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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that rastamouse is the best thing since sliced bread for pre-schoolers on cbeebies?

64 replies

semi · 02/02/2011 22:51

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8293129/Rastamouse-CBeebies-preview.html

OP posts:
cutelybananas · 03/02/2011 01:16

hi,my son watched this for the first time today aged 3,n wen it finished in a very matter of fact voice,he said,'well,i thoroughly enjoyed that'.lol,so its gets my vote x

Original poster
semi · 03/02/2011 21:56

i absolutely love it. i saw the books some time ago, but it took a stop motion animation to get me hooked. since i was a kid i've loved stop motion - postman pat, the magic roundabout etc - just beautiful for kids to watch.

OP posts:
marriednotdead · 03/02/2011 22:15

I've just googled stop motion animation Blush

We've just discovered Rastamouse through our youngest- aged 14!

He thought we'd be interested as DH has dreadlocks but we all loved it and have unanimously voted to watch it regularly Smile

princessparty · 03/02/2011 22:23

no can't stand it .We don't know any black people let alone rastafarians so my DC can't identify with it at all, and I certainly don't want them talking like that!

AnnaFalactic · 03/02/2011 22:25

princessparty - are you being serious?!

Valpollicella · 03/02/2011 22:29

DS (4.6yo) loves it. I thought it was brilliant too. So good infact we sat through 3 episodes on iPlayer twice this pm.

Princess Hmm

AnyFuleKno · 03/02/2011 22:30

Nice thread, semi. You made a bad ting good.

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 22:37

Tokenistic and horrible. Never even heard of it till this thread so checked it out on youtube. My kid is going to be part Jamaican and will not be watching that, thats for sure. My DP is "confused" about it at best, can't wait to show it to my FIL and the other Jamaican relatives.

Sorry guys, don't mean to be a party pooper, if you like it then fair enough. At least its a step forward I suppose.

As for Princess, I would say TROLL.

AnnaFalactic · 03/02/2011 22:39

DD is half Jamaican, me being the white parent, fuckwit of an ex has never bothered so I think it's bloody brilliant that a programme like this is on mainstream children's television.

AnyFuleKno · 03/02/2011 22:53

interesting LDNmummy. What is it about it that you think is horrible?

I think it's great to hear an accent on cBeebies that isn't generic drama school english (Nina and neurons being exception)

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:10

Well for a start it is very insulting toward the rastafari religion even. Rastafari is as legitimate a religion as any other and it is being boiled down into a ceebeebies show full of stereotypes of the Jamaican culture.

The fact that AnnaFalactic sees this as a good way of relating her childs culture to her from a young age is also very worrying IMO. Sorry Anna, I know it must be tough with the dad not around to provide cultural reference points but this show is full of misrepresentations and infantilizing a culture, boiling it down to something simple, comprised of simplistic stereotypes.

Maybe I need to watch more of it but what I have seen was not impressive. Although, as I said, it is still a step forward.

princessparty · 03/02/2011 23:21

What's troll-like about wanting kids to be taught to speak properly

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:25

Although I totally agree with you AnyFuleKno, would be nice to have more diversity in childrens programs. And I hope I didn't seem too negative, I get why it is liked from an outside perspective.

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:26

What exactly is "speaking properly"?

The queens english?

princessparty · 03/02/2011 23:29

well 'ting' for thing is clearly not standard English is it?

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:30

And what on earth is "standard english"?

nancy75 · 03/02/2011 23:30

we live in a very very mixed race/culture area of london neither dd nor dp (australian) can understand a word of it! Dd watched it the other day and asked if they were speaking english. Personally i find it abit stereotypey (i know thats not a real word)

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:32

And whats wrong with children being exposed to more than one language or way of speaking a language?

Why would they necessarily end up speaking that way just because it is shown on a childrens programme?

nancy75 · 03/02/2011 23:34

There is nothing wrong with children being exposed to other cultures, but there is not much point making a tv program that most children can't understand

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:36

Nancy I was talking to Princessparty.

LDNmummy · 03/02/2011 23:40

Oh sorry, unless you were addressing the post I made to her. Sometimes I get confused with all the back and forth on these threads Confused

The accents on the show are not strong at all. But then everyone is different, what they are saying might not be so obvious at first.

shabbapinkfrog · 03/02/2011 23:46

My grandson introduced me to this yesterday LOL - its fantastic. He is 2 and a half.....he kept saying 'Andma, Andma, watch this - me woves it!!!' We all ended up ROFL....Rastamouse sounds like Shaggy!!!

Remember when DS4 was little (he is now 13) and he adored Tellytubbies - everybody kept saying how wrong it was and how children would copy how they talked....well he DID copy them and it was funny.

So many other things to fret and worry about - this is just good fun.

applecrumbleandcream · 04/02/2011 09:28

Absolute rubbish - switched over after after a couple of minutes!!

AmazingBouncingFerret · 04/02/2011 09:35

Childrens programmes that they cant understand...

Bill and Ben.
Waybuloo.
Tellytubbies.
In The Night Garden.
And numerous others that I cant think of because I havent had my daily cup of caffiene yet.

What makes this one any different?

OH NO They are Rastas!!

Quick turn off the telly cant have my kids saying "ting"
Much rather have them saying "Eh Oh" and other such nonsense.

princessparty · 04/02/2011 10:02

Ferret-Exactly my point.The above programmes have been roundly ctiticised by educationalists because the characters do not speak properly.

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