When Sesame Street premiered on American television its makers had the idea to use the addictiveness of television for something good and teach children some things even before they would go to school. It was a huge success and it is now shown in 120 countries. As you might know this program isn’t the same in each of those countries. Sometimes versions of Sesame Street are created specifically for a country. This has resulted in 20 international versions that take the basics of Sesame Street but bring them to television in a different way. This documentary follows the inception of a new version of the show in three countries, Bangladesh, Kosovo and South Africa. Although Sesame Street is a childrens show, this documentary proves that you still have to deal with a lot of adult issues before you are able to air something.
The creation of a new show is lead by a team from America. They help to adapt the show to the local needs and also make sure that the quality is up to scratch. The local problems are different in each of the countries. In Bangladesh the TV is controlled by the government and there really aren’t any programs made for children. It means lobbying with the government to get things arranged. The format of the show itself also has to appeal to people from all around the country, whether they live in the cities or outside it.
The show in South Africa has the delicate issue of trying to explain to children the risks of aids. It resulted in the first muppet in Sesame Street with aids. This documentary shows the outrage there was back in the United States on various channels, but when watching this you can only conclude that all the outrage was based on not knowing the local situation.
In Kosovo there is the issue of Serbs and Albanians not trusting each other, which shows in the negotiations and results in some very unique decisions and compromises to be made.
The World According to Sesame Street offers a fascinating look into the world of the creation of one of the world’s best known children’s programs and the effort and time it takes to launch it in a new country. It makes you appreciate the amount of knowledge there is available to make these programs and because of them teach children all around the world about things they sometimes might never learn. With that it makes the world that Sesame Street envisions a little bit better.
Score: 7
Sounds fascinating – I’d assume the version of Sesame St I watched in the UK during the eighties was pretty much the same as the US version? I will definitely give this a look – thanks for the tip!
I don’t know if it was the same as the UK version. I know the dutch one was localised. Big Bird was blue over here for example and we had 2 new characters (a dog and a mouse).
Oooo another nice documentary. I do have to say that SS doesn’t hold the same charm for me as it does for others. We never had it in India ( I’m surprised they had it in Bangladesh), so I never grew up watching it. But I’m aware of it, so I’d like to give the documentary a watch.
There is some puppetry in this, but it’s more about getting such a production of the ground.