The Localization Strategies of Sesame Street
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Localization Strategies of Sesame Street Sesame Street is an American show designed to educate children through television in order to bridge the educational gap between kids from different economic backgrounds. (Dykstra) It was broadcasted for the first time in 1969, and by 2009 the show was being broadcast in over 120 countries. (Friedman) Sesame Street first appeared in Poland, in the native language in 1996. As a child I grew up with Żółtodziub (Big Bird), Potwór Ciasteczkowy (Cookie Monster), Florek (Grover), and Zosia (Zoe). By the time my sister was born and watching the show in the mid-2000’s Smok Bazyli and Owca Beata, a goofy dragon and his sheep co-star joined the cast. Soon enough, these exclusively local characters stole the show and, in Poland, became as distinctly identifiable with the program, as the Muppets mentioned afore. Poland is no exception; today there are twenty independent, localized versions of the show. This paper will attempt to demonstrate why globalization can be a positive force through analyzing the localization strategies that Sesame Street adopted in order to suit local context outside the United States and most importantly, it will aim to explain the importance of this specific, international approach. The success of Sesame Street is important because it is a pioneer in the education of children who ultimately, are the world’s future. Naturally, for reasons of space it will not be possible to examine all the localized versions of Sesame Street, therefore this paper will concentrate on four countries that best depict the individual cultural impact on the show; Egypt, South Africa, China and Israel. “The Sesame Street approach to its global audience typically involves creating local productions based on the traditions and values of the cultures 2 where they are to be broadcast.” (Dykstra) For each coproduction, characters, settings and the curriculum of the show are created specifically to fit the environments in which they are broadcasted. Some coproductions use classic Sesame Street characters, while others stray further from the original and moderate the entire cast and set. However, to Joan Ganz Cooney, the creator of Sesame Street, the most important part of the show are not the Muppets, teaching the alphabet or how to count, but "the aim is really to foster mutual respect for one another. The show is about warmth and human understanding" (Riechers) which is why, despite minor and major changes present in the different versions of the show, education and tolerance are universally promoted values. However, their depiction can take different forms. For instance, in Egypt, a version of Sesame Street titled Alam Simsam emphasized the significance of gender equality, health and hygiene practices and reinforced environmental messages. (Geoghegan) Here, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch are replaced with Khokha, a bright pink girl-Muppet with big ambitions, and Nimnim, a patient, nature-loving boy-Muppet. “Above all, they are designed to inspire girls, in a country where, according to the United Nations, many living in rural areas still drop out of school as young as eight or nine, and where only just over 2% of MP’s are women.” (Hawley) The series, which literally translates into Sesame's World, has been produced by Karma Productions, an Egyptian company, who collaborated with Sesame Street's original creators at the New York-based Sesame Workshop1. It is funded by the United States through a foreign aid arm called USAid, who together with the Egyptian Government help promote female development. (Hawley) Executive producer, Amr Koura says the 1 Formerly the Children’s Television Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street 3 show tries to challenge the perceptions of gender roles and since, Khokha wants to be someone socially important Alam Simsam tries to teach the viewers that it is acceptable for a girl to have dreams, to go into education and to have a career. (Hawley) Many episodes depict girls partaking in activities that are commonly associated with boys, like, learning to fly. At the same time boys are shown baking cakes or cleaning. “In a country where less than half of the women are literate, television has almost universal reach”, but feminists like Fatma Khafagy of the United nations Children’s Fun, argue that, especially in the Arabic world, it often reinforces stereotypes and that the media still projects images of women that are not entirely positive. (Hawley) Sesame Street in Egypt has made it a mission to change this and it has been depicting women and girls, like Khokha, as strong and equal to men for the past twelve years. Additionally “young people in Egypt watch Sesame Street to a later age than is true in other regions, which means some kind of creative adaptation of an apparently common media experience” (Stearns) further supporting the theory that maintaining cultural independence through a novel approach to a foreign media is possible, and that globalization does not have to be a negative force. While Alam Simsam focuses on social and cultural principles, this is not always the case. Besides teaching about sharing and cooperation, Zhima Jie, the Chinese edition of Sesame Street focuses on national, historical values. Da Niao, who is Big Bird’s cousin and a truck mechanic, as well as several other key characters are all, Chinese. They perform many of the usual Sesame Street activities, like introducing kids to numbers and letters but “Instead of the alphabet they teach the origin and meaning of Chinese characters, they explain the history and customs of certain festivals and they describe certain ancient art 4 forms.” Cooper Wright, the show’s senior producer explains that, “The Chinese want an environment that’s relaxed and fun, that their children can be learning in. They think they have enough formal settings for learning already. But they wanted it to include a lot of their ancient culture. The parents get home late, they all work, and they don’t have time to teach their children this, so they feel the show will help with that.” (Zwingle) In China, education through TV is exceptionally significant. The ‘one-child’ policy that was enforced for decades produced millions of only children who no longer live in large families that once encouraged such behaviors. (Zwingle) As the world dove into the 21st century, kids gained easy access to a plurality of digital and traditional sources. With such a tool at hand and increasingly absent parents 2 , they began to reach out beyond their parents and immediate environment for information. TV is a vital instrument of this modern, digital world and programs such as Sesame Street can substantially resonate with children who are sitting at home alone. Additionally Professor Li Ji Mei, who designed part of the show’s curriculum, explains that, “We want to concentrate on reflecting Chinese families, such as what children could do to show their respect for the family. Another important part of the program is to make children realize how much their parents do for their well-being.” (Zwingle) In some countries, the lessons provided by the program are even more profound than in the examples mentioned thus far. “Another new venture, one of the most ambitious yet, is a joint Israeli/Palestinian effort called Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim”. (Raugust) It was first aired in April of 1999 on Israel 2 China’s employment rate of mother’s aged 25 to 34 with children under the age of 6 is 72.0% (catalyst) 5 Educational Television and Al-Quds Educational Television. The series was made up of 60-episode series and included scenes from two separate streets, one representative of each culture, with its own Muppets and actors. The episodes included several crossover sequences, where both Muppets and human characters from each street visit each other, do things together and are incorporated into each show in order to depict cultural similarities and promote cross-cultural friendships. (Raugust) The education impact of Sesame Street and its local adaptation is not purely hypothetical. A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Development examined children’s judgments about others within the context of the Middle Eastern conflict. The study had two primary objectives; the first was to define: the state of children’s stereotypes of the other culture, their knowledge about the everyday lives of people from the other culture, their application of moral judgments in regards to inter-group, peer conflicts, and their knowledge of cultural symbols. The second goal was to evaluate the effect of Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim on children with respect to the aspects mentioned above. (Cole) The data revealed that children in the region of the Middle East, as young as 4 years old, held negative stereotypes about the other culture. Moreover, Palestinian children were more likely to attribute negative characteristics to Jews. The study provided proof that children as young as preschool age make negative attributions about others based on stereotypes. Their descriptions seem to reflect the political turmoil and weak relationship between Israel and Palestine. Multiple Palestinian children described Israeli’s as ‘wanting to put us in jail’ and ‘shoots at us’. Jewish children’s descriptions of Arabs were not as 6 negative, however, Jewish children also used some discouraging stereotypes, which appeared to reflect the disorder in the region. For example, Israeli children described Arabs as ‘people who want to take our land’ and ‘terrorists’. (Cole) Though after 4 months of exposure to Rechov Sumsum/Shara'a Simsim, only Israeli children displayed a change in their response pattern regarding their knowledge of cultural similarities, it was a significant change nonetheless. Especially boys showed an increase in the use of the word ‘both’.