Wonder Showzen and Hollywood parents

I've seen some Wonder Showzen and laughed a lot, but a lot of it made me squeamish, but not in the way the creators wanted. I think the show is basically as if some /b/tards from 4chan who were lucky enough to get mtv airspace, so the content is not shocking or new to me. The more subtle indictment, in my mind, is of these Hollywood parents who will stop at nothing to get their kid exposure. The creators pushed the envelope more and more and there were always parents willing to play along. The creators win, FOR ART! The parents win, FOR VALIDATION! But the kids lose.

Do these kids deserve to be treated as a means to an end, whether by their parents or by the show's writers? Do they deserve to be exposed (however indirectly) to a lot of horrible stuff for the sake of absurdist comedy? This subtext, this indictment of Hollywood parenting is so subtle that I'm really not sure it's there at all. I wish I could say that the creators care for more than shooting for those moments of supreme awkwardness or a particular punchline, but watching the BTS vids I can't, not really. The way they barrel through their routines, no matter how uncomfortable a child got unsettled me.

In trying to separate out emotional reasoning, I thought about an episode of Carnivale where they had to find a little boy to play a child prostitute. Is that any more acceptable because it's a small role in a dramatic context? The kid still had to be taught about that horrible reality from (hopefully) his parents. So, with that in mind. I guess my rant is double-edged. The creators/crew had a responsibility to make sure as much of their satirical comedy as possible was "created in post" without the involvement of kids (which they only succeeded some of the time). And most of the responsibility lies with the parents, who have the unenviable task of explaining some very heavy issues to their very small children so that an absurdist comedy show will have its raw material. Whether either of those things were ensured responsibly is debatable.

And before you call me a prude, let me remind you that I'm a hardcore /b/tard. I just agree, as is the general consensus there, you don't *beep* exploit children and you don't *beep* exploit animals. That's the rub, there, is this exploitation or not?

inb4 rulez 1 & 2!!111