There are a lot of studies that make you wonder what could be done with any type of information it provides. The National Institute of Health (NIH) paid $400,000 for a study to find out what kids think of fat movie characters? Huh? (Sarcasm Alert) I suppose this is very important information. If movies show more skinny people or people eating vegetables or maybe even people refusing to eat junk food all of the world's problems will simply go away. Maybe a study should be done to find out why the NIH worries about what kids think of fat people in movies. That would be the type of study I could support.
Below are excerpts from the story in bold. My valuable insights are in italics.
The researchers have concluded that children's movies are confusing because they make fun of fat characters, while also promoting unhealthy behaviors like drinking soda and watching television.
Yeah, we should have movies like “Vegetable Eating Man” or “Playing Outside Woman.” (Sarcasm alert) The last thing you want to have happen is for kids to watch a movie based on what actually happens in the world. Such things could lead to them acknowledging reality and only bad things can occur if that happens. We should also take responsibility for a child's behavior away from their parents. It's important to blame their behavior on what they see in movies. I wonder if a child wins an academic award, they take time to thank the movies they watched?
"Children receive cultural messages about appropriate eating, exercise, and attitudes from a variety of influences, likely including family, friends, schools, religious institutions, and electronic culture (television, movies, and video games)..."One important source of culture in the world for children is children's movies."
Yeah, I mean that's why we take kids to the movies. (Sarcasm alert) Forget any idea of entertaining kids and providing a way for them to have fun. We must also provide stories that show proper exercising, the right foods to eat, the best ways to treat friends and behave in school. I'm certain the fascists of the 1930s and the communists had this exact same concern. I doubt they paid half a million dollars for a study to discover it. They were an evil group that was kind of on the cheap side. Can you imagine a producer for a famous movie like "The Ten Commandments" telling Charlton Heston “Ah, great movie Chuck, lots of good action scenes, good morals in the story but your characters just didn't eat enough vegetables. You need to work in a few scenes where they eat the right foods. I mean kids will also be watching this movie.”
"Children have access to many movies and the ability to view them over and over again, contributing to significant daily exposure, more for children from minority backgrounds," it said. "These movies provide cues to normative behavior and experiences widely shared among similar-age children nationally and even worldwide."
Oh, this makes about as much sense as a Mack Truck with a kickstand. Are they trying to say minority children watch more movies than other children? Are they implying that minority children are more easily influenced by movies than other children? Is it possible that mentioning minority children is a good way to get paid $400,000 of taxpayer money to do such a study? Maybe there should be a study about why researchers get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to watch children's movies and provide information that can easily be supplied by any dedicated parent? Now there is another study I could support.
Here is a link to the story
Story on NIH study
