Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis. Okay, this hexameter is bourgeois swagger, but it fits the topic: 25 years of “Teletubbies”. Because this type of television, which BBC Two first broadcast on March 31, 1997, immediately raised a debate as to whether this pastime should be for the very young. From today’s perspective, the excitement at the time seems almost anachronistic, the “Teletubbies” have prevailed, even more, the international success was overwhelming.
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If the audience in 2022, especially families in front of the television in 2022, is relaxed or relatively relaxed about the format, this shows on the one hand that the assumed threat to the generation that is already grown up has not materialized, and on the other hand that in the sea of current media offerings the “Teletubbies” are just are just a drop. So: Times change and we change with them, because of them, because of that.
Snuggle balls with antennas
The “Teletubbies” are Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, four smooches with big smiles on their faces, big ears, antennae on their heads, screens on their stomachs and in a fabulously good mood. They hop, tumble and run through a colorful picture book landscape, the processes are often repeated, individual scenes were deliberately drawn out to give children time to process what they saw.
The “Teletubbies” don’t say anything, they babble, their welcome song comes and goes with the catchy sound “Ah-Oh”, the finale is “Winke, Winke”.
In all honesty, Adult Teletubbies was dead boring from the get-go, giving it the time and opportunity to become seriously concerned about the welfare of the child. In Germany, where the format came to ARD/ZDF’s Kika two years after the BBC started, but also elsewhere, concerns were particularly directed at baby talk. Doesn’t that hinder the language development of the youngest?
No negative effects
These concerns were unfounded, said Sonia Livingstone, social psychologist at the London School of Economics, the dpa. “The producers did a lot of research into child development and early childhood education to make the content educational and useful.” Livingstone says that the frequent repetition and long response times of the dialogue are particularly beneficial for young children. Adults shouldn’t judge themselves by believing that two-year-olds learn new words the same way they do, the researcher said. It is not the words that are said that matter, but the joy of communication and the back and forth of the dialogue. But the scientist also notes that overall there is no scientifically proven benefit for media consumption in children under 18 months, says Livingstone. In their development, programs are always beneficial if they are watched together with others and cause interaction in the real world, for example dancing together or singing the Teletubbie song.
So no benefit, no harm of the series produced from 1997 to 2002 and resumed in 2015? matter of opinion. US television preacher Jerry Falwell identified purple teletubbie Tinky Winky as gay and a danger to healthy child sexual development because of his red purse and triangular antennae. Do preschoolers have any idea what is heterosexual or homosexual?
Ramping rabbits
Production company Itsy Bitsy Entertainment had other concerns. The giant rabbits hopping in the background banged unabashedly, which is why individual scenes had to be reshot. Rabbits making love? Not with the Teletubbies. Joachim Huber
