I happened to be flipping through the channels one day looking for the news, and Thomas and Friends came on. Niko was TRANSFIXED. He'd never seen any ads for it, had no idea it existed before then, but it was like a flip switched and he went from 0 to 100% IN LOVE WITH TRRRRRAAAAAAIIIIIIIIINS.
In general, I think trains and cars are popular because they are large machines that look cool that the child is able to access and manipulate. Toddlers like, for instance, lining things up in a row. It helps them create order out of the chaos that is their lives. Trains are in a neat row. And they have wheels so you can move them around and play with them.
Thomas specifically also plays its hand broadly when it comes to emotions. The faces/expressions are simplified (and kind of stock, there's standard "shocked" expressions, for instance, and I've seen both Niko and other toddlers make that face when surprised) and when a train/vehicle/person feels an emotion the narrator talks about what they're feeling and the train/vehicle/person also talks about it. So it's like all the emotional interactions have an easy to access handle to grab hold of, if that makes sense.
We go through long periods of time with no television (now... is not that time, especially with other people minding Niko while I'm at work) and even without (or with very reduced) exposure to external forces/marketing there's some things Niko just likes. Trains. Cars. Dinosaurs. Furry animals. Babies. Balls. And most other babies/toddlers I've met seem to have similar... on buttons? IDK. For whatever reason it's ingrained and marketers have very much seized upon that and run with it.
(there is, btw, a toddler/kids show called "Dinosaur Train." It is basically what it sounds like. Some dinosaurs ride on a train.)
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Date: 2011-08-22 03:50 pm (UTC)In general, I think trains and cars are popular because they are large machines that look cool that the child is able to access and manipulate. Toddlers like, for instance, lining things up in a row. It helps them create order out of the chaos that is their lives. Trains are in a neat row. And they have wheels so you can move them around and play with them.
Thomas specifically also plays its hand broadly when it comes to emotions. The faces/expressions are simplified (and kind of stock, there's standard "shocked" expressions, for instance, and I've seen both Niko and other toddlers make that face when surprised) and when a train/vehicle/person feels an emotion the narrator talks about what they're feeling and the train/vehicle/person also talks about it. So it's like all the emotional interactions have an easy to access handle to grab hold of, if that makes sense.
We go through long periods of time with no television (now... is not that time, especially with other people minding Niko while I'm at work) and even without (or with very reduced) exposure to external forces/marketing there's some things Niko just likes. Trains. Cars. Dinosaurs. Furry animals. Babies. Balls. And most other babies/toddlers I've met seem to have similar... on buttons? IDK. For whatever reason it's ingrained and marketers have very much seized upon that and run with it.
(there is, btw, a toddler/kids show called "Dinosaur Train." It is basically what it sounds like. Some dinosaurs ride on a train.)