Pop Into Culture: The death of the Disney machine

By Antonio Machado

Copy Editor

One of the most important aspects of human development is shared experience.

Growing up, I, like many other children of my generation and generations before, was able to share a very specific and very important part of growing up - the overconsumption of corny kids’ TV shows.

The family dynamics of a black cat witch in a family of wizards. A school for a diverse cast of especially talented singers. The online phenomenon of two teen girls orchestrating their own internet show. 

Daily, these shows would air, and millions of children throughout the world were able to simultaneously experience the joys brought on by these sitcoms and experience hardship and perseverance in an inoffensive, comedic way.

Although unnamed, most can easily deduce which shows these are - and more importantly, most can attach a face to these shows.

Celebrity worship is something that is rather ingrained into modern society, but not for bad reasons.

As kids, we are taught to constantly seek out good role models to shape our world view, and the easiest ones to locate and feel inspired by were always those we would spend our afternoons watching, teaching us lessons on acceptance through insane sitcom scenarios.

Most people can easily name their favorite celebrity from their childhood, be it Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Cameron Boyce, or Zendaya - anyone can name someone who they felt a special connection with growing up.

Kids today no longer have that.

Not celebrity worship - they have that tenfold - but good role models delivered to them in media intended for them.

According to an article by The Wrap, Disney Channel’s audience has dropped by 90% and Nickelodeon’s by 86% since 2016.

There are a plethora of reasons as to why that is. Streaming services allow for anything to be consumed at any time, so naturally, cable loses viewership.

Naturally also, kids begin watching things no longer intended for young children and tweens and seeking out role models in media of which they are not the intended audience.

We used to look up to characters who acted like good people. Now, we idolize people just for being seen.

Through the rise of TikTok and Twitch as entertainment in kids’ spaces, the lines blur between what is intended for children and what isn’t.

Kids today may watch Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed, who are great creators on their own merit but most definitely don’t make content intended for the majority of their audience.

Kids today may watch “Love Island” and “Bridgerton,” which are amazing shows but absolutely not something children should be consuming in any capacity.

Kids today no longer get to grow up alongside the people they admired on TV and see themselves reflected in them in adulthood.

The death of kids TV took with it the death of the “Disney Child Star,” who had their pathway to fame etched out by either the Disney or Nickelodeon machine and would grow up being admired by generations.

Without these positive, age-appropriate role models in children’s lives, they are no longer spoon-fed moral lessons through laugh tracks.

An onslaught of our society’s biggest vices infects their screens and subsequently their lives, and the children of the next generation are forced to grow up too soon because they no longer see other kids being youthful on screen.

These shows offered more than entertainment - they offered stability.

In the chaos that is growing up, kids and parents both had a constant source that would show up every afternoon and teach how to problem-solve personal matters with friends and family.

The stars of today no longer perform the slapstick sitcom with the corny moral quandaries - they perform themselves.

Kids are now exposed to the unfiltered authenticity of these artists and internet personalities, and although that authenticity is beautiful, it is not the content children should be exposed to.

Entertainment as a whole has been fractured, as everyone now resides within their own algorithm bubble. Consequently, the biggest bubble of all - kids media - has popped, and children may now be scattered into every corner of the media world with nothing to guide them.

The internet is not all bad, but the impressionable minds of the future don’t have the skills to decipher what is good and bad because they have not yet had a chance to see it on their TVs.

I would argue kids aren’t lacking in childhood role models - they’re just finding them where they shouldn’t be.