So where are the realistic animal portrayals on Sesame Street? I know tremendous thought goes into character development for the show. There is a tradition of hiring child psychologists to fill senior positions. Rosemarie Truglio, for example, is the vice president of education and research for Sesame Workshop. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology from the University of Kansas.
Studies conducted by such psychologists and other human behavior experts reveal that children respond very differently to multimedia than adults do. Color and music, for example, gain greater importance when verbal skills are still developing. University of Queensland psychologist Gabrielle Simcock studied how kids learn after looking through black and white, as well as color, picture books. When the kids viewed life-like color pictures, they were more engaged and took in greater information.
The emphasis on music and color could then help to explain the emergence of Barney, a singing, purple pseudo dinosaur that has his own show. But why not have a more realistic dinosaur creation? The psychologists might argue that fantasy characters stimulate the imagination of children. Unicorns, "Puff the Magic Dragon," and "Ollie" of Kukla, Fran and Ollie provide some early examples.
These characters, however, also provide an inaccurate view of animals at a life stage when children are absorbing information that will stay with them for years to come. Don't believe me? Think of your worst grade school teacher and something that he or she did to humiliate you. Now try to remember what you had for dinner last Monday.
Here are just a few popular characters from Sesame Street and the animals that may have inspired them:
Alice and Snuffy Snuffleupagus- mammoth
Baby Bear and Family- more teddy than bear
Big Bird- an 8'2" canary?
Buster- horse
Cookie Monster- human adult
Dorothy- goldfish
Elmo- human child
Grover- shy human adult male
Honkers- horned mammals
Hoots- owl
Kermit- frog + human
(Image: tyom)
Leonard- wolf
Little Bird- canary
Miami Mice- rodents
Oscar Hidalgo- Latin human
Poco Loco- parrot
Rosita- fruit bat
Slimey- worm
Stevie- elephant
I enjoy and appreciate these fantasy characters, which encourage creative thinking in kids. But I hope Sesame Street and other shows will toss in a more realistic animal character now and then, presenting that individual in a positive light. (Unlike "the Big Bad Wolf" and numerous violent fairy tale animals from years ago.)
At least some real swans and almost-believable "spooky spiders" made it into the below vintage Sesame Street clip from the show's first season. I can't recall much about what I did last weekend, but I remember this clip like it was yesterday. Sesame Street was part of my childhood, and probably yours too.
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