The Magic Schoolbus

OK, so being a preschool teacher 8 hours of the day, these are the things I think about. I hope you all enjoyed The Magic Schoolbus as much as I did, because it's amazing. This show is brilliant. Apparently, it's award-winning (I don't know what awards it could have won.) which it certainly deserves to be. Watching several episodes so far (because the kids love it), I have a few things to say about it.



I'm trying to give a basic analysis here. Listen, the kids are just as mesmorized by this show, as they are by Finding Nemo or Madagascar. I'm talking about 3 to 6 -year-olds being mesmorized by a show about middle-school children reading from science books. How could this possibly be? Let's take a look.

First there are some basic elements like the cast: First and foremost of course is Ms. Frizzle. Ms. Frizzle is the class's (perhaps the entire school's, the show never gives a larger scope than the < 15 character cast.) science teacher. She acts as a guide for the class on their field trips and as a "narrator." She gives them an initial direction, and often takes a back seat for the rest of the trip. She drives the bus perhaps to several locations, but her actions are not the drive of the show; instead, she often gets the class into some sort of mess that they have to get out of themselves. This provides exciting adventure for the show, as well as a form of Socratic Learning method for the show. Also, as a minor note, her dress and earrings change in each episode according to the topic; this provides a point of interest for older kids who notice such things.

Next is The Bus, and Liz, the lizzard (he he). These two act as Ms. Frizzle's cohorts, so that she does not appear to be just a strange teacher doing these trips by herself; these two aid in the direction of the field trip. Also, for a show with such fantastic adventures and events, the bus is really the only magical entity in the whole show. In this way, the show can be classified as themed with magical realism in the same form as Bless Me, Ultima and Like Water for Chocolate. One of the important students is D.A. . D.A. acts as a second narrator for the show; IE she spends most of an episode reading from a textbook, providing the boring but necessary science and fact. This is again for the older students who can understand what she is talking about. Arnold represents the scared student who doesn't particularly want to go on a field trip or learn anything new. Many students in an audience can relate to Arnold and they will tend to follow his path in each adventure. Carlos tells cheap jokes riddled with puns and word play that act as a slight comic relief (again, specifically for older students who can understand his jokes). I think there are other characters, but I'm not sure.

Another thing that makes the show successful is the consistencies in each episode:

• A field trip
• Arnold not wanting to go on the field trip
• D.A. carrying around a textbook
• Ralphie not caring at all, but still learning in the end
• D.A. saying "according to my research"
• The Friz saying "as I always say" (which she in facts never says again)

I dunno. I think that's all for this. I just think it's interesting that this show holds kids' attention just as well as massive-budget-non-educational Pixar movies.