If you don’t know what Paw Patrol is, let me enlighten you. Having spent time with a 4 and a 6-year-old I’ve become a bit of an expert.
It is a massive children’s animated TV series created in Canada and syndicated across the world. It has spawned a couple of movies and merchandise deals, and even got mentioned by the ex-Canadian Prime Minister in a speech saying his family are fans of the show.
The series focuses on a young boy named Ryder who leads a crew of puppies that call themselves the Paw Patrol. They work together on missions to protect the shoreside community of Adventure Bay and surrounding areas. Each dog has a specific set of skills based on emergency professions, such as fireperson, police officer, and pilot. They all live in kennels that transform into customized vehicles, or "pupmobiles", for their missions. They are also equipped with special hi-tech ruck-sacks called "pup packs" that contain tools relating to that animal's job.
Problems occur and Ryder, the young boy who is leader of the Group, calls his team together issuing his catch phrase “Whenever you are in trouble, just Yelp for Help!”. They put out fires, rescue Aliens and thwart the many dangers that occur in Foggy Bottom and Adventure Bay.
So what’s the problem?
Every episode starts with a challenge which is immediately resolved by Ryder and his team. The structure of the episode is clear and comforting, every problem has a solution. Ryder instructs the Pups, they do what they have been told, and the problem is over. How very soothing.
It’s the kids equivalent of ask Google!
Trouble is that’s not how life works. It is way more multifarious than that. Stuff goes wrong, sure, but we need our wits about us if we are going to solve challenges, particularly those that require us to rub along with the protagonists we have to contend with.
"Vacuous agon," a term coined by narrative theorist Angus Fletcher, refers to situations, particularly in media like Paw Patrol, where conflicts are resolved instantaneously without requiring any real thought or effort on the part of either the audience or characters. It describes a superficial engagement with conflict, where faults are presented and then immediately disappear, hindering all development of critical thinking and narrative understanding.
My fear is that the future will become ever more composite and yet our collective ability to deal with complexity will diminish. The more we encourage our kids that every problem has an immediate solution, the less likely they will be to have the mental dexterity and resilience to deal with them. The danger lies in fostering a mentality that every challenge has a quick fix, which may leave children ill-equipped for real-world complexities.
What’s the solution?
Get them to read more (expose them to diverse narratives and outcomes), play games that require collaboration, get them thinking about different solutions to challenges, all the stuff that rounds off mental growth.
Paw Patrol has its place, but just as you would never feed junk to your offspring constantly, don’t rely on junk TV to nourish their complex thinking. Negotiating our way through life is a skill that needs work, a muscle that needs reps. Neglect that and don’t be surprised if their thinking gets flabby.
Rant over.
