“I don’t watch TV anymore because no more good shows are on. ‘Shows like Suite Life of Zack and Cody’ and ‘Suite Life on Deck,’ ‘That’s So Raven,’ and ‘Kim Possible’ were good shows. Now all Disney shows don’t really teach you anything,” Aleksi Preteroti shared.
The Disney channel is a part of every teenager’s memories, for it filled many childhood hours. Shows like “That’s So Raven,” “Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” “Lizzie McGuire,” “The Proud Family,” “Kim Possible,” and “Wizards of Waverly Place,” were the shows that everybody watched after school. These were shows that kids could relate to and learn something from.
Though the older Disney shows were made for entertainment, they also contained a message. Each show had a meaning. Take “That’s So Raven,” for example; this show held up the notion that it is alright to be different. Raven Baxter taught kids, “Because in case you haven’t noticed, people come in all shapes and sizes and they’re all beautiful.” Raven was an inspiration to kids everywhere; they could relate to her, she was real.
Now there are new shows, with no plot lines. It seems like Disney is simply making shows to fill the air-time on the television. These new shows include “Good Luck Charlie,” “A.N.T. Farm,” “Shake It Up,” and “Austin and Ally.”
These shows seem to be simple vehicles for young actors to gain fame and popularity. They do not serve their audiences. They are often insensitive. The show “Shake it Up,” for example, made fun of anorexia in an episode. This makes the 90’s kids stop and think for a minute, “How and why did Disney change for the worse?”
Kids need an educational value in shows. Shows used to teach kids that individuality matters. Now shows try to make kids fit in, as though they shouldn’t stand out and be themselves anymore. Kids need shows that support their individuality. Shows gave us characters we liked and admired, who worked their way through problems similar to the ones we faced. Kids need shows that help them learn the difference between right and wrong.
Kids are now being ‘brainwashed’ by these shows, because they think unlikely things are real; such as being a little kid in high school – that is highly improbable. The show “Shake It Up” has a strange plot – becoming famous on a dance show – and the show “A.N.T Farm” offers up kids who are child ‘prodigies’ – it is rare for that to be real. Shows like this don’t give kids a sense of hope, or something to relate to. Kids can’t identify with being famous or being super talented. Some of these things just don’t happen. There is no sense of hope watching these shows like we had when we were little kids.
On social media networking sites such as Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, people are sharing their disappointment with comments such as: “If Walt Disney, looked at today’s Disney Channel he would say, ‘What happened to my work?’” It is quite sad that Disney has lost its way. Today’s kids don’t know what their missing.
