What defines funny differs between culture, religions and past experiences but I am sure what I found funny when I was 7 is different to what 7 year olds of today find amusing (Cunningham, 2004). I am a child of the 80s… If I was asked these questions my response would’ve resembled the following: Yes I love reading. My favourite book is Anne of Green Gables and no I haven’t read a comic book. My favourite magazine was looking through my sister’s copy of Smash Hits, my favourite TV shows were Full House, Neighbours, Smurfs and I enjoyed waking up to Boris’ Breakfast Club each weekday morning, The Channel Niners on a Saturday morning and Wombat each afternoon. My favourite band was New Kids on the Block and my favourite song was Material Girl by Madonna. Social media was passing notes to my friends in class and our school only got its first computer when I was in Year 12, using DOS, and I enjoyed playing a game called Cyclone on the 5” floppy disk.
This isn’t about me though, it is about a 7 year old boy who is the youngest of four siblings. He has three older sisters (9 year old, 13 year old and 16 year old) who are all heavily involved in social media and going to the movies. He plays two sports – trampolining and rugby league so he is a child who has diverse interests and always has a smile on his face, thus the main emphasis on this blog, as you will see, is humour. Humour is difficult to define as it encompasses social, cultural and religious beliefs and also relies on past experiences but through humour comes cognitive and emotional intelligence (Cunningham, 2004).
Q: What type of books do you enjoy reading?
Master 7: Fiction books and books that are happy. I like The BFG and The Twits because they’re funny.
Q: Do you have or play on an iPod or iPad?
Master 7: My sister’s iPod I play on.
Q: What type of apps do you enjoy playing?
Master 7: Temple Run, Flappy Bird, Cut the Rope, Candy Crush.
Q: Do you play any games on the internet?
Master 7: Yes I play Vex and there’s 1, 2 and 3 and I love Coyote too.
Q: Do you play any games that have to be loaded onto the computer with software?
Master 7: Yes I have Minecraft. I love Minecraft and my sister said there’s a Minecraft shop so I hope that I get to buy things from there.
Q: Do you watch YouTube?
Master 7: Yep I watch Pewdiepie, Minecraft videos and Miranda Sings.
Q: Do you have any favourite TV shows or movies?
Master 7: I love Adventure Time, The Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, Johnny Test, iCarly, Victorious and Spongebob Squarepants. I love Epic.
Q: Why do you like Epic?
Master 7: Because it’s funny in parts and different to other movies.
Q: Do you have any favourite bands or songs?
Master 7: West Coast and oh what’s that other one, ummmm, oh yeah, High all the Time.
VS
I would like to venture deeper into this discussion to look at the influence older siblings have on Popular Culture amongst younger children to see how much influence Master 7s sister’s would have on his interests.
References
Adkins, B. (1994). Don’t call me “Generation X”, call me a child of the eighties. Retrieved September 13, 2014, from http://inthe80s.com/dynamic/child8e.shtml
Cunningham, J. (2004). Children’s Humor. Retrieved September 13, 2014, from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/4884_ScarlettChapter5.pdf
Hedges, H. (2011). Rethinking Sponge Bob and Ninja Turtles: Popular culture and funds of knowledge for curriculum co-construction. In Australian Journal of Early Childhood 36(1), pp. 25-29. Retrieved September 13, 2014, from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/AJEC1101.pdf
LanaDelRay. (2014, May 7). Lana Del Ray – West Coast [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=west+coast
QueenMadonna. (2013, May 22). Madonna – Material Girl [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNSUOFgj97M
Talk About Pop.... CRN600 
Comments on: "Generation Z… Whooska!!" (2)
I love that Roald Dahl’s books keep getting read and loved generation after generation. It’s not hard to see why, they tap into that dark humour and sense of the absurd that kids (and adults!) love. Minecraft is taking over the world it seems, every kids I know seems to love it, whether they play creative or survival.
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Feeling very old, when discussing humour and children today. I have sat down on many occasions with my own children and watched numerous episodes of Adventure time with them, they giggle and laugh at different parts and I shake my head and wonder vaguely what I’ve missed? cause it just wasn’t funny! I struggle to see the humour, but hey, Cartoons in my day were slapstick humour and you laughed when the coyote took a rock to his head or fell off a cliff. I even wonder how I survived childhood with the violence I was privy to at an early age and yes it seemed it was classed as humour back then, poor old coyote he never did catch that Road Runner… (as I sing the tune in my head!) Road Runner if he catches you your through… a good old blast from the past..Humour definitely hard to define.
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