Ellison - Whats Up Doc

CHAPTER
15
3s3
The Media: lmage and Reality
OUTRAGE, THAT'S WHAT
Pulitzer Prize-winning former foreign correspondent for Knight-Ridder Newspapers,
(atherine Ellison is the author of four nonfiction bool<s, incluciing The Mommy Brain:
-row Motherhood Makes lJs Smarter (2005) and Btzz: A Year of Paying Attention
2010). Her reaction to violent lnternet cartoons appeared on October 23,2005,in
-.',e Washington Post.
-
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The other day I found my 5-year-o d so- .',,atchrng an lnternet cartoon
:alled "Happy Tree Friends."
Purple daisies danced, high-pitched vc.:: s3-g and animals with heartshaped noses waved cheerily. But therr tl-e ^-,.s: cl"anged, and a previously
-rrerry green bear, wearing dog tags anc c3--l-j3Ee, suffered an apparent
-
sychotic breakdown.
Crrrrrack!!went the neck of a purp,e ct.rJ3" :s the bear snapped off its
-ead. Blood splashed and continued f o',i'''tr :-::-:3ear gleefully garroted a
^edgehog, then finished off a whimper ng s.-. ". a'eady impaled on metal
.cikes by placing a hand grenade in its pa"'
Joshua turnld to me with a sheepish c'-. -. ::arLy had a sense that
'ave known what I was
..,,asn,t huppy about his new friends, but he ..-.':
I
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A COLLECTION OF READINGS
journalistw.ho reveres the First
really thinking. Which was this: l,m a longtime
I
of Marin County' Yet
Amendment, and t-iiu" in California's liberal bastion
right-wing fundamentalwould readily skip mf next yoga class to march with
Friends'"
Tree
"Happy
ists in a cultural war against
electronic enemies were-the
s Just when parenir'tnought *. kn"* who our
fats, the pedophile e-mail
trans
hawking
Tvs
shoot_,em_up ua.o fr*Llithe
new swamp-thing mass
this
tomet
sites-here
stalkers and teenage_lboobsweb
,,Flash cartoon,,, pared down
shock value. lts
Jo Pu.re
entertainment: the lnternet
lts faux
li" irn"d to the Teletu'bbies set--that's its "joke"'
music and
pure
comeis
,,Cartoon
Babies,,
Big
"ni*"tion
or
Children
Small
for
Violence: Not
warning,
reinforcag-ain,
over
and
over
watch
to
easy
itt
on-for those who can read. And
particularly harmful to young
lng its empathy-dulling impaa..That.makes it
me' because children are
psyches, UCLa n"uroii"niitt Marco lacoboni told
promptedtocopy*n*.n"ysee-especiallywhattheyseeove.randoveragain.
and.desensitized; you're primed' facilitated'
"Not only ao you'g"i
"*potta
whose expertise in the brain
almost invited to aa-that way," maintains lacoboni,
of media mayhem'
critic
outspoken
Jy""ri.t of imitation makes him an
sneak under the radar of
to
tailor-made
* "Happy Tree iti""Jl; 'fpears
are somehow
filter
blocking software t*hl.f' can't
.images)' Ynl"tt..P"l:nts
it in advance'
ban
specifically
and
site
the
io kno* about
lnternet-savry
up with my
caught
"norgn
that
contagion
viral
of
And it,s certainly ,uia"a tot the kind
first saw it
who
brother,
9-year-old.
his
from
6-year old, *no't"rrnlJ of the site
counselor'
camp
over the shoulder of a teenage summer
y But the bottom line is, iryell, the bottom line. ln its web-cartoontoclass,
big
"Happy Tree Friends" is a humongous moneymaker' as irresistible
million
15
drawing
was
site
the
count,
i-ast
advertisers as it is to Z-year-olds. At
uniqueviewersamonth,reaping$30o,o0oormoreinadsforeachnewepi.
lt recently ,n"gg"d a plaJe on cable TV' while spawning DVDs' trade'
sode.
gamel
mark mints, t-shirts and, inevitably, a planned video
the hilarious "This Lano
with
moment
s Intern"* ."r,oo* had their defining
lsYourLand,,2004election-yearparody,featuringG'egrgeW.Bushcalling
job" to
a "right-wing nut
John K"rry a "liberal wiener" "nd t<""y ialling Bush
Web ad industrl
beaten-down
the
then,
the famous WooafCrthrie tune. By
burgeoning new
thanks.to
recovery,
was already startiig to ride a dramatic
connechigh-speed
high-quality,
of
content and the in".r.uring prevalence
such
also
material-and
interesting
tions. The trend has brougiht some truly
yot'
inviting
another
and
strife"
&
"Go.nads
,"r.g" fare as the graphic-cartoon
by
feature
Bush-Kerry
socket..T.he
light
a gerbil in a
io ,"!""t"ary
novn
Friends"'
Tree
"r".io.ute
"Happy
ever'
some repora, *u, *" most [opula' t"'toon
the most lucrative.
in its fifth, most successful, yeai t2o05l may well be
every episode, the cute
plan.
1n
q lts narrative i, pri*itir. ", itt businlss
",
happens to them, either
awful
introJuced, after which something
creatures
bear' The wordles
"r"
piychopathic
the
by gruesome accident, or at the paws of
remarkably eff*
already
an
content appeals io-" gfoUrf audience, enhancing
each ep;before
ad
running
a
cient delivery ,y** ior advertising. There's
cartoons'
the
sode, while b"nn"rt flash below and beside
i:
!i
li
CHAPTER
15
355
The Media: lmage and Reality
againstto
The show itself reportedly began as a potential ad-ironically,
up
came
Navarro
media violence according to Kenn Navarro, its co-creator'
com*iin in" idea while desijning an eight-second spot f9r a.n -educational
years of extenpurv, a" ltLrir"t" what ki'ds ioutdn;tbe watching. lndeed, 30
violent
increased
,iu"'i"r""r.h underscores the link between TV violence and
that of
than
larger
behavior among viewers. One study equates the impact as
to
society
our
moved
asbestos exposure to cancer-a health risk that certainly
John
Producer
;;..-i;; if telling that to "Happy Tree Friends" Executive
CEO of Mondo Media in San Francisco'
Evershed,
_
_
told me dur-rt
Evershed, the father of three children, the youngest aged.2,
ingaphoneconversationthathewouldn'tletthemwatch"HappyTree
"lt's like
that the cartoon wasn't really harmful.
Friends.,, But then r,"
"rgr"d
iTo, & Jerry,"'he said. i gr."* up on 'Tom & Jerry' and I don't think l'm parlarly ag gressive. "
ticu
---Orir#ive?
speak forta
my chilon
impa,ct
Evershed on this point'but I certainly do worry aboutthe.
,,Tom & Jeiry," I know "Tom & Jerry," and this is no "Tom & Jerry."
dren. As for
,,Tom & Jerry,,neuer pulled knives or tore heads off or used someone's intestines to strangle a third party, just for starters'
,,Tom & Jerry,,"tso'n"i.i"ativity, with surprising plot twists and a richly*
Routinely'
emotive score. Most importantly, "Tom & Jerry" had a conscience'
evoluhuman
of
io, ,tt".L, Jerry and is'iunlshed for his aggression. ln terms
Friends"'whose
tion, the 1940s classic is light-years ahead-of "Happy Tree
a.s saying, "lf we are in
quoted
been
have
Rhode-Montijo,
fV"rarro and
"rin"ir,
and end up laughing at the death scene' then
room brainstorming
AGGRESSTVE? Much as
a
it's all good!
l'd like to, I can't fairly
"pisod"t
in and ban this t*
Mad as I am, l'm actually not suggesting that the feds step
government cenbasic freedo, of th" lnternet is too precious, and
rules-restrictions
t;r;ilp too risky and probably not even feasible. The currenthave
to do'
Web-will
the
on
goes
anything
but
on the major airwaves,
"Happy Tree rs
made
who've
advertisers
mainstream
big
But what about the
the cartoon, to see
Friends,, such a wild succe-ss? I was startled, while watching
(which has
banner ads for companies including Toyota and Kaiser Permanente
,,Thrive.7 Thrive, indeed!). consumers ought to becampaign t6ef carr
in the face of
able to raise a stink, ihreaten a reputation, even wage boycotts
."noin. in"
; ;J
of being
,u.h irr"rponsibility. But many Internet ads enjoy the 9sc1g9,clause
san
Kaiser's
random and ephemeral, as I found out when I called Hilary weber,
even
couldn't
she
said
weber
marketing.
lnternet
Francisco-based head of
appeared'
had
ad
confirm that her company's
,,1
lot of research" t6
can,t replicate it,,, ,h" said, adding that it would "take a
to establish whether Kaiser indeed had purchased such an ad. That, she
explained,isbecauseKaiser,likemanyotherbigcorporations'buysbulkads
over where the
thiough third pirties-saving money, yet relinquishing control
ads end up.
and planned to
Weber said she was concerned about Kaiser's reputation
investigatefurther,yetdeclinedtotellmethenamesofthethird.party
lr
356
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A COLLECTION OF READINGS
companies placing the firm's ads. so I then turned to Mika salmi, CEO of
Atom Shock*rr", *hi.h manages the ads on "Happy Tree Friends'" Salmi, on
his cell phone, said he couldn't, with confidence, name the third-party companies wiih whom he contracts, though he thought one "might" be Advertising.
com. But when I contacted Lisa Jacobson, Advertising.com's spokeswoman,
she declined to name advertisers not already listed on her firm's Web page.
,,we actually don,t think we're the best fit for this piece," Jacobson wrote me
by e-mail. ;You'll probably need to speak with companies like Kaiser and
Toyota directly. But thanks for thinking of us . . '"
1E ln our brief telephone conversation, Evershed told me he thinks parents
have the ultimate responsibility to shield their kids from media violence. ln the
abstract, I certainly agree with that, but I admit I sometimes wonder if l'm
actually doing my kids a disservice by spending so much time and energy
chasing them offihe lnternet, while coaching them in empathy, manners and
the Golden Rule. Because if most of their Peers, who lack the luxury of moms
with time to meddle, are gorging on "Happy Tree Friends," it would probably
serve them better to be triined to defend themselves with firearms and karate.
1e Still, for now at least, I refuse to be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude
of what society expects from parents, with so little support in return'
z& So l'd like to offer just two public suggestions. Why can't summer camps
and afterschool programs more closely supervise lnternet use? And why can't
Kaiser and othei big companies start crafting contracts that specifically stipulate that their ads n"u"r, ever end up on sites like "Happy Tree Friends"?
21 Meanwhile, l'm talking to other parents because the first step in this peaceful war is to realize we're not alone. Together, we may even manage to subvert
our culture! embrace of shock for shock's sake, one gory excess at a time.
Source: From The Washington Posf, October 23, 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author'
OI.'ESfiOruS FOR READING
4.
"Huppy Tiee Friends" is Ellison's primary example; what is her subject?
\A/hat is the problem with "Happy Tree Friends"? How does it differ from "Tom
&Jerry"?
How did the author's 6-year-old discover the cartoon?
\Alhat did the author's research reveal about the website's advertisers?
5.
\A/hat suggestions for change does Ellison propose?
1.
2.
J.
OUESNSEIS FOR REASSNIhIG A[\ID ANALYSIS
6.
7.
8.
What does Ellison not want to happen to the Internet? \A/hy?
\Atrhat is
her claim?
In paragraph 18, Ellison writes that her sons might be better off with "firearms
and karate" than encouragement in empathy and the Golden Rule. Does she
really mean this? \A/hy does she write it?