct.
2016. http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition. </bibl>
</listBibl>
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