Hacker Cinema
Peppa Pig
2004 · TV series · 9 seasons
Created by Neville Astley, Mark Baker
Peppa Pig is an energetic piggy who lives with Mummy, Daddy, and little brother George. She loves to jump in mud puddles and make loud snorting noises.
4 positive13 negative2 mixed20 neutralfrom 39 commenters
Where to watch
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43 comments on Hacker News
Stop using your phone less in front of your kids.
Start using your ring/watch/whatever_else more in front of your kids.
Honestly, it isn't about what you use (that is just hype). You can read the paper all day if you want. I grew up with a father who was listening to radio and watching TV all the time (to be fair: he was disabled, including legally blind). It isn't about using your phone less in front of your kids. It is about being there for your kids when they need you; showing genuine interest in your kids; interacting with them. Right now, as I am writing this to you, my kids are watching Peppa Pig before bedtime. Instead of writing this, I could sit next to them and watch an episode with them.
As for cycling, with a ring you'd have to move your hand towards you or not, but it isn't much different compared to a watch, except perhaps when you'd wear a sweater over your watch.
It is also very typical that in-ear buds are expensive, small, yet hard to repair because the battery isn't user replaceable. And guess what, exactly the same for this device.
Apart from the yet another device with microphone (24/7 on, I suppose) and Bluetooth (the wireless spaghetti protocol) and it not being user serviceable the device costs 100 USD. For such a price, I expect it to last longer than two years. I mean, I'm sick of devices lasting only a few years. I wouldn't need yet another one.
TL;DR hard pass, do better.
> Some shows and movies seem harmless, initially, but then we noticed in so many kids movies (e.g., Zootopia, Sing), they're always yelling at each other, expressing anger, frustration, and hostility towards one another.
My kids are similar. Years ago I actually just unplugged the TV and put it behind some furniture for 3 months because I was so fed up. It calmed them down a lot (this was after Covid lockdowns, when we'd just given them too much TV) but still - it flares up.
I do think a lot of kids tv is either straight addictive (e.g. Cocomelon) or depicts how kids would like to behave, e.g. in how they talk to adults rudely (e.g. how they talk to the dad in Peppa Pig), or they're always right and the adults are wrong (too may examples to name). Bluey is the saving grace there, as it depicts healthy and respectful relationships, but it's very unusual.
my 3 year old is not going to type
mpv sftp://192.168.1.123:/home/remote-user/Films/Peppa_Pig_Against_Gerrymandering.mkv she can't type yet...
Theres a video somewhere of some guy reviewing Bluey and Peppa.
"This episode of bluey is about the trauma of growing up and experiencing change with references to these 3 popular films"
"And in the episode Peppa goes to the beach, Peppa pig... goes to the beach"
My daughter started commenting on people's appearance around age 5+ because she learned it from Peppa Pig. Everyone always talks down to and about the Daddy pig constantly. They try to incorporate some 'good' behaviors in the story but certain 'it's just a joke' jokes end up leaving more impressions on the kid than the shoehorned moral of the story. It took us a while to teach her how it can hurt others if you comment on things (even if they are technically factual statements). On the other hand, she learned some simple but useful things from Bluey that we weren't successful in teaching effectively. e.g. She learned to speak up and tell when Dad(me) was overdoing 'fun' things (literally an episode with exact same concept where Bingo has to tell her dad the same thing). She learned to be compliment and acknowledge many things verbally (instead of saying 'why do I need to say it, they know it already').
Peppa pig has little to no value though, whereas many people find Bluey wholesome and touching and sometimes really poignant. To each their own, but at least Bluey tries to encourage creativity and play and fun beyond jumping up and down in muddy puddles. The short episode length can be a natural disengage checkpoint with Bluey too, as long as auto play is turned off.
Yeah Pixar does it a lot, and Bluey, and Peppa Pig a little. But it's really uncommon in kids TV shows. 99% of them are straight up dross just for kids with no accomodation for parents.
That's why Bluey is so popular. It's the only good TV program for adults that kids will also watch. (And I agree it's only super popular for adults, kids are way more into trash like Blippi.)
Yeah this is a huge problem. AFAICT the "solution" currently is basically to just grind to the point you can understand Peppa Pig or the rough equivalent at ~40%-50% comprehension, and then sentence mine each episode painstakingly using something like Migaku + Anki flashcards until you can watch a brand new Peppa episode at ~80% comprehension. Its painful but after this you really "unlock" content and its a lot smoother and more interesting after that (the stone finally starts rolling _downhill")
I'm making an app to try to help with low level comprehensible input, posted elsewhere in this thread
I had the same problem, the solution is to start with extremely easy content, either from a language learning site/channel or content targeted at toddlers. Even 2 year olds already have quite advanced language skills! Peppa Pig is a perennial favorite. You build up from there with childrens' shows, cartoons, and at some point later on introduce graded readers. Watching full-speed native TV shows is like the final exam after 1500+ hours of study, and even then may have a lot not understood if you aren't familiar with the slang/dialect. This is especially true for heavily dialectical languages such as Chinese where it's common to always watch with subtitles on.
If you like peppa pig, give wolfoo a chance.
Also the animation for bluey and peppa pig use the same software, CelAction2D. There is an ending of bluey episode which shows the animators using the software to build the scene. My little one was amazed and asked me to get the software. She has an artistic side but this pushed her into learning about animation
I read a conspiracy post about how the kids' voices were AI (clearly not) but the post also pointed out many examples of audio clips being recycled across episodes. I notice it while watching now, so I think you're on to something here.
Conversely other shows have had many different voices actors without noticeable detriment by their targets audiences, such as Peppa Pig, discussed elsewhere here.
The other thing is that there is zero conflict in Peppa Pig - any bad thing that happens is resolved immediately. Peppa always gets what she wants. Bluey is far more realistic: the parents can't just wave a wand to make Bluey and Bingo's problems go away, and it leads to a life lesson.
For example, in the "Copycat" episode Bluey finds an injured bird and she and her dad take it to the vet. It dies anyway. But it's a valuable lesson for Bluey: she learns that some things are out of her and her parents' control and by the end of the episode she comes to accept it. They would never do an episode like that on Peppa Pig.
(I currently have a Bluey-obsessed toddler).
Fun fact: one episode of Peppa Pig was censored in Australia.
It was one about spiders, and basically about how spiders are cute, cuddly and there's no reason to be scared of them.
I mean, I sympathise with the decision... Just funny.
As a dad, I used to like Peppa Pig, but now can barely stand it - as opposed to Bluey.
Daddy Pig is fat, useless, convinced he's an expert in everything but failing every time. His parenting skills hover around 0, and always needs to be rescued, usually by Mummy Pig. So much for healthy co-parenting.
Furthermore, Peppa is mean to her friends, who like her regardless, she always gets special treatment.
I'm not saying there isn't a lot of good stuff in PP, there is for sure, but the issues above feature in every episode and they really get to me now.
I feel like I'm the only parent on planet Earth that really doesn't like Bluey. Every time I watch it(which is often, my son likes it), it just seems to be promoting bad behaviour at the expense of the dad(like many other shows to be fair - looking at you Peppa Pig), including physical violence(one episode the kids decide the dad now has a stomach ache, so they punch him in the gut - and the dad just plays along with it, it's never commented on as a bad thing). And the mum keeps making reductive comments and making fun out of the dad, even though he literally drops everything the second his kids want anything.
I don't know, I just don't get it. When people describe it as wholesome to me it feels like the opposite - it shows an unhealthy relationship between the kids and the parents, and I don't feel like it teaches my son any valuable lessons at all.
Indeed, in my original post I tried hard to stick to relaying the facts without too much editorializing, to let people make up their own minds as to the level of frustration what I describe evokes in them. But if I were to get to the point - I would express it in the words similar to yours - “what the actual fork?”
Here’s another mini-anecdote. On my iphone I have Amazon Prime app where it allows me to download episodes of Peppa Pig for my daughter to watch when we don’t have internet. Recently I wanted to cast these episodes on an AppleTV hooked up to a big TV in a hotel. It wouldn’t let me - because you are not allowed to use Screen Mirroring to show protected content, and AppleTV was connected to WiFi, but not internet - so it couldn’t verify licenses.
So bottom line - here I have content that I paid for, stored inside a protected from ground-up encrypted mainstream device, but I can’t play it on large TV in the same room, because “what if i somehow got around it being licensed!”.
All of this feels insane to me, especially being rather familia with constant slogans coming from Amazon and Apple about their customer-focused philosophies.
I think this is everywhere where English is more common. I live in an Indian city with many Indians (and others, including ex-pats) from all over. So, the kids default to English as the common language. Their exposure to TV/Movies of both the US and the UK influences how they speak - not just the accent but the words they use, which are, at times, not how a “common Indian-speaking-English” speaks.
And yes, my daughter grew up on Peppa Pig and had a British-ish accent. She has since mellowed and now has a more neutral accent. Her best friend is an American, but she didn’t pick up on that one.
Our family is from a remote corner of India, and we always had an accent. I grew up in a school run by a British soldier and his wife (he stayed in India after the war). In the last 20 years, I have worked primarily with American and British clients, which influenced how I talk, and I also learned a lot along the way. However, I find it hard to converse with the Scots; I am OK if I pay attention to the Australians and am highly comfortable with Jap-lish.
I now believe that there is nothing called a “fake accent.” All the third-culture kids pick up talks from all over the world, and they know the Internet colloquial more than their immediate geographical and cultural norms.
I speak three languages fluently, and I modify how I talk to make the listener understand better. The way I talk Hindi to an Indian from the north or west is different from how I speak to a South Indian. With English, not necessarily the accent, my muscle memory kicks in, which picks up and uses different ways of saying specific words and expressions depending on the listener.
It is OK to have any accent - play with it - there is nothing fake about it. :-)
I visited a friend a couple of years ago. His son was about 3, and they put on a movie while he was eating dinner. The kid’s fork had food on it and it froze halfway to his mouth while he watched the movie. He held it there for half an hour or something, hovering in the air while his eyes were glued to the screen.
Do you think kids are smart enough to understand advertising? Or resist the temptations they bring?
Personally I think all advertising targeted at children should be banned completely. Little Jimmy doesn’t need to be bombarded with ads for Peppa Pig merch. Especially if those ads are targeted just for him. Gross!
YouTube is terrifying. Ever since I read about people faking up Peppa Pig episodes with inappropriate content, I keep my two kids (3yr and 7yr) away from it.
Edit: „Elsagate“ seems to be the appropriate term.
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39381889.amp
Taking this from my blog post (https://briankung.dev/2022/04/13/how-and-why-our-kids-are-learning-chinese/):
Here are some shows on YouTube that we self-host:
- 宝宝巴士 – Baby Bus: shows, lullabies, and nursery rhymes good for babies and up - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCttafJi4SCirZhlxsxISbyA
- 巧虎 – Qiaohu: lots of Asian-style life lessons. Qiaohu was teaching kids to wear masks 3 years before the Covid-19 pandemic - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnjadOj5qlKXsTAXPSwc67A
- 海底小纵队 – Octonauts: a show about saving animals in the ocean that our kids loved - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1HDrSeslwU&list=PLNR4cTkVmPtit4UcSUZkoMNPAZNfGSOa0
- 小猪佩奇 – Peppa Pig: not the parents’ favorite show because the characters can be kind of obnoxious, but the kids like it - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRi0sw4PDw-C2C7fS9hrx5Q
Additionally for older kids, our 8yo has enjoyed:
- 叶罗丽 – Yeluoli, a show about magical dolls and fighting evil
- 小花仙 – Xiaohuaxian, a story about a girl with a magic bracelet
- 绿野仙踪 – The Wizard of Oz: a favorite of my wife's from her childhood. It’s an anime remix of the Wizard of Oz that was originally in Japanese, but she watched it as a kid in China
- 还珠格格 – A period drama about a fake princess
- 白蛇 – An animated movie about a demon snake and the snake catcher who finds her – EDIT – I forgot this one’s not a kids’ show. There is definitely a sex scene. That said, it’s pretty subtle and it went over our kids’ heads.
If my memory is correct, the entire Peppa Pig[1] TV Series was done in Flash. Many other popular TV series were done entirely in Flash. A good friend and fellow Flash champion, Chris Georgenes[2], did quite a lot of good animations during the early days of Flash.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppa_Pig
2. https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisgeorgenes
Now Peppa Pig, _that's_ a dystopia. Just from the episode where they, a bunch of talking animals, go to the zoo, to uh... look at the animals.
Feels like something from 19th century imperialist Europe.
My toddler is unaware that there is a whole world of video content made just for him - as far as he knows, the only videos that exist are nature documentary clips, cooking shows, church services and tech conference talks.
I know that as soon as some of his daycare classmates can really start talking, the veil will be pierced and he'll be begging to see (judging by said classmates' t-shirts and backpacks) Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig and Frozen.
And I'm not sure how we're going to deal with that.
I don't find anything brainwashing in Peppa Pig and Bluey, both of which are a huge hit with the kids/toddlers. I watched many episodes of both and in my opinion they are great.
It gets better:
it is used in at least one but do I think two or possibly more later episodes.
The one that pops into my mind is the one where the kids dress up as something from their favourite book and the Elephant kid dresses up as the very long number from Mummy Pigs book.
For some reason even while I'd much prefer silence, Peppa Pig doesn't annoy me as much as certain other kids tv shows. Maybe it is the lack of lessons to learn, that everyone messes upnor something like that?
It's peppa pig episode where mommy pig writes a book and george overflows the buffer of her computer by scoring very high in the chicken game
Harry Potter is probably the biggest exception, but American cinema is the vast majority of movies. If I now go look at the foreign films that are being shown here, there are 18 films that originate from the US and 5 films that originate from the UK based on IMDB details. And three of those films were actually credited to both the UK and the US.
Peppa Pig also is probably the worst example of people learning English from the British since you are not watching Peppa Pig in English unless you already live in an English-speaking country. It's a children's show, it's dubbed absolutely everywhere since children can't read subtitles.
And even though the GTA games are technically British games, they all take place in the United States, they are written to have (satirical) American dialogue and are pretty much fully acted out by Americans. Even European characters named Niko and Roman are voiced by American dudes named Michael and Jason.
Also, all of the new Tomb Raider games are actually American/Canadian productions.
You don't have to watch Peppa Pig. And if you do, you can (the first time through) curate episodes that are better (like the composting one) and just not repeat the really stupid ones.
Old school Sesame Street is a lot of fun for adults. The early Zelda games are great. Kiki, Ponyo, and Totoru are staples. I mean, like I said, this an incredible wealth of content from the past few decades; don't dwell on Peppa.
The company's a lot more than just Peppa Pig, though.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/24/peppa-pig-on-track-to-be-2bn-brand-after-making-splash-in-uk-and-asia
> The character is owned by Entertainment One, which makes and distributes TV and films including Grey’s Anatomy, Spotlight and The Hunger Games. The company said Peppa pulled in more than $1.1bn in retail sales, adding that it struck 500 new or renewed deals with TV and product licensing partners in the year to the end of March.
Additional (Additional (additional side-note)): No it’s not. The Guardian and other articles are wrong. [0]
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/au5hd6/is_winnie_the_pooh_really_banned_in_china/
In addition, Peppa Pig is not banned and neither are time travel shows. In 2018, there were over 20 TV shows that had time travel in them.
We just stick to the classics. Play School, Peppa Pig, The Wiggles, Lah Lah, and movies like Frozen, Happy Feet, etc. Stuff you hear about from other parents, or come across in daily life as a parent.
As mentioned in another comment, kids don't need the latest/greatest, they're perfectly happy with what they know, and you just slowly introduce stuff you want them to watch over time by adding it yourself.
Yeh we don't allow YouTube in our house, but instead use youtube-dl to scrape relevant educational/quality videos (Lah Lah, old Play School episodes, Peppa Pig, etc) to a local folder on the NAS. She gets to "watch youtube", but we get to control what's there.
YouTube is 100% not kid friendly in any way at all, not even with their parenting controls or their kids app. It should very much be seen as an adult platform with what gets pushed through there these days.
> YouTube is not a clear pass-through from one's truly held interests to the computer screen. I am not interested in fake news, Peppa the Pig, superhero movies, Logan Paul, Lil Durk, Time Magazine, and yet, loading up the YouTube home page just now, there they are.
With respect, there is no way this is correct - at least not in a meaningful sense.
Are you logged in with a YouTube account? Does anyone else pass YouTube traffic through your IP address, ie do you have children, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc? Do you purposefully block ads and analytics that would make suggestions like this random? Lil durk and Peppa pig are simply not going to be recommended next to each other without reason.
I just loaded YouTube.com and scrolled for _dozens of pages_. There is nothing remotley bizzarre. The most annoying thing is that it supports cut-and-pasters, who take clips from source videos that I watch and repost them.
Peppa Pig and other cartoons have official channels with free episodes on YouTube.
Elephant in the room being that peppa pig is not a copyright free content...
There is no risk at all to put your kid in front of a peppa pig list of episodes on Netflix or another legal video plateform.
But YouTube can’t efficiently curate or filter content like peppa pig because it’s not legal and the only appropriate action following law would be removal.
And that’s their main problem they actually needs illegal kids cartoon to be posted because it’s what people that put kid in front of YouTube are seeking. And Alphabet have paying customers that ask to place their ads in front of kids...
I was watching videos from the last CppCon and kept getting Peppa Pig recommendations as the next thing to watch. There is definitely something weird going on and YouTube must be complicit.
I don’t have kids yet, but if I become a parent I also plan to encourage them to play more in the real world. I didn’t have access to a games console or computer at home until I was 10, so most of my youth was spent creating my own fun, usually outside.
What scares me even more is seeing parents of younger kids, giving them their phone and letting them watch episodes of Peppa Pig or similar, all the time. Guess it works to keep them quiet though...
Peppa Pig presents many other unrealistic scenarios, as it is a childrens' cartoon for the youngest. If parent's are using it as guidance, the problem lies elsewhere. It is not an instructional series nor an educational film.
I don't need to prove anything, simple watching a few episodes is sufficient evidence. Or try reading any of these to see I am not alone in this view: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=peppa+pig+sexist&t=hf&ia=web
To say nothing of spiders:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/05/peppa-pig-spiders-cant-hurt-you-episode-pulled-off-air-in-australia-again
Yes, it was an episode of "Peppa Pig". https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/05/peppa-pig-spiders-cant-hurt-you-episode-pulled-off-air-in-australia-again
Peppa Pig is awesome (check out Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom, by the same team).
Whatever you do, don't ever permit Caillou. A couple episodes of it and our kids were mimicking bad behaviours - "hrmph" to any requests, whining constantly, etc. We banned it and everything went back to normal. http://www.sbnation.com/2014/3/26/5549908/arian-foster-caillou-is-awful
My daughter is 5. She had zero screen time till she was 2. After that, it was a case by case basis. 5 minutes a day when she was 3 - which is one peppa pig episode. The only computer time she was allowed were for drawing using paint or Photoshop. At 4, on special occasions, she got to ask for a few YouTube videos - usually Dora, peppa pig, or something educational. She was also allowed to ask to watch the news, which she did sometimes. Her allowed TV time went up to 20 minutes a day, but she didn't know that- for her, it was either 2 peppa pig episodes or one yo gabba gabba. However, we did not make a big deal of increasing her screen time. We made a big deal about the fact that because she is 4, she now gets two bedtime stories. At 5, her screen time has not increased. But, if she is a really good girl, she can ask for 3 bedtime b stories. How's it working? Well, she isn't bothered about TV that much, she loves books and she knows ads are really about getting you to spend money. So I think she's on the right track.
I try my best to answer all her questions and encourage her to ask more. When I don't know the answer, she and I do the research together.
I think the approach is working really well and we're going to do the same with our one year old too.