Essay, Quiz 2 - Artist

   We watched Artist in class on October 8th. The reading was "Children's Media II: Politics of Media." In Artist we have a girl of about twelve, her brother, and the father. If each character is assigned a role, there is a decent allegory of the political battle in children's media. The girl is the media artist. She sees and hears the world in a different and exciting way and wants to share it using the most basic of tools. Her brother is the child. He can almost see, but is afraid to because of the father. He would represent "most TV reform groups" (Changing Television: Why the Right Does It Wrong). She persists, however, and eventually her brother is bold enough to take the father outside and show what a beautiful thing her music really is. That is when the father stops hearing just noise. I chose this film mostly because it reminded me of my youngest sister, who always hears the music and rarely the politics. Attaching politics to children's media is just as treacherous as keeping it out. Telling kids there is no music is just as risky as telling them it's everywhere.