The Baudelaires: A vessel for challenged representations and problems in the public sphere?

The three Baudelaire’s are three brilliant examples of representation – not only do they represent few stereotypes of children, they also challenge a large variety of stereotypes, but first we must understand where representation comes from.

For example, their personality traits alone are a challenge of age representation. Violet has advanced knowledge of turning common items into machines, contraptions and or escape plans. Klaus has a large vocabulary and a deep understanding of literature, and Sunny’s teeth are as sharp as blades.   
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This is a major challenge of age representation due to the fact that most children are perceived as childish, naïve and lacking intelligence. But where did representations and their meanings come from in order for the series to challenge them? Richard Dyer states: “How we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others is based on how we see them; such seeing comes from representation.” (1993, p1) which could imply age representations are constructed from what is seen of children in reality: uneducated, playful and oblivious, and this has transpired into a common representation of children within the media. This representation is more or less the most realistic representation of the children, unlike the representation from A Series of Unfortunate Events due to the fact that in reality 14, and 12-year olds aren’t running around creating inventions and or have in depth memory of English literature. 

 
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However, this isn't the only way in which representation is created, language/signs within a culture also plays a huge part as it helps us understand and label things, "language creates our concepts of reality rather than reality existing before language gives words to it." (Kidd 2015, 20), which could mean that in order for something to be represented, it must be created by language as a concept of reality. Perhaps this is what A series of unfortunate events is aiming to do, they aim to use language and semiotics to create a reality where the concept of highly intelligent children is a possibility, therefore allowing them to represent the Baudelaire children in whatever way they would like as language provides "the conceptual framework in and through which reality is available to us." (Bignell 1997, 6), implying that no, representation is not shaped by how we are seen but instead language and semiotics that create representations which will then shape reality.

But despite the Baudelaire’s constantly being represented as a trio of intellectual children, they are repeatedly patronised throughout the series by their guardians, when they realise count Olaf has disguised himself in order to befriend the children’s guardian with the intentions of killing/getting rid of them, similarly adult characters constantly belittle Klaus by explaining vocabulary to his despite the fact he already knows what it means.

   
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This is mainly due to the relationship children have with adults within the real world, and the "tendency to view children in a relatively fixed hierarchical relationship not to parents, but to adults generally." (Flasher 1978, p517) This representation of relationships between age groups links to the public sphere as "Social order is not a given or natural state; it is constructed practically and represented symbolically." (Couldry 2012) So, due to representations of children having low social status, and adultism in general, children have very limited power within the public sphere, showing that their opinions will not matter despite their opinions having a valid argument. This is represented by being patronised and their voices constantly being disregarded, as mentioned earlier. In the case of the Baudelaire's, they want their voices to be heard in order to protect themselves and feel validated. However, due to their low social statues within the public sphere, they will never be taken seriously
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This could potentially be A Series of Unfortunate Event's way of showing that disregarding children's voices and opinions due to the fact they are disregarded as being inferior due to their young age, could potentially be dangerous. After all, each time the Baudelaire's try to tell someone about their abuse or problems, they are assumed to be overreacting. Which has been shown to lead to dangerous situations. 


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This is a real-life issue within our public society as children do not get to have an opinion or voice within it as the "very status of a child means in principle that the child has no political rights" (John 1995, p.106), which challenges Habermas’ earlier statement (Concepts), about all members of the public having access to the public sphere and the freedom to speak their opinions. Children are physically being denied the right to express their opinions due to their young age, and this is reflected within A Series of Unfortunate Events, instead of being challenged. This therefore takes away from their strong and challenged representations as it shows that despite their strong character and intelligence, they are denied the ability to be fully independent, and are instead controlled by those around them as their unique abilities are written off due to the fact that they are children, and children are not allowed political rights or a voice, which the Baudelaire’s would certainly use to raise issue with the abuse and have a say in who and how they are taken care of, instead of being shipped from relative to relative. 

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The public sphere also seems to have contradicting views around age of consent, hence why so many societies have an age of consent ranging from 16-18, which many within the public sphere do not agree on as everyone has their own opinion of when you are able acknowledge your actions and consent to them, however, the majority of the public sphere would agree that minors do not have the ability to consent. So, why does A Series of Unfortunate Events feature a controversial scene in which Violet, who is represented as age 14 at the time, is about to be married to Count Olaf whose age is never made clear but is speculated to be around age 40 due to his older appearance, because he believes marrying her will allow him to access her huge inheritance. This controversial scene has been kept within all different platforms of the series, but why? 

Perhaps it’s a statement about the growing amount of child marriages, for example “child marriage is “highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where around 4 in 10 young women were married before age 18”(UNICEF 2018). This is a big issue, and it lacks attention from both the public sphere and the government who are able to make change. But is change possible, even with the attention of the public sphere? Phelan suggests “Although actual policy decisions that form as well as merely affect the public sphere may be made behind the closed doors of government agencies” (1991, p73) Implying that when decisions are made by the government, they do not hugely change the way in which the public sphere works because these decisions are made without the involvement of the public, suggesting that even with public outcry the government is unwilling to listen and act on child marriage. This is also seen in a series of unfortunate events – the public is invited to come see the wedding (disguised as a play), and despite Olaf trying to kiss violet, no one within the audience speaks up or tries to stop the marriage. Perhaps the audience watching the wedding could be perceived as the government and the public sphere, who are aware of the fact child marriage exists but are slightly naïve to the idea because no one realises how often and how real it actually is, depending on the public sphere they are part of. The public sphere in which child marriage is normal, it would be expected that no one would speak out due to the large shared belief within the sphere that child marriage is normal, despite the fact this goes against politics, most likely due to culture, even though “the cultural public sphere does not have the same functions as the political one” (Tarta 2011, p11), suggesting that the cultural public sphere does not necessarily operate within the confined boundaries of the political public sphere, which is why they deem such events like child marriage as acceptable. 

But does this mean A Series of Unfortunate Events is trying to highlight an issue within society, and the lack of response from the public sphere? It can’t be said for certain on one hand it could just be an event made to show how the children are able to outsmart Count Olaf and his controversial plan, but considering this event has no effect on the plot and has been kept in across all media platforms of the series, then maybe they are trying to highlight a key issue.