Posted: October 31, 2008
Have you ever watched a kung-fu or Godzilla movie dubbed in English? Or found reruns of Friends or The Simpsons on television when traveling abroad? It is not uncommon for popular culture to span the globe, albeit with dubbed voices. Less common is for an American classic to be exported with the mission of tailoring the characters, the themes, and the setting to the host country. Sesame Workshop has been doing just that for over 30 years with the popular show Sesame Street. The Spurlock Museum is pleased to offer a film and lecture that report on their work.
Meeting local educational needs and helping children reach their highest potential are just two of the goals Sesame Workshop endeavors to reach through their programming. The documentary The World According To Sesame Street followed Workshop staff to Bangladesh, Kosovo, and South Africa and shows the challenges faced in bringing versions of Sesame Street to life and on the air in those countries. An official selection in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, the film focuses on the development of specific puppets and environments that help support educational needs. The culturally relevant characters on these shows help explore real-life problems like ethnic separatism, poverty, and living with HIV.
There is a free public viewing of this documentary in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum on Saturday, November 8, at 1:30 PM. The movie runs 99 minutes. Learn more (external link) about the film.
Since the documentary was filmed, work has continued to expand international versions of the show, including productions in Northern Ireland and Indonesia. Dr. Charlotte Cole, Vice President for International Education, Research, and Outreach at Sesame Workshop, was involved with those projects, two from the documentary, and many more. Dr. Cole's lecture will address some of her unique experiences working on such projects, the issues the co-productions seek to address, and some of the research that informs her work. Join us for Dr. Cole's lecture on Tuesday, November 11th at 7 PM. Learn more (external link) about the international work of Sesame Workshop.