Today on Twitter someone criticized the Science Center for “…[letting kids play on our replica Titanic bow] and teaching kids about a tragedy where hundreds drowned horribly”.
It’s not the first time we’ve been taken to task for talking about things that aren’t nice. Parts of our Infection Connection gallery discuss deadly diseases like AIDS. The Cotton-top Tamarin exhibit in our Eat and Be Eaten gallery addresses extinction. We have had, and will likely have in the future, traveling exhibitions that deal with other kinds of topics that are controversial, scary, or some other kind of disturbing.
To juxtapose those exhibitions with others like Dora the Explorer or Sid the Science Kid might seem at best odd and, at worst, in poor taste. We acknowledge that it is a fine line to walk, and there’s no shortage of discussions about which exhibits we should bring in and when amongst the staff.
A traveling exhibition like Titanic is no exception. From the moment we heard it was coming we started talking about balancing the tragedy of the event with the pop culture relevancy that has endured from the 1997 film, Titanic. Again, it would be a tough balancing act, but we never doubted that we could do both.
Our confidence came from a perspective best described by world-renowned children’s book author Maurice Sendak in this 2004 interview with Bill Moyers. It’s a wonderful interview, so you should watch the full thing when you can. The moment we’re referring to comes at 15:50:
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MOYERS: You know, in the culture when I was growing up or about the time you were growing up in New York, it was traditional to say if there was a death in the family, if a little girl asked, “Where is mommy?” “Mommy’s in heaven.” If the pet died, “Where’s Midnight?” “In heaven.” We put fig leaves over death.
SENDAK: Oh, well sure but…
MOYERS: I mean, we need fig leafs, don’t we?
SENDAK: We do. Of course, you can’t say that’s harmful because it’s such an impossible question to deal with. It really is. And many children’s books have tried to do it, the dead bird, the dead cat, the dead this, the dead that.
I don’t know that there’s… I’m not saying that I have an answer to that. I wouldn’t… I imply it. I certainly don’t spell it out.
But they have to know it’s possible things are bad. But, they are surrounded by people who love them and will protect them but cannot hide the fact that there is something bad.
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We can’t give our children a perfect world. We can give them an understanding of science. If they manage to have a little fun during the process, all the better.