Fun Song Factory: Birthdays (1998)

Fun Song Factory is a TV series (originally filmed live) where children sing songs in the factory operated by Ozzie, a big yellow dog, and his friends Hooter the green factory hooter, Fred the orange alien, Sally the cat, and his human friends. The episode 'Birthdays' was aired in 1998, in which Fred celebrates his birthday at the factory. On his home planet he marks the day by sleeping: whenever he tries to take a nap during the episode, the children wake him up to play games and sing songs. Eventually he stays awake and enjoys watching a clown and blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, and the episode ends with everybody playing Fred's favourite game, Sleeping Bunnies.

What a wonderful thing, to have friends to celebrate your birthday with you. Why would you want to waste the day sleeping, when you could be having fun? Supposed moral of the story: birthdays are fun! What a shame that this accompanies such a sad message of not accepting others' traditions.

I've not seen many episodes of Fun Song Factory, so I don't know if it's ever explained when and why Fred came to our planet. I'm assuming that as the only alien in the factory, he doesn't have alien friends on Earth. The culture that he lives in now is that of the factory: with no other aliens around, I imagine that he doesn't have much opportunity to engage with his home culture. On his birthday, the one day a year that as a child you have more freedom to do what you want, he chooses to sleep. The children and adults don't accept this - he must conform to what we on Earth to celebrate. One of the few things that Fred tries to keep from his culture is taken away from him with no compassion or attempt to understand - and this is shown as a good thing to viewers.

Positive message: Celebrating your birthday with friends is awesome!
Negative messages: Immigrants must conform to our standards, they must let go of their traditions from their home country, and we must push our own culture on them with no tolerance or understanding of their feelings.

Little White Bull (1959)

Little White Bull is a song which (I've just learned) comes from the 1959 film 'Tommy the Toreador'. The song is about, guess what, a little white bull. On account of being white, he is not allowed to fight in the bullring, and is called a coward by the other bulls: only black bulls fight. He complains to his mother and asks if he'll ever turn black, to which she tells him that he's special and to stop asking why he isn't black. One day he charges into town, and the people find him charming. He continues charging into the bullring, and goes toward the toreador. The crowd laugh delightedly, and the toreador announces that this little bull is brave and will be the best in Spain.

I've not seen the film, so I don't know the context of this song. I imagine that it's message is that the one who is bullied for being different can be special and accepted by the right group. The message I gained from this song can be summed up in one word: racism.

Let me explain. The black bulls are the only ones who fight: white bulls would never do such a thing. Black bulls bully and insult weaker bulls. On seeing a white bull, the townspeople instantly love him and adopt him as their own: would they do this to a black bull? When the toreador sees the white bull, he immediately praises him and announces that he will be the best in the country, without seeing much of his ability. Job performance is therefore based in this song on race, not on ability. Negative message #1: White = superior.

The white bull's mother scolds him for asking why he's not black. Is she trying to hide the paternity of her child? Is she ashamed of having fathered a child with somebody outside of her race, as is implied? Should each race mate with just their own kind? Negative message #2: It's shameful to mate outside of your own race. Children shouldn't ask after their missing father.

Positive message: The one who you expect the least from can be the best.
Negative messages: Race is the only thing that matters in terms of being liked and for job performance, black characters are bullies, white characters are never violent, mixed-race relationships are wrong, and never ask who your father is.

Follow That Bird (1985)

Follow That Bird is a 1985 Sesame Street film. The film opens with the Feathered Friends Society, an organisation dedicated to find homes for stray birds, considering the case of Big Bird, the 8-foot 6 year old yellow bird. The head of the Board of Birds, Miss Finch, finds Big Bird on Sesame Street and tells him that since he lives all alone with no other birds, and birds of course need to be with their own kind, he should agree to be adopted by a bird family. Big Bird is reluctant to leave his friends on Sesame Street, but eventually agrees to live with the Dodos in another state. He feels unhappy there and runs away back to Sesame Street. His friends discover this on the news, and the rest of the film involves the Sesame Street characters travelling cross-country to find Big Bird before Miss Finch does.

The objective of this film is to show that it's love that makes a family, not what we are - birds, humans, monsters and even grouches can help each other and live together happily.  A lovely anti-racism message, certainly. Sadly, the film also presents harmful messages to its young viewers, which I will now explore.

The opening scene establishes that the Board of Birds acts as the social services department for birds, with Miss Finch as a key social worker. Her job is to find young birds who live alone and rehome them. Big Bird is a 6 year old with no parents in sight, his Granny Bird is not mentioned in the film, and he lives alone in his nest with no legal guardians or caretakers - understandably, Miss Finch considers him an urgent case. When he arrives at the Dodos', he is immediately given their surname and treated as they treat their biological son. Their methods of parenting may be questionable, but they clearly do welcome him and wish to make him their own child - a logical match on Miss Finch's part. When Big Bird runs away, Miss Finch is interviewed by the local news - she defends her choice to place Big Bird (justified - she didn't know that he felt unhappy with the Dodos), and states that she will travel across the country to find Big Bird and bring him back to the Dodos. A dedicated social worker wanting the best for her young charge, however from this point she is treated as a villain by the Sesame Street characters. The negative treatment of Miss Finch reinforces to children that what she represents is evil - not just racist ideas, but the idea of social services removing Big Bird from Sesame Street. What does this say? If we were to read about a young orphaned child living alone, we'd complain that social services should have acted sooner. Here they acted - Miss Finch assessed  his poor living conditions and found him guardians who she believed would take good care of him. She ensured that he'd be in a family where he'd be fed and have shelter, where he'd be treated as a family member, where he'd learn morals. When he runs away, she resolves to search for him herself - she takes responsibility for his welfare, actively searching for him before he can come to any harm wandering by himself, and hopes to return him to the home where he'd been placed. At the end of the film, she listens to Big Bird and takes his concerns and wishes into account - if she had found Big Bird and returned him to the Dodos, she almost certainly would have stayed to ask him why he ran away, and to talk over what he wants to happen now. Instead, the message that social services take kids away from happy homes is given - a belief that unfortunately many people hold today - and that kids who are in danger or have run away should hide from them. Negative message #1.

When Big Bird runs away, he asks for a lift from a truck driver, who agrees. Firstly, this suggests that it's fine to talk to strangers and to get into a vehicle with them. Secondly, when the driver realises who Big Bird is, he continues to drive him further on his way without notifying the authorities. This shows that it's okay for strangers to harbour a missing child - in fact, that this helps said child - and that it's fine for adults to drive off and leave a 6 year old with no sense of direction alone in the middle of the countryside, knowing that they're at least 3 weeks' walk from their destination. Negative message #2: A stranger taking a missing child in their vehicle, not notifying police or social services, and abandoning said child miles from home is really useful.

After Big Bird is dropped off by the truck driver, he finds a farm. There he meets two children - on telling them who he is, they agree that he can sleep in their barn. What I learned from this: if a child meets a stranger, it's absolutely fine to invite them to sleep at your house (well, in your barn). Secondly, if you find a missing child, you should keep them in your house without telling an adult. The children help Big Bird to hide in a haystack when Miss Finch finds them, and they tell her that they don't know where he went. The children's actions emphasise the message that social services are to be avoided at all costs, even if that means leaving another child to fend for themselves with no friends or family nearby.

Positive message: Don't be racist.
Negative messages: Social services are evil, social workers are evil, taking lifts from strangers is great, being abandoned in the middle of nowhere by strangers is great, don't tell the police if you find a missing child, inviting strangers into your house without telling your parents is being helpful, and hide children who are in danger from social services at all costs.