Brief Factual Information
Title: Arthur
Production Company: PBS Kids
Showing/Air Dates: 1996-today
Title: Arthur
Production Company: PBS Kids
Showing/Air Dates: 1996-today
Prompts
Targeted Age Group: TV-Y (meaning it is appropriate for all age groups but best for ages 2-6) Type of Show: - Animated: the characters are all cartoon animals acting as people (working, playing sports, going to school, hanging out with friends, etc.). - Family: with a TV-Y rating it is appropriate for all members of you family. Also the show focuses on the Read family (Arthur, his mom, his dad and sister DW). It shows a stereotypical "normal" family. - Comedy: while the show addresses some serious topics (family relationships, education, diversity) it is not meant to be all serious. The tone is upbeat, light and fun for kids. - Educational: this show promotes reading and the idea that reading is fun. In every episode Arthur and at least one other character is shown enjoying reading. Even Arthur's first name is a play on the word "author" and last name is Read (instead of the common last name Reed). Style of Show: animated cartoon There are no real people, each character is an animal (aardvark, bunny, bulldog, monkey) personifying human traits and actions. Also, each character is not meant to look like a real animal (they wear glasses, clothes, stand up, etc). Title Sequence: - Introduction to characters: You first meet Arthur and his dog walking down the street. You come to find out that he is actually moving through the pages of a comic book that his sister is looking at. The flipping of the pages continue to reveal pictures of Arthur's friends, classmates, and family. You don't get names but because their images are in the theme song you know they are important. - Lyrics: "Everyday when your walking down the street, and everybody that you meet has an original point of view" (emphasis on originality and that it is okay to be different from others). "And I say 'Hey!' (hey) what a wonderful kind of day (day) where we can learn to work and play and get along with each other" (rhyming, repeated multiple times in the song, promotes viewers to sing-a-long and yell back hey!, emphasis on work and play (school and fun) and get along with others). - Images: the opening theme shows Arthur, his family, and his friends doing everyday kid things that almost all kids can relate to which will draw them into the show and gain their attention (riding bikes, walking the dog, reading, watching TV, going to the park). Soundtrack: - Genre/Style: the opening theme is the only true song in most episodes. It is in the category of children's music but has a reggae feel and beat which makes it catchy. - Other music: there is music and sound affects in each episode that help play with emotion. For example if the music is slower you know the scene either dramatic, or sad, or upsetting. Or if the music is more fast paced and up beat something exciting is about to happen. Plot Sequence: -Episode: Molina's Mulligan - Beginning: Alberto Molina helps soccer team win the big championship game. His father is very happy and is glueing newspaper articles about it in a scrapbook. Alberto goes to meet Arthur for a run and they meet up with Muffy and her brother Chip playing golf. They invite Alberto and Arthur to try it out. Alberto is really good so Chip challenges him to play a round. Arthur is going to be the caddy and stays up late reading about it (emphasis on reading and how there are books on everything). -Middle: The next day Alberto and Arthur are going to go practice. Mr. Molina wants to come with. Alberto is embarrassed by this like most kids would be and won't let him come. Arthur agrees that it is embarrassing but also thinks that it is nice his dad is so proud (different perspectives). The following day the boys go to the course for the round of golf against Chip. Mr. Molina comes to and had shirts made in support of Alberto. Alberto is really embarrassed by this. While playing Mr. Molina yells not only words of encouragement but also makes fun of Chip. This makes Alberto so angry he quits. Later that day Mr. Molina tells Alberto that his scores qualified him to play in the Junior Championship. Alberto does not want to do it, Mr. Molina knows Alberto is angry with him so he says he won't go. - Ending: It is the day of the Championship and Alberto is doing poorly bc he feels guilty that he hurt his dad's feelings (problems and consequences, everyone has feelings). Arthur sees this and calls Mr. Molina to come. Alberto then wins and he and his dad make up! | -Moral of the story: Mulligan (from the title) is a golf term that means do over. Everyone needs a do over and a chance to change their behavior. Characters and Descriptions: -Arthur: young boy, aardvark, main character of the show -Read family: Arthur's family, stereotypical family (mom, dad, brother, sister) -Alberto Molina: even though it is not stated he is a hispanic character (name, accent), very talented athlete, friend of Arthur -Mr. Molina: also hispanic, Alberto's "papi" overly involved in his son's sports, not shown to be married (Alberto's mother is not in the show) -Muffy and Chip: brother and sister, Muffy a friend of Arthur, Chip is older, rich kids (stereotypically stuck up) Repetition of any elements: almost every episode of Arthur follows the format of Arthur hanging out with his friends and family then a problem or new situation happens. He will then seek his parents or a book for help/information. In the end the characters are able to solve the problem. But in the episode the only repeating element was that Alberto is very good at sports and always wins. Transitions: The show makes it clear there is going to be a new scene or new day by showing a uniquely patterned screen with a variety of shapes and colors. This makes it very clear something new is going to happen. After the pattern screen is shown the characters are then in a new setting. Use of color: The colors are not just bright primary colors so it is not for new borns (they can really only see primary colors). There is a variety of colors and shades of the colors. Each of the characters are shades of browns like their animals would be in nature, but tend to wear the same color of clothes always (to help children identify them). For example Arthur is always in yellow. Critique: - Stereotypes of Race: Arthur and his family would be the white family. They seem to come from the middle/working class. The family has two parents who are of opposite genders. This family would be the family most viewers would identify with. On the other hand Alberto comes from a single parent family and he is hispanic. The stereotype of hispanic people being good at soccer is shown in this episode because Alberto is the reason his team won the big championship game. - Stereotypes of Gender: In the episode the boys are the only ones playing sports. (In other episodes the character Francine is seen as a tomboy, but she is not in this episode.) Stereotypes of gender and sports is that sports are mostly for boys and that is evident in the episode. - Stereotypes of Class: Muffy and Chip come from a rich family. They are rich because of their father which fits the stereotype of men bringing home the money. They are the ones who get the other characters interested in golf and they belong to a country club which is seen as a rich person thing in our society. They would seem to be the one's living "the good life" because of all their resources and opportunities. Alberto and his father are the ones having problems and conflict with each other so they would not be necessarily living the "good life". - Techniques you could borrow for your own classroom or working with children in general: The concept of bringing in interests of students into lessons. In this episode they taught the idea of forgiving and getting a do over by using the term "mulligan". You could easily use interests of your students to teach important concepts and lessons. For example in math make word problems that involve the students interests (if Jimmy makes three free throws and Alice makes two three pointers how many points did they score all together. Overall when working with children you must be very aware about their feelings. In this episode Alberto was having negative feelings towards his father and in the end they were able to work them out. So you need to be observant about what the child is feeling incase you need to fix a problem. Other evaluations: Arthur and his friends are always seen by themselves they go various places with no adult supervision. They are only 8 years old and appear to be more independent than is appropriate for their age. It might come off as unappealing to parents, especially protective ones. |
Arthur Theme Song
More information about the show (imdb.com)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169414/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169414/
PBS Kids website (full episodes, clips, games, parental information)
http://pbskids.org/arthur/index.html
http://pbskids.org/arthur/index.html