The evening fairytale is back on the First National Channel with a strange, unappealing character called Supermulti. Didn’t they find a better hero? Just open any Ukrainian fairytale…
I remember the cartoons that were on television when I was a child. It was a mix of Soviet classical animations like Hold on!, the Russian-language versions of The Three Piglets and Little Red Riding Hood, and Disney heroes like Tom, Jerry, Chip and Dale. No Kotyhoroshko… I learned about the Ukrainian characters through fairytales and my grandma’s stories.
The situation hasn’t improved since then and today Ukrainian children are growing up watching cartoons and kids’ programs that promote heroes and values which are strange for us. Having looked through the TV program of the most popular Ukrainian channels for the current week I found only Russian or American cartoons. 1+1 shows an interpretation of Mowgli followed by the Soviet Humpbacked Horse — about the adventures of a peasant’s son named Ivanushka, then Little Tutankhamen, a cartoon about the resurrected Pharaoh in the modern world. The Russian cartoons Masha and the Bear are on Inter, Smisharyky on Novy, and the American Penguins from Madagascar on STB. Even if you quickly look through the range of the children’s programs it is obvious that Ukraine has lost the battle.
The “underground” Ukrainian Christmas cartoon Schedryk, created by the famous animator Stepan Koval (the song for the cartoon was recorded by Oleh Skrypka), was an Internet sensation, but it was only shown on Channel 5. However, the soundtrack from Schedryk is one of the most popular Ukrainian melodies.
As a matter of fact, the situation with children’s television reflects the situation in the country in general — the promotion of native and high quality products is a task for individual enthusiasts. Instead, in neighboring Russia this year the United Nationwide Channel Carousel for children and teenagers will air a show based on the children’s projects by The First Channel and The Russian National Television and Radio Company called Telenyanya and Bibigona.
Today Ukraine seems to be open to the world, but our children don’t see Andersen’s fairytales on the TV. In my childhood we could watch Thumbelina, The Wild Swans and The Golden Key by Tolstoy. Though those heroes were not Ukrainian, they at least didn’t pervert the children’s perception of the world and introduced world literature to them.
Nowadays the only Ukrainian channel that shows the classical cartoons is Maliatko TV. Created one and a half years ago it is the only Ukrainian-language children’s channel. Maliatko TV is not supported by the government, but it is transmitted via satellite, and several cable networks broadcast it for free. Maliatko’s motto is “Educate while entertaining.” And then, as its general manager Volodymyr Kmetyk says, something works and something doesn’t. However, the attempt by caring people to unite in order to keep our kids spiritually alive is precious.
Volodymyr KMETYK told The Day why Ukrainians are not ready to invest in the children’s television and who is responsible for making high quality television products.
What should Ukrainian children’s television be like? Do we need new government policy?
“When talking about Ukrainian television and the application of Ukrainian legislation to television and radio we have to keep in mind that there are various foreign television companies that have much less commitments toward their audiences. Their activity is not regulated by the government. There are a lot of similar channels and they are legally aired via cable networks.
“The nationwide channels weren’t created with the aim of developing children’s television, which is why they have absolutely different tasks according to the state.
“Moreover, all government concepts remain unrealized. Well-known politicians have worked on the creation of social policy. There were lots of hearings on this topic, lots of intelligent people voiced lots of intelligent ideas. However, all of those words remain unrealized. If our country doesn’t have a social policy concept, closes down museums, and limits the usage of the Ukrainian language how can we talk about a concept for children’s television? Our state is not a support for our nation.”
But we need national and constructive children’s television of high quality. If we can’t count on the state, who should deal with children’s television?
“Ukraine has a Constitution and it guarantees the development of Ukrainian culture. According to the law the president is the guarantor of the Constitution; the government has to realize state policy; we also have the non-governmental regulatory body, the National Council for Television and Radio. Everything seems clear, but the state mechanisms don’t work. That is why today everything depends on individual initiative.”
What should children’s programs be like?
“There are common standards. The children mustn’t be exposed to violence. Children’s cartoons can be based on any works of literature, but the main thing is that they be interesting for kids and have an educational component aside the entertaining one. But there is one more important thing. We must remember that children also watch national channels and not only the specialized ones. Those channels don’t have any restrictions for children. If they show the alcohol commercials before 11 p.m., is it television for kids? What can the result of this policy be?
“When making television pro-ducts for children any topic is acceptable if it educates people and helps them socialize. There are a lot of Ukrainian works of literature that can be used for television products for kids. Ukrainian literature is abundant in this context. But despite the rich materials, despite the ‘Law on Cinematography,’ according to which public institutions have to prioritize children’s television, the film industry doesn’t act on those priorities. In regards to television, I haven’t noticed any privileged attitude to children’s television channels from the regulator body either. It rather looked like breaking through the fences, bans and stereotypes. Ukrainian laws are quite good, but there’s nobody to comply with them. For example, our animation company “Fresky” won the tender of the Ministry of Culture for animation film. It was about five years ago, but nobody wants to sign a contract with us. They organized a tender but they didn’t expect us to win.”
Maliatko TV is the only Ukrainian-language children’s channel, but it is transmitted through the satellite and on several cable networks. Why isn’t this niche filled in Ukraine?
“Firstly, we have to find the money for this. We also have to find people interested in starting a children’s channel. The commercial incomes are small on children’s TV, the state doesn’t provide any support, and NGOs or funds are not interested in this sphere either. Where will we get the money from? Everybody who works for Maliatko TV realizes that society needs such television and tries to keep this channel working. But very few people share this point of view. Those on whom the financing depends apparently don’t need this channel.”
What is Maliatko TV’s credo? What principles guide you in making TV products for children?
“We show the best animations from the world’s classical cartoons, unaggressive but up-to-date and interesting for kids animations that would educate them on the best works of literature. In general, the channel’s policy concentrates on the question of how to teach the kids while entertaining them at the same time. We try to promote children’s Ukrainian songs by using them to announce the programs. It is something new. Nobody has done it before in Ukraine. There are other programs but they’re being recorded now. We’ll talk about them when they are ready since to finish them we need money. Commercials are the only source of income for the channel. We don’t know where to find other sources. The user charge for our channel is not set. Our channel is not coded on the satellite or on cable networks. We consider this position to be correct.”
Are there enough specialists in Ukraine able to create interesting children’s programs of high quality?
“In Ukraine there are very many people working with child content; they write songs for kids and make a living in this sector. The great discovery for Ukraine are Lesia Horova’s songs and Hanna Chubach’s songs and poems. Unfortunately, our nation hardly knows these people’s creative work. We try to fill in this blank. If we film everything from our library we’ll have enough content for about eight years. I wish we could find the money. When prominent Ukrainian writers were banned they wrote for children. Since we are a nation with a long colonial period in our history we have lots of works of literature for children. Believe me, if they were filmed or animated we would have something to show off in front of the world. It’s not the time yet. The state hasn’t come up with support for the Ukrainian nation yet, which is why I think that our nation’s main task for today is to develop the Ukrainian culture.”
