>>REVIEW
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET
Arusha’s Action Film Series
DIRECTED BY Linda Goldstein Knowlton and Linda Hawkins Costigan
Wednesday, January 24
Uptown Screen
Sunny day, wishing the clouds away, on our way to where the air is clean… can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street
The opening scene is desolate, desperate and heartbreaking. Young children with tattered clothes, dirty bodies and no shoes collect murky water from a dirty river to take to their slum. Once inside though, the children turn on their 10-inch television set to the children’s program Sesame Street and their dirt speckled faces light up with sheer glee. Little do they know, they aren’t just watching television, they are learning.
The documentary, The World According to Sesame Street, delves into the influence of the long-running show and its 20 or so international productions. Sesame Street was first pitched in 1968 as a way to give poor children a chance to be as prepared for school as their middle-class peers. The urban setting was a change from the usual "magic room" or suburban setting of children’s programs and since its inception, Sesame Street has been completely racially integrated. The show has always been a pioneer among shows in its genre, using media as a means to help children reach their highest potential. The success of Sesame Street is really that it is an educational means to teach children that learning can be fun.
The documentary focuses specifically on co-productions in South Africa, Bangladesh and Kosovo. For each new country the show is produced in, an indigenous set of criteria is used to portray the child’s environmental reality. These shows are never replicas of the American Sesame Street. New and different characters, sets, predicaments and environments are used to match the culture and issues of each country.
They also tackle some tough issues. On the South African show, an HIV-positive muppet named Kami, who lost her mother to AIDS, was introduced as a tool to teach kids about the disease, and has since become a national phenomenon. The film sees politics getting in the way in Bangladesh, as a terrorist attack threatens to halt production of their show "Sisimpur." In Kosovo, Serbians and Albanians vie to come together to produce their version of the children’s show, but are still feeling the pain and distress of their recent troubles.
The documentary reminds us all of the power of education as Sesame Street, in every country it’s watched, strives to teach children the universal values of learning, tolerance and love. If only the parents would listen as well as their kids do.
The World According to Sesame Street is a one-time-only screening as part of Arusha’s Action Film Series. The screening will take place on Wednesday, January 24 at the Uptown Screen. |
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