Young and full of promise…
La Queen Sucia addresses the issue of Melanie Martinez’ dismissal from PBS from the perspective of a parent whose child was a fan of her show.
But one of the few things he is allowed to watch is the PBS preschooler channel, Sprout. He loved the Goodnight Show hosted by the sweet, helpful, loving Melanie Martinez. He would get up and stretch with her, and do crafts with her.
Now that PBS has fired her, he actually seems to feel like he’s lost a friend.
For those of you unfamiliar with the case, Martinez has been dismissed as the hostess of ‘Goodnight Show’ because of some work she did as an acting student. Apparently, she was one of the actresses who participated in the (tame) satirical attacks on the abstinence-only movement, the Technical Virgin PSA’s. The videos – which I haven’t seen in years, but I remember as not featuring any nudity and being a pretty accurate attack on abstinence-only rhetoric.
Valdes brings up an interesting point that PBS still continues to show episodes of ‘Shining Time Station,’ the host of which was none other than George Carlin. Personally, though, I think Valdes is a little hard on Carlin – the language she blasts him for using doesn’t appear in ‘Shining Time,’ and there are a lot of similarities between Carlin’s case and Martinez’. Both have previously worked in satire that didn’t really pull any punches. Both have done things that probably should not air during their children’s show time slot.
But only Martinez got fired for it.
Part of this is probably because Carlin was already famous before ‘Shining Time’ hit. His move from explicit stand-up comedy to kiddie show host was seen as a selling point for the series. I can remember at the time of its release that ‘Shining Time’ picked up a lot of free publicity from reporters asking, ‘What’s George Carlin doing hosting a kiddie show?’
Martinez, on the other hand, had little clout to call on to protect her job. Yes, the fact that she is not a white male helped to contribute to that. But also the fact that she was establishing herself with ‘Goodnight Show,’ while Carlin was using ‘Shining Time’ to take a break from his already-successful career made a difference between the two. It matters little, however, because a double standard is a double standard however it’s sliced.
And as an actor and a writer, I think the dismissal of Martinez sets a dangerous precedent that goes against what we’ve typically accepted – that artists are artists and express themselves in many ways and at many levels. Take the example of Jessica Harper. Harper is an award-winning children’s singer/songwriter. She is well-recognized for creating some of the most original children’s albums in years.
Prior to her career as a kiddie songstress, however, Harper played a porn actress in a movie called Inserts (in which she appeared in the nude), a drug-addled starlet in The Phantom of the Paradise, the heroine in violent giallo flick Suspiria, yet another drug-addled starlet in Shock Treatment, and a frigid society girl in Pennies from Heaven (in which she also appeared nude). None of this, however, has ever stopped her from performing for children.
As a matter of fact, the only thing that has ever really knocked anybody out of a career entertaining children is working in hardcore pornography (which, frankly, ruins just about any other entertainment career you might wish to pursue, unless your name happens to be Jenna Jameson). It is generally accepted that those who work in art for mature audiences and art for younger audiences will endeavour to keep the two separate and that one will not affect the other.
The rumblings have always been there. When the television show ‘Xuxa’ appeared on the air, a parent of a friend asked if it was right for her to be working with children. ‘She posed in Playboy,’ they said. ‘What if a kid finds her picture in there?’ Which, of course, raises the question – you bought your kid a subscription to Playboy? Does Child Welfare know about this?
The implications of Martinez’ dismissal are dangerous for artists in general. As conservative organizations push more and more for television stations and content providers to take over the parenting role, there is less and less freedom for artists to move. What you did yesterday on a stage for an audience of college kids will destroy your hopes to appear on ‘Sesame Street’ tomorrow. An artist can follow the old rules – keep the mature content for mature audiences and the young content for your younger audiences – but there are elements now for whom that is not good enough. They will drive you from the screens if they even hear you mentioning something that is not kid-friendly, meaning that young actors in college will have to decide early on that they want to be kiddie stars – and never do anything else, no matter what.
It’s a slippery slope. And once we’ve driven the multi-level artists out of kids’ shows, it’s only a short step to telling them they can’t work for adult audiences any more, either. And then we wind up with television that is across the board for ages six and under – no ‘Sopranos,’ no ‘Frasier,’ no ‘House’ or ‘24.’ Not to mention no ‘Sesame Street’ – Henson started out in puppetry for older audiences. No reruns of ‘The Electric Company’ – Bill Cosby was on that show, and while he may never swear in his stand-up, he’s not squeaky clean, either. And did you see where Eddie Murphy hugged Fred Rogers? So much for ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.’ Not only no shows directed for mature audiences, but no quality children’s programming, either. Imagine that.
It’s almost like the artists are important or somethin’.