Something that always bothered me so much when I was a little girl was the comparative rarity of and screentime given to the female characters in the cartoons I watched. Bananaman, Dangermouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle, even Captain Planet (which had female characters! But they were 2/5ths of the five, and got less to say overall). It pissed me off SO MUCh that these cartoons were meant to be ‘boys AND girls!’ cartoons, but why did boys always get to be the title character? Be the hero? And hog all the speaking lines? Any cartoon that had a female title character, or dared to reverse that ratio of male-to-female screentime & cast, was suddenly ‘only for girls.’ I was expected to identify with boys over my own gender, but boys weren’t expected to identify with mine.
Now that I am an adult, of course I know why. And now that I have a kid of my own, it’s disheartening to discover how little has changed. I want better for my child than that. With all my recent thoughts about representation swirling in my mind, it’s been depressing as hell to see that even media for toddlers doesn’t promote equality.
So I thought I’d write up a few of my observations so far.
Bright Spots
Sesame Street. Diverse cast of mostly POC, characters of differing genders, same-sex relationship (Bert and Ernie!). Thank heavens.
Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom: Equal representation between male and female characters! POC fairies and Elves! Possible aro-ace Nanny Plum! Female characters with differing designs and personalities, huzzah! Even an equal footing in the title between the little boy and little girl characters. The boy is not dumb and bumbling. The mum is not a stick-in-the-mud. The King’s shortcomings are actually of benefit in his job as King!
Peppa Pig: YES. THANK THE PIGGY GODS FOR PEPPA PIG. Lots of characters, some obviously POC, all very different, the women characters are not killjoys, the girl characters actually make action happen rather than support and comment upon the boy’s action. Hallelujah.
Playschool: YOU GO PLAYSCHOOL. So much representation. POC presenters more often than not. Lots of inclusiveness. Regular deaf presenter using Australian sign language! WOOP.
Dinosaur Train: Awesome stuff. Seriously, love it. Ladies and girls everywhere, the boys are not dumb (one is obsessed with discovering more information), the girls have distinct personalities and designs, the mum is not a killjoy or boring, the dad is not thick and bumbling. Also, I like learning about the dinosaurs!
Peg + Cat: YES YES GOOD GIRLS DOING MATHS RECURRING POC CHARACTERS YES MORE PLS
Fireman Sam: Although there is only one member of the rescue services that is female (and they’re all as white as A4 paper), there is a big supporting cast of diverse POC and female characters. I’m not sure how Sam hasn’t strangled Norman yet, though
Chuggington: Asian female genius inventor-mechanic!! Female train is the FASTEST AND MOST IMPRESSIVE! YES. They both do not get nearly the screentime of the boys, once again, but gosh that’s some shiny shiny positives.
Disappointing
Octonauts: Two female characters, neither of which are one of the ‘main three’. One is indeed a technician/mechanic, and it’s nice to see a female character in a STEM field, but neither may appear at all in half the episodes! In fact they may only get a single line per episode. Very disheartening, particularly because the messages about conservation and marine life are so good. Such a disappointment in an otherwise fun show.
(also – how is a polar bear the same size as a tabby cat, please and thank)
Shaun the Sheep: ONE FEMALE SHEEP, are you actually kidding me. The only ONLY female character. Only one. ONE. Such a funny, great and detailled show failing in such a rubbish way, urgh. The only way we know, also, is because she has curlers in her hair and a child. I shit thee not. Some nasty fat-shaming stuff for the big sheep too.
Tree Fu Tom: Really. Really. Two female characters. One is indeed a POC, but again – only shows up in perhaps every fourth episode. The other one is in maybe every second episode. She is indeed one of the ‘Big Five’… but once again, only one of five characters a girl? Give me a break, it’s the Avengers all over again. Plus there’s the uncomfortableness of a generic personality-free white boy using something called ‘Tree Fu’ which seems to be a pastiche of kung fu and calisthenics.
Giggle and Hoot: It’s all about the boys. This is meant to be the ABC’s flagship children’s entertainment? Anyone who has accused the ABC of pushing a feminist agenda of equality should watch this for an hour and they will leave feeling reassured, urgh. Male presenter (who is excellent, sure) – no female presenter at all. Both male characters are title characters (Jimmy Giggle & Hoot the Owl); the girl Owl’s name is a derivative of the boy’s (Hootabelle). The girl owl has to sing the boy owl’s praises every time they show off children’s artwork. (It’s so heartbreaking to see that all the little girls draw Hootabelle over and over again, because they have a choice of One.) It’s constantly reiterated that the boy owl and the presenter are best friends, and that the two owls are “Owl Pals” – whatever that is, but tell me that doesn’t feel second-tier. Where’s Hootabelle’s best friend? The songs (which are beautifully animated and performed, tbh) are skewed towards focusing on the boys and their adventures. Even the boys’ toys (which are also – surprise surprise – male) get more songs and screentime than the female owl. She turns up for two seconds in the title sequence. They even show mostly male characters in their sleep-time sequence. Still waiting on a song about the cat toy. How the hell has that not happened?
Mike the Knight: Again, far more boys than girls. A POC as the narrator/bard, but that’s about it. Why couldn’t one of the dragons be a girl? Also, Mike’s constantly-sidelined sister is about three times more interesting than he is. The King barely turns up at all, but when he does he is immediately the hero (it appears that the Queen actually runs the Kingdom single-handedly in his absence: now there’s a show I’d like to watch!)
The Hive: Gender-coloured wings, you must be joking. Intense colour-coding and gendered activities everywhere you look, tbh. Dad works, mum looks after baby. I saw an episode where the boys shunned the girls, and so the girls did so in return – and the girls were expected to apologise, not the boys. Also I am still vaguely weirded out about bees having nuclear families. (WTF??)
The Wotwots: The girl never initiates any action, and appears to be merely a reaction-machine for her far more interesting and dynamic brother to bounce off.
Thomas and Friends: ONE female train. One, in a cast of dozens. Chuff off.
Lazytown: Six male recurring characters. Three female. (Only one of which can be guaranteed to be in every episode.) Ha. Ha ha. Ha.
So, there we have it. There’s more, of course. A LOT more. But this has been eating away at me for a few weeks now, and so I wanted to have a small grumble about it. Aaaaand so a small grumble turned into a bit of an essay, because I am Wordy As Heck.
I am horrified but not surprised that this prioritisation begins so young. We should really be doing better. All kids deserve better. Girls should be allowed to take up more than 1/5th of space and time. Boys should be able to identify with non-boy characters. There should be more POC in title positions, rather than generic white boy.
Though something that really stands out to me? Is that the majority of those in my ‘Bright Spots’ list are TREMENDOUSLY successful.
Wow. It’s almost like all kids want to see themselves on telly or something.
Aw Yiss 