'dirtgirl is a gumboot-wearing girl who grows awesome tomatoes, knows cloud names and drives a big orange tractor.
dirtgirl's backyard is full of friends. There's scrapboy, her best friend, who's a whiz with junk, grubby with her grub's eye view, ken the weevil, a super stunt star with a healthy fear of heights, roger the rooster and the chicks, hayman, the monosyllabic scarecrow and the greenthumbs...real kids in real gardens having unreal fun.
dirtgirlworld is a celebration of life outside.
It's a place of bizarre insects, underground tunnels, vaudevillian trained chickens and performing stunt bugs.
Funky pop songs, guitars with attitude, beats, grooves and loops all blended with a tractor, make up the infectiously cool music in dirtgirlworld.
This musicentric series explores the natural world and invites the audience to 'go get grubby' in the big world outside.
dirtgirlworld is a place where we find out that we protect what we love.
As dirtgirl says...'it's all about balance'.
Made for 4 - 7 year olds, dirtgirlworld takes this audience to a world where real and unreal hang out together.'
Source: Mememe Productions website, www.mememe.com.au (sighted 14/12/10)
'In recent years, the importance of environmental education for young children has been globally acknowledged. At the same time, children have become recognized as ‘green consumers’ and as potential audiences for media messages about sustainability. Increasingly, many children’s films and television programmes fall within the loose genre known as ‘eco-media’ and/or seek to cultivate environmental awareness in young audiences. However, questions about authenticity arise when screen media texts adopt the role of informal environmental educator. This article investigates the troubled relationship between screen media and environmental learning with specific reference to the animated children’s television programme dirtgirlworld. The brainchild of Australian media creators Cate McQuillen and Hewey Eustace, dirtgirlworld promotes sustainability practices through unconventional means – including the use of a blended animation style and the development of an augmented reality iPhone app. This article investigates the strategies that McQuillen, Eustace, and their team have employed to authenticate dirtgirlworld’s environmental messages. Looking closely at the television series along with some of its transmedia extensions, the article argues that dirtgirlworld enables environmental learning by representing, positioning and addressing the child audience as ‘agents of change’ within natural and digital spaces.' (Publication abstract)
'In recent years, the importance of environmental education for young children has been globally acknowledged. At the same time, children have become recognized as ‘green consumers’ and as potential audiences for media messages about sustainability. Increasingly, many children’s films and television programmes fall within the loose genre known as ‘eco-media’ and/or seek to cultivate environmental awareness in young audiences. However, questions about authenticity arise when screen media texts adopt the role of informal environmental educator. This article investigates the troubled relationship between screen media and environmental learning with specific reference to the animated children’s television programme dirtgirlworld. The brainchild of Australian media creators Cate McQuillen and Hewey Eustace, dirtgirlworld promotes sustainability practices through unconventional means – including the use of a blended animation style and the development of an augmented reality iPhone app. This article investigates the strategies that McQuillen, Eustace, and their team have employed to authenticate dirtgirlworld’s environmental messages. Looking closely at the television series along with some of its transmedia extensions, the article argues that dirtgirlworld enables environmental learning by representing, positioning and addressing the child audience as ‘agents of change’ within natural and digital spaces.' (Publication abstract)