The Toils of Child Labor: Revisiting Glamorized Kids Entertainers

Dokpri

Carly Shay: “I just want you to be happy”.

Sam Puckett: “Then bake me a pie”.

The lighthearted dialogue belongs to the iconic TV series, iCarly, which rebooted a few months ago. However, an important character cut all ties with the show: Sam Puckett. Jennette McCurdy who played Sam in iCarly revealed numerous reasons for not reuniting on the reboot. She highlighted her unwillingness to act and the abuse she experienced. This led to a 13-year-long eating disorder until the age of 24. She is not the first: many superstars who started young struggled in their adult years. Lindsay Lohan struggled with alcohol, Miley Cyrus struggled with drugs…the list goes on and on. Why does the crazy ex-child star stereotype exist? Should children participate in the entertainment industry? Are child entertainers just a glamorized violation of child labor laws?

Child Labor Laws

Has it ever occured to you that the minimum fifteen-year-old age qualification for jobs doesn’t apply to the entertainment industry? Kids, even babies, are frequently shown in performances, TV shows, movies, music videos, and magazines. Around the world, there are special laws made for children in the entertainment industry. However, there has not been a strict international benchmark, unlike common child labor laws. This has led to many countries missing important parameters of child protection. For one, USA’s Coogan Law only protects the earnings of children by ensuring at least 15% is put into a separate savings account for children. However, there is no benchmark of children’s wages, hours of work, and amount of jobs taken𑁋this decision is left to each state and/or agency’s decision.

Due to the lack of regulations, children in entertainment become the play toys of money-hungry adults. Children find themselves in hazardous set conditions, which led Disney Star Alyson Stoner to stress, malnourishment, and eventually, multiple eating disorders. Her team was no sport, either. When she checked into rehab, she was forced to continue her auditions to avoid the risk of “losing momentum”. Sadly, many parents are also extremely driven by money. Due to financial instability, Jennette McCurdy’s parents forced her into acting. She was force-fed audition after audition and starved to maintain a youthful figure. Her parents hoped that this would help her score roles of children and teenagers; roles she has had tremendous success in.

The Hurdles of Social Media Stars

With the murky situation of children in conventional entertainment jobs, social media was taught to be a beacon of hope. Children who were a minimum of thirteen years old could access social media and freely create without having to put on a persona. Social media seemed like an upgrade from the toxic entertainment industry, but reality has proven otherwise.

With minimum barriers to entry and the option for content monetization, many families have snatched up the opportunity to gain fame and money through children. Lil Tay, a notorious internet phenomenon, rose to fame at nine years old for her unlikeable, smug character that was created by her family to gain social media recognition. Social media has also given birth to family-centered channels which, at surface, seemed like a safe form of entertainment for other children. However, several of these channels actually display immoral behavior, one of the most infamous being DaddyOFive, a channel that included parents performing abusive “prank” videos on children. The parents who owned the channel even lost custody due to their damaging behavior towards their children.

The law-making world could try to keep up with this new era of online stars, but there are many considerations. Many online creators don’t have strict schedules of content creation and supervision, especially when they aren’t under an agency. It is impossible to predict and supervise a supposedly-independent child talent who creates content from the comforts of their home. It is also unclear whether merely recording a child’s daily activities would be considered as work as it leads to an income stream. The greyness of social media regulations allow room for child labor laws to be violated.

Stunted Child Development

With adoring fans, headline news, and thousands of dollars to their names, child stars barely live the average childhood. Living under the public’s scrutiny is a burden in itself. However, the controlling nature of the industry towards children is oftentimes missed as a potential rig in children’s development.

The human capital index is measured by outcomes of education and health. The quality of humans in society is then further elaborated by Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development with its eight human stages. By eighteen years old, humans will have gone through five stages:

1. Trust vs. Mistrust, which either builds trust or mistrust towards adults
2. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt, which a sense of independence or low self esteem if repressed
3. Initiative vs. Guilt, which builds initiative or guilt if repressed
4. Industry vs. Inferiority, when children start comparing themselves and adapting to their peers
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion, when children discover their “adult” selves or conform to others’ ideas

Numerous child stars tend to be underdeveloped in these stages, depending on when they experienced unwanted situations in their career. Child stars who are forced into show business develop guilt and low self esteem. They may also be pressured to stray away from “discovering their true selves” as many child star’s personalities are defined by the characters they play on screen. This condition only pertains to child stars because their targets are kids and it is difficult for kids to internalize that actresses on screen and in real life are different. These stars cannot be themselves or grow up into people that diverge from their on-screen persona. This traps their curiosity and leads to rebellion in their adult lives, encouraging them into a world of alcohol and drug abuse, crimes, and so on.

Closure For the Kids

Without significant change to child entertainment regulations, children are in danger of being more exposed to abusive situations and unhealthy working conditions. In addition to that, younger generations who don’t participate in the entertainment industry are in danger. They look up to their favorite figures in child shows who potentially struggle with drugs, crimes, and their own well-being. Children are also exposed to potentially harmful “family-centered” content.

Excluding children altogether from the entertainment industry is impossible and unfair for children who are interested in participating. Deleting all forms of entertainment for children would not work. Nonetheless, it is important to note that children’s protection laws are far from perfect and monitoring of children’s content is also important. After all, the future belongs in the hands of children.

References

Donna. [Internet Impact]. (2021, September 9). Jennette McCurdy: How Hollywood Controls The Child Actor [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJOP2w1zGz0&t=2935s

Guzman, J.D., Neyza. (2020). The Children of YouTube: How an Entertainment Industry Goes Around Child Labor Laws. Child and Family Law Journal, 8(1), Article 4. https://lawpublications.barry.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=cflj

Millburn, J.F. & Nicodemus, Ryan. [The Minimalists]. (2020, January 24). Jennette McCurdy Opens up About Her Eating Disorders [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0OB2hylXqc