Hollywood Media and Cultural Representation in Early Childhood Education
Early childhood lays the foundation for learning and human development. That is why I read across genres and disciplines, often returning to one question: How might this influence young children, their families, and the people who educate them?
This curiosity connects directly to my work on identity readiness, which emphasizes helping children develop a positive sense of self, belonging, confidence in their voices, and pride in their cultures alongside other areas of development (Long-Coleman, 2026a). My writing on Black identity and belonging also considers how language, family histories, and the right to define oneself inform culturally responsive practice (Long-Coleman, 2026b). Together, these works provide a conceptual lens for asking whether educational environments recognize and support who children are becoming.
The changes unfolding in Hollywood bring these questions into focus. Decisions about whose stories receive financing and distribution invite us to examine who participates in shaping cultural narratives. For early childhood educators, those questions connect to the materials children encounter and the opportunities they have to tell their own stories.
The stories and images children encounter can communicate whose lives and experiences are considered important (Derman-Sparks, 2016). Through the lens of identity readiness, I am interested in the messages children receive about belonging and possibility, as well as families’ and communities’ freedom to share their own experiences.
Reporting on Ava DuVernay’s October 2026 appearance at the BFI London Film Festival, Kerich (2026) described her concerns about studio consolidation and her encouragement of alternative financing and direct connections with audiences. Her comments offer a filmmaker’s perspective on industry change. They do not establish that Hollywood has ceased functioning or that a particular financing model will produce better representation.
One documented change is the August 2025 merger of Paramount Global and Skydance. The corporate announcement confirms the transaction, while its statements about future benefits describe business expectations (Paramount Skydance Corporation, 2025). Determining how such a merger affects cultural representation would require examining the content commissioned and distributed over time.
Production arrangements should therefore be evaluated in relation to particular works. Questions about financing and distribution are relevant, but they do not replace an examination of perspective, characterization, and accuracy. An educator selecting a story can ask who created it, whose experiences inform it, and whether its portrayal offers children a thoughtful account of the people represented.
Cultural framing involves choices about perspective, setting, language, and characterization. A story might present a community through a visitor’s observations or through the experiences of people living within it. Asking whose perspective organizes the narrative helps educators examine what receives attention and what remains outside the frame.
A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a group. In selecting children’s materials, Derman-Sparks (2016) recommends examining stereotypes, tokenism, invisibility, and the relationships among characters. These considerations support reviewing both individual works and the range available across a collection. A portrayal of a cultural celebration, for example, should be considered alongside stories showing varied everyday experiences.
Representation can also be measured systematically. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (2026) reported that women and girls constituted 33.6% of speaking or named characters in the 100 top-grossing films of 2025. This finding describes a defined sample of popular theatrical films. It does not describe all entertainment, establish the accuracy of individual portrayals, or measure what preschool children watched.
Content analysis and audience research answer different questions. Counting characters identifies patterns in visibility. Studying viewers can examine how people interpret and respond to what they encounter. A disparity in a film sample does not, by itself, establish a developmental outcome for children. Connecting those findings requires evidence about children’s actual experiences with the content.
Experimental research offers evidence about one way young children can acquire social preferences. Skinner et al. (2017) showed children ages 4 and 5 videos in which adults received different nonverbal signals. Children subsequently preferred recipients of positive signals. In a second experiment, preferences extended to other people associated with those recipients. These findings demonstrate that observed nonverbal interactions can influence children’s social preferences under controlled conditions.
The experiments did not establish lasting effects from a particular movie or test the consequences of Hollywood consolidation. They support attending to the social signals children observe, while questions about everyday exposure and the persistence of effects require further investigation (Skinner et al., 2017).
Broader research also points to viewing context. Mallawaarachchi et al. (2024) reviewed 100 studies of screen use among children younger than 6 years; 64 observational studies contributed to the meta-analyses. Shared media use was positively associated with cognitive outcomes. Greater program viewing and background television were associated with poorer cognitive outcomes, while program viewing, age-inappropriate content, and caregiver screen use during routines were associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes.
Because these pooled findings came from observational studies, the associations do not establish cause and effect. Differences in measurement and study quality also limit interpretation. The review supports examining content and social context alongside viewing duration, while leaving room for further research on how particular experiences relate to development (Mallawaarachchi et al., 2024).
The American Academy of Pediatrics (2026) similarly places media use within children’s family and digital environments. Its guidance includes considering the child, content, emotional regulation, activities displaced by media, and communication. These recommendations offer a framework for conversations among educators and families; they are professional guidance informed by research rather than the result of one experiment.
Within this discussion, I view the freedom to share our own stories as an educational aim. It means having opportunities to describe experiences, choose forms of expression, and influence how an account is presented. It also includes choosing an audience or declining to participate. Whether a particular storytelling practice improves a specific developmental outcome remains an empirical question.
Educators might invite families to share an experience, tradition, or everyday routine through photographs, written accounts, or recordings in a preferred language. Before collecting materials, staff should explain how they will be used and obtain permission. Each contribution represents that family’s experience. As I discuss in my writing on Black identity, a shared racial category should not substitute for learning about an individual child’s family and cultural history (Long-Coleman, 2026b).
Children can contribute through dictated stories, drawings, puppets, movement, or communication devices. An educator might help record a child’s account and ask whether it conveys what the child intended. These are proposed ways to support participation, adapted to children’s interests and communication needs. Children should have opportunities to revise an account or keep it private.
Research on structured storytelling provides relevant, though specific, evidence. Nicolopoulou et al. (2015) studied 149 preschoolers from families with low incomes in classrooms with and without a storytelling and story-acting practice. Participation across a school year was associated with improvements in several measured outcomes, including narrative comprehension and print awareness. The findings concern a structured activity implemented within a particular classroom program.
That study supports further examination of storytelling as part of early learning. Its results do not establish that every storytelling activity produces the same benefits or that sharing cultural experiences necessarily reduces stereotypes. Claims about cultural understanding would require measures designed to assess that outcome (Nicolopoulou et al., 2015).
Educators can examine portrayals through questions children can explore. During a familiar story, they might ask, “What does this character want?” or “Could someone else solve the problem?” Children could suggest another ending or introduce a character. These examples illustrate possible classroom practice; educators would need to consider children’s responses and the learning goals involved.
Reviewing a collection can also be systematic. Staff might record which characters lead activities, how languages are presented, and whether people with disabilities participate in varied roles. Counts should be considered alongside context and characterization. Derman-Sparks’s (2016) selection guide provides practical criteria for examining these questions without reducing representation to a simple tally.
The four goals of anti-bias education described by Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2019) address identity, comfort with diversity, recognition of unfairness, and action against bias. Their framework can help educators explain the purposes behind material selection and classroom discussion. Evaluating a specific activity still requires evidence appropriate to the outcome being claimed.
Program leaders can support this work by setting aside planning time and identifying who will select materials, consult families, and review classroom use. Accessibility, language options, cost, and suitability for the children involved belong in those decisions. Staff can consider a widely distributed production and a locally created story against the same stated criteria, documenting their reasons so that choices can be revisited.
Researchable questions can make improvement more concrete. Does a wider selection of stories change which characters children choose in play? Does a storytelling invitation reach children who rarely participate? Classroom observations can guide planning, although observations alone cannot establish that an activity caused a change. Families’ observations can add context, and no family should be expected to speak for an entire community.
Hollywood’s restructuring raises questions about ownership and access whose consequences require continued investigation. Early childhood educators can contribute by selecting materials thoughtfully and creating voluntary opportunities for children and families to tell their own stories. My work on identity readiness brings me back to a practical question: What are the stories in our learning environments communicating about who children are and where they belong?
References
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2026, January 20). A child-friendly digital world: AAP releases new media recommendations. HealthyChildren.org. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/news/Pages/creating-a-child-friendly-digital-world-AAP-releases-new-media-recommendations.aspx
Derman-Sparks, L. (2016, January 27). Guide for selecting anti-bias children’s books. Teaching for Change. https://www.teachingforchange.org/guide-for-selecting-anti-bias-childrens-books
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2019). Understanding anti-bias education: Bringing the four core goals to every facet of your curriculum. Young Children, 74(5), 6–12. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2019/understanding-anti-bias
Kerich, P. (2026, October 13). Ava DuVernay says ‘Hollywood is over’ as she calls for new ways to finance films. TheGrio. https://thegrio.com/2026/10/13/ava-duvernay-hollywood-over-14th-documentary/
Long-Coleman, V. (2026a). Are we preparing schools for children’s identities? [Infographic]. Early Childhood Innovations.
Long-Coleman, V. (2026b). What do we call ourselves? Black identity, belonging, and the responsibility of early childhood education: A thought piece on language, positive identity development, and culturally responsive practice. Early Childhood Innovations.
Mallawaarachchi, S., Burley, J., Mavilidi, M., Howard, S. J., Straker, L., Kervin, L., Staton, S., Hayes, N., Machell, A., Torjinski, M., Brady, B., Thomas, G., Horwood, S., White, S. L. J., Zabatiero, J., Rivera, C., & Cliff, D. (2024). Early childhood screen use contexts and cognitive and psychosocial outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 178(10), 1017–1026. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.2620
Nicolopoulou, A., Cortina, K. S., Ilgaz, H., Cates, C. B., & de Sá, A. B. (2015). Using a narrative- and play-based activity to promote low-income preschoolers’ oral language, emergent literacy, and social competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31, 147–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.01.006
Paramount Skydance Corporation. (2025, August 7). Skydance Media and Paramount Global complete merger, creating next generation media company [Press release]. https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/skydance-media-and-paramount-global-complete-merger-creating
Skinner, A. L., Meltzoff, A. N., & Olson, K. R. (2017). “Catching” social bias: Exposure to biased nonverbal signals creates social biases in preschool children. Psychological Science, 28(2), 216–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616678930
Smith, S. L., & Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. (2026). Inequality in 1,900 popular films: Examining portrayals of gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+ & characters with disabilities. USC Annenberg. https://assets.uscannenberg.org/aii/inequality1900films_080526.pdf
About the Author
Victoria Long-Coleman, Ph.D., MBA is the Founder and Principal of Early Childhood Innovations. An early childhood educator, leadership, coach, author, speaker, she focuses on strengthening educators, developing leaders, and translating research into practical approaches that improve early childhood systems.
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