Supplemental viewing for after you finish Quiet On Set
Kids media is even darker than you think.
Like many of you, I was repulsed by the revelations uncovered in the Max documentary Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Yet, I was hardly surprised. Rumblings about Nickelodeon showrunner Dan Schneider’s predatory behavior have been made for years to this point, so this documentary was simply the levee fully breaking on the extent of his abuses.
For me personally, this docuseries fits within my growing understanding of children as an oppressed group, and the numerous ways children have been exploited by the entertainment industry. Whether formal acting onscreen or performing all sorts of activities for parent bloggers on social media, the exploitation discussed in Quiet On Set echoes sentiments from many about the inherent power imbalances between children and adults in employment scenarios.
I’d like to take this time to encourage you all to learn more about child exploitation in entertainment/social media. Parents, directors, producers, and the legal system are all guilty of enabling the abuse of children on camera. I’m glad more grown-up victims of these abuses have found the clarity and bravery needed to speak out. I’m also grateful for advocates and culture critics that are exposing these toxic dynamics either retroactively or in real time.
If you want some supplemental media to consume after watching Quiet On Set to enrich your understanding of this systemic problem, I’d recommend the following:
The Deep Dive YouTube channel. They’ve done numerous episodes about child stars and the unique ways they were each exploited by the industry. I found the episodes on Hilary Duff and the Disney machine to be particularly good.
This two-part biography series on Amanda Bynes from Mila Tequila on YouTube. (Not related, but her retelling of every episode of Jersey Shore is EPIC.)
@mom.uncharted on TikTok. Her account is dedicated to showing her followers real-time examples of how fucked up mommy blogging is for children across social media.
This video essay from The Financial Diet on the negative emotional and financial impacts faced by “kidfluencers” on family blogging channels.
This Teen Vogue article, featuring interviews from former child stars of family blogging channels. It also touches on the current state of child labor laws and activism around improving them.
Jennette McCurdy’s infamous book, I’m Glad My Mom Died, and basically any interview she did to promote it.
Remember, children are whole people deserving of human rights just like adults. None of these former child stars owe us their trauma for content. As adults, they deserve the privacy to withhold and/or autonomy to share their stories. When they never had those things as kids, let them reclaim them now in peace.