{"id":16827,"date":"2019-08-02T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2019-11-15T12:55:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T17:55:46","slug":"molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/","title":{"rendered":"Molly of Denali Explores Uncharted Territories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Molly of Denali<\/em>, the first nationally distributed children\u2019s series to feature a Native American lead character, follows 10-year-old Molly Mabray, a feisty and resourceful Alaska Native girl who lives at a remote trading post and takes viewers on her adventures alongside her friends and family. The series, which bowed on PBS Kids on July 15, is produced by WGBH Kids and Atomic Cartoons in association with CBC Kids and incorporates Indigenous voices in all aspects of production, both on camera and behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

After devising the show\u2019s concept, Executive Producer Dorothea Gillim\u2014alongside co-creator Kathy Waugh\u2014quickly realized that she, as a native of Rochester, New York, couldn\u2019t even begin to tell the story of the Indigenous people of Alaska. \u201cWe quickly realized that it wasn\u2019t our story to tell and we needed to work with people who could help us tell the story \"***Image***\"right,\u201d Gillim tells TV Kids Weekly<\/em>. \u201cIt would have been very presumptuous of me as a non-native to set out to tell their story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s creators subsequently assembled a board of Alaska Native advisors to assist them on every aspect of the show\u2019s production, from reviewing scripts to designing what Molly\u2019s fictional village of Qyah would look like. \u201cWhen we set out to do the show, we wanted to do it right, which meant not repeating damaging stereotypes of what it means to be Alaska Native,\u201d Gillim said. They hired a full-time Alaska Native creative producer, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, who herself hails from an environment similar to Molly\u2019s. They also received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that allowed them to mentor six Alaska Native writers to write for the series, as well as do voiceover workshops with Native kids so that they could participate in the show\u2019s creation. All of the Indigenous roles on Molly of Denali<\/em> are played by either First Nations or Alaska Native actors, and Molly herself is voiced by Sovereign Bill, a 14-year-old girl who is of Tlingit and Muckleshoot descent. Even the theme song is sung by an Alaska Native band, Pamyua. Altogether, there are over 60 Indigenous people working in some capacity on the project, which extends outside of the TV series to educational companion materials and a podcast as well.<\/p>\n

The show has a literacy curriculum that focuses on informational text, and in each episode, Molly navigates her world and solves problems with the help of books, online resources, field guides, historical documents, maps, photos, Indigenous knowledge from elders and her vlog, among other resources. \u201cSo Molly uses forms of informational texts to help solve her problems,\u201d Gillim says. \u201cWe were trying to model that for our audience so that they learn that they\u2019re empowered to solve their problems with the information that surrounds them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the two 11-minute story segments in each episode, live-action interstitials featuring Native kids are interspersed. Gillim and her team use the series\u2019 live-action portions to reinforce its literacy goals, as well as showcase real Indigenous kids living their normal lives. \u201cWe felt it was a really great opportunity for us to do some live-action pieces that would show kids that Molly and her world and her culture are in fact real,\u201d Gillim says. \u201cThere are real Alaska Native kids living today, doing all sorts of fun activities. So it was an opportunity for us to reinforce one of the messages of the show, which is that Alaska Native culture is not something of the past; it\u2019s very modern and alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gillim also touched on the importance of young Native and non-Native kids alike seeing Native Americans represented on the shows they watch. For Native viewers, Gillim hopes that they\u2019ll find the representation Molly of Denali<\/em> provides validating, \u201cBut beyond that, if you\u2019re non-Native, it\u2019s an opportunity to learn about a culture that has been under-represented in American history,\u201d she says. \u201cI think kids everywhere will identify with Molly and her friends because they\u2019re really just everyday kids who have the same problems that kids everywhere do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each episode of the series reinforces Alaska Native values, too, like having respect for all life on Earth, revering your elders, having patience, being resilient and accepting what life brings your way with a smile. \u201cWe really hope that the audience takes away those messages because they\u2019re important messages for all kids to learn, especially today,\u201d Gillim says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dorothea Gillim, Molly of Denali executive producer, talks about the first nationally distributed children\u2019s series to feature a Native American lead character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1049,"featured_media":16828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21],"tags":[4775,3670,146],"class_list":["post-16827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-dorothea-gillim","tag-molly-of-denali","tag-pbs-kids","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nMolly of Denali Explores Uncharted Territories - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Molly of Denali Explores Uncharted Territories - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dorothea Gillim, Molly of Denali executive producer, talks about the first nationally distributed children\u2019s series to feature a Native American lead character.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-02T13:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-15T17:55:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2017\/07\/2019-08-01-Molly-of-Denali.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison Skilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alison Skilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/\",\"name\":\"Molly of Denali Explores Uncharted Territories - TVKIDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-02T13:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-15T17:55:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/f590d4d1481b8cce2a066e89197c7550\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/molly-of-denali-explores-uncharted-territories\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Molly of Denali Explores Uncharted Territories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/\",\"name\":\"TVKIDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/#\/schema\/person\/f590d4d1481b8cce2a066e89197c7550\",\"name\":\"Alison Skilton\",\"description\":\"Alison Skilton is an associate editor of World Screen. 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