Captain Planet & the Planeteers-Short Cartoon Clip

This is a short clip of "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" explaining how they save the environment/planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpXM9bj-WPU

Liberal Cartoon

The Liberal cartoon promotes children to clean up the planet. At the end of the cartoon their are tips that are given for viewers to follow to make this happen. Also the author states on (pg.257) that " the Captain Planet Foundation takes the ideas of the show and encourages young people to get involved and do what ever they can to help the Planteers-and Captain Planet-to succeed in their vital work."

Kids For Saving Earth

Here is another website, similar to the one Nancy found, but it's more focused on younger kids. It has great ideas for activities students can participate in to be green. It also has information for parents and teachers alike. This is a fantastic resource!

http://www.kidsforsavingearth.org/

Goal of Captain Planet

Many people might ask what the ultimate goal of Captain Planet is. If its goal is actually helping or hindering children from helping out the enviornment. I feel that the book states it best in the last sentence in this chapter (pg. 264), "If children are the last line of defense, teaching teaching them to care and hoping that they will have, find, or create "the power" are inescapable extrapolations." The bottom line is that we need to educate and prepare our future to be aware and make the right decisions that are needed to clean up our enviornment.

Teens for Planet Earth

I want to share this link because I think it kind of proves the point of the article. Kids & teens can take an active role in protecting our Earth and they do it because they've been encouraged by friends, role models and family. So even though "Captain Planet" is a cartoon providing environmental issues and solutions, I think the overall message is that age doesnt matter, we all have a choice and the chance to do something to help the Earth.

http://www.teensforplanetearth.org/



"T4PE knows you can't do everything. But if each person does even one thing, it all adds up to something pretty amazing."

Literature Movement

Writers need inspiring things to write about and what better to write about then science fiction and fantasy. The authors, Dobrin and Kidd (pg. 255) feel that what people will be writing about in the future will be science fiction and fantasy. With the future of tommorrow being so consciously aware about preserving the envionment I could defintely see this happening. By putting this literature out there people that are not into keeping the enviornment at is best might become more aware and willing to help out. One of my favorite quotes from the book says it best in the following statement, " Many of today's most aware and knowledgeable adults are helpless, but there is nevertheless an idea that we must expect the next generation to experience the brunt of "global neglect and abuse"-and fix it.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Who is Responsible for our Planet?

Captain Planet and the Planeteers was a popular 1990's cartoon conceived by media giant, Ted Turner. The cartoon teaches children to be responsible to the environment by placing teenagers in situations where they are forced to defend their planet against "ecovillians". In reading Susan Jaye Dauer's essay, "Cartoons and Contamination," Dauer shows us, that upon looking closer, the message appears to be about shifting responsibility. Dauer sites an essay by Ruthanne Kurth-Schai which states that children are being exploited by adults, they are "asked far too soon to assume adult responsibilities that are not of their choosing" (261). This message becomes clear from the beginning of the Captain Planet series. In episode one, five teenagers are chosen and transported to meet Gaia, a Mother earth figure, who lives on Hope Island. Upon arrival, the teens seem confused by their new surroundings, but are "quickly persuaded that what they do is vital and necessary work." The cartoon goes on to show teens placed in dangerous environmental situations, facing dangerous people, it makes me consider the fact that the teens have not chosen to do this, and should they, at their age, be faced with such danger? Since this cartoon is targeted toward children, I feel the message these children are recieving is that they are responsible for cleaning up messes that they haven't made. This thought is explained in one particular episode when the teens are asked to clean animals harmed by an oil spill; one teen "wonders why he and his companions have to clean a mess they have not made." (260) The concept of Captain Planet and the Planeteers provided a public service of respect and awareness for our environment. However, placing young people, in what could be very dangerous situations, that they may not be "equipped to handle" (263), almost encourages children to take dangerous risks.

Cartoons Have Valuable Social Lessons

Cartoons such as Captain Planet offer a variety of lessons related to the environment and our social community. While some are deemed more valuable than others, they are lessons all the same. In an essay in Teaching Children's Literature, Jeanne Murray Walker says that: "fantasy helps children learn to be adults but 'does not pretend a snapshot of the world that is value-neutral' (116-17), and that allows fantasy to be used to teach other social lessons" (Dobrin & Kidd, p. 256).

Children love to live in their fantasy worlds. The idea of make-believe surfaced time and time again in our conversation related to the Animal Kingdom, and is an important theme once again. Pretending is part of growing up, and playing a variety of roles helps children identify who they are and who they want to become. Captain Planet has been criticized for "[Planeteers'] personal relationships with the world not [being] completely in tune with the natural environment" (Dobrin & Kidd, p. 256). However, it is through exposure to the variety of characters in such cartoons that children begin to learn about the complexity of the roles in our society. They may not realize it at first, but they are getting a taste of reality. They learn about the Planeteers (the innocent Earth stewards), and their opponents the polluters, exploiters, and destroyers (BP maybe?).

After watching the Paulo Freire video, it confirmed what I was thinking about the Planeteers. He says, "We read the world to the extent that we understand and interpret it." I highly doubt that the young children who are watching Captain Planet recognize the inconsistencies with the Planeteers' relationship and the natural environment. I would imagine that after watching an episode, they take with them the big ideas of saving the planet and of good vs. evil. It is possible that they are subconsciously soaking up some of the "gender stereotypes that hurt while subverting stereotypes that empower" (S&K p. 258). However, according to Freire, they will only absorb it to the extent in which they understand it. At a young age, how much of it do they truly understand?

Furthermore, the Captain Planet Foundation encourages children to go a step beyond watching the show and urges them to get involved in saving the environment. For all of the criticism that may circulate about such a show, there are quite a few potential positive outcomes.

Educating Children

Captain planet teaches the children many different things that are great for the children to learn. According to the book these cartoons teach students (pg.258) "good" "lessons, such as the importance of teamwork and the balance of different people's strength." We are dependant on the future of tommorrow to make the world a better place. Children need to be educated in getting the envionment in good shape for their future. The authors of the book made make the most sense of this in the following statement (pg. 263), "If the world is to be saved , it will be the next generation that will have to shoulder the great majority of the workload. Teaching children envionmentally friendly activities and actions is clearly a necessity. Giving them child role models should also be a good idea."

Let's Find Ways for Cartoons to be Educational

Kids love cartoons so whenever possible lets find programs and episodes that are educational. Believe it or not there are a lot out there! Captain Planet is one of them. My daughter just informed me this morning that we have a certain bird in our yard (I'm embarrassed that I don't remember the name) and I asked her where she learned that and her response was the cartoon Max and Ruby. She was so excited. I also love how Dauer mentions comics as another form of fiction we should look at as educational tools. "Yet, despite the boost from scientists, extrapolative fiction is not often granted a high place in the literary canon, especially when it takes the form of comic books and cartoons" (p.255). When I was in the mainstream classroom I had a writing unit on writing comics. The kids loved it and learned so much about science. Teachers College has a great link to the Comic Book Study on their website with great material.

Lessons in "Captain Planet"

"While teaching children about the importance of protecting nature from exploitation and importance of standing up to those who would harm the earth, the "Captain Planet" cartoons are also teaching children other lesson. There are "good" lessons, such as the importance of teamwork and the balance of different people's strengths. Over time, the teens learn to accept help when they need it from each other and from outsiders, and each contributes what he or she can to each situation" - p. 258, Susan Jaye Dauer


I found this to be an important statement in Dauer's essay. The idea of the cartoon "Captain Planet" was more than just a show for kids. It tried to teach children why it was important to protect our Earth and also, how we can work together in society to accomplish this. It is very clear that the cartoon shows how people all over the world could help...simply by picking the characters from each continent. Also, each episode describes an environmental issue in which the planteers try to solve together. It seems like now and days, many cartoons do not have this sort of purpose. "Captain Planet" seemed to be a very educational cartoon for children in all aspects.

Captain Planet cartoon clip

This is a short clip of "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" explaining how they save the environment/planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpXM9bj-WPU