By Kennedy Thomason and Sophie Foster
Elm Staff Writer and Opinion Editor
A slew of ongoing pop culture conversations are centering the revelation that child stardom is not the fun, glamorous, and envious lifestyle it has always been painted to be.
This is in no small part due to the chilling exposé “Quiet on Set,” which has brought to light the largely unseen abuse inflicted on some of Nickelodeon’s most famous child actors. A forthcoming and highly anticipated “Dance Moms” documentary is expected to similarly uncover shocking details about the treatment of the show’s former frontrunners.
While these types of productions help illuminate the experiences of former child performers, there is also a sense of urgency to save a current generation of children. Now, not only are minors being exploited by large corporations and show business executives, they are also facing manipulation at the hands of their own parents. Social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram feature accounts labeled “family vloggers” creating content based almost exclusively on their children’s lives.
Until recently, these accounts were often assumed to be harmless. That is until 2020, when many followers of the popular family vlog channel 8Passengers — run by matriarch Ruby Franke — began to question Franke’s discipline methods that the children were alluding to in their videos. These included withholding food and losing the so-called privilege of sleeping in their own bedrooms. A petition by skeptical viewers led to Child Protective Services opening a case against the parents, but “the case was closed because the claims were unsupported,” according to Business Insider.
Three years later, Ruby Franke would plead guilty to “four counts of aggravated child abuse” after Franke’s “malnourished 12-year-old son escaped from a window of [Franke’s business partner’s] home and showed up at a neighbor’s door asking for food and water,” according to The Cut.
In real-time, we are seeing an increasingly familiar scene play out with the TikTok account of the toddler Wren Eleanor, which has 17 million followers, according to Rolling Stone. The videos uploaded to her account are created, edited, and marketed by her mother, with the intent to make a cash cow out of her young daughter. Like Ruby Franke, Wren’s mom is taking advantage of the criminally unregulated business of social media influencing via children.
According to USA Today, parents who run these accounts have “no legal obligation to share the profits with their famous kids, or to protect their privacy or mental health.”
Another issue highlighted by Wren’s virality is that, unlike children’s television networks such as Nickelodeon, the audiences of most family vlog accounts are adults. This makes Wren, and children in her position, more vulnerable to online child predators.
Many creators who once shared the title of “family vlogger” have decided to take their children off social media altogether, such as Bobbi Althoff, Maia Knight, and The Daugh Fam. Accounts that have doubled down and ignored the obvious lack of safety for digitally popularized children are showing their true intentions.
These two crises intermix, proving one overarching truth: we owe children better than lives in the limelight beyond their consent. They are unable to advocate for themselves in the midst of their exploitation, so it is our responsibility as consumers to advocate for them.
Being a part of the generation who grew up watching shows like “Drake and Josh,” it has been painful to realize that while I was dreaming of living a day in the shoes of my favorite child stars, they were suffering in silence. Rather than dismiss or choose to remain ignorant about the dangers minors face in the entertainment industry, solid legislation is needed to protect them from the realities experienced by so many like Bell, the “Dance Moms” stars, the Franke siblings, Wren, and others who have recently spoken up about past mistreatment.
As consumers and human beings, it is our duty to be critical of the media we are delivered. The immense differences between the world of internet stardom and the world of television and cinema do not, unfortunately, encompass this pattern of abuse, which is among their most unforgivable commonalities. The thrill of fame or the appeal of money for parents should never be enough to excuse stripping a child of their would-be inalienable rights to safety and wellbeing.
Nickelodeon star or TikTok sensation, a child’s first priority should be, in the most obvious way, their childhood. A parent’s priority should be protecting that childhood and their child’s development above all else.
It is not enough to assume that children’s networks or even parents have the child’s best interests at heart. We must listen, we must advocate, and we must demand legislation.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Photo caption: Nickelodeon is under fire for allegedly enabling and protecting child abusers.