Category Archives: Television programs

After massive protest, Disney pulls new Merida from site

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Exciting news! Today, Rebecca Hains, blogger and media studies professor, reports:

“As of today, Disney has quietly pulled the 2D image of Merida from its website, replacing it with the original Pixar version. Perhaps we’ll be spared an onslaught of sexy Merida merchandise yet.”

YAY! Check out the link, it’s true! BRAVE Merida is back.

I guess Disney was right to be so terrified of creating a strong, BRAVE, female protagonist (along with Pixar studios which hadn’t had ANY female protags before “Brave.”) It looks like Merida could be turning Disney’s franchise on it’s head. That’s pretty damn heroic.

Another mistake Disney made with “Brave?” They hired a female director. They fired her, but it was too late. Brenda Chapman wrote “Brave” based on her daughter. She was furious with the character’s transformation and wrote publicly about Disney’s terrible mistake.

Of the debacle Hains writes:

That’s right: Although Merida was created by a woman as a role model for girls, the male-dominated consumer product division at Disney has ignored the character’s intended benefits for young girls, sexualizing her for profit. Compared with her film counterpart, this new Merida is slimmer and bustier. She wears makeup, and her hair’s characteristic wildness is gone: It has been volumized and restyled with a texture more traditionally “pretty.” Furthermore, she is missing her signature bow, arrow, and quiver; instead, she wears a fashionable sash around her sparkly, off-the-shoulder gown. (As Peggy Orenstein noted when she broke the news of the redesign, “Moms tell me all the time that their preschool daughters are pitching fits and destroying their t-shirts because ‘princesses don’t cover their shoulders.’” I’ve heard the same from parents, as well.)

Is the sexualized  image of Merida gone for good? Has Disney learned a lesson? Or will that lesson be: No more strong female characters leading a film! No more female directors writing about their daughters! Keep the females weak and quiet!

It’s up to you. This could be a turning point. Parents, please use your voice and your wallet to keep strong, heroic females showing up in narratives and images marketed to your kids. Right now, girls are missing from children’s media and when they do appear, they’re sexualized. This is normal. Not healthy, but tragically, perfectly normal.

Yesterday, Melissa Wardy posted this image on her Pigtail Pals Facebook page, reminding us Merida’s new image was not created in a vacuum.

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Objectifying and sexualizing girls is dangerous. A first step to abuse is always dehumanizing the victim. Propaganda, in the form of images and narratives, effectively dehumanizes on a mass scale.

Images/ narratives of Jews circa 1938

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Africans circa 1931

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Females circa 2013

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It’s easy to look back on history and wonder: How did people ever put up with that? I’d never buy into it, not to mention expose my child to it. But what are you participating in right now that is completely accepted, not to mention celebrated, by our culture?

Be part of the solution. Demand narratives with strong female characters for your kids.

Update: New Merida may be off Disney’s site but she’s showing up all over the place including Target. Below is Target’s web page.

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Disney Junior ratings expected to surpass Nick Jr. for first time

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I just blogged about watching 3 shows on the Disney channel over Spring break, when I saw a link on Elizabeth Sweet’s Twitter feed to an article on these three shows from today’s New York Times:

On Tuesday Nielsen data for Disney Junior will be revealed for the first time; the new channel is expected to beat its rival, even though Nick Jr. is available in 75 million homes, 25 percent more than Disney Junior.

Disney now has the top three preschool cable programs, led by what appears to be a monster-size new hit, “Sofia the First,” a cartoon that stars a pint-size princess and her zany animal friends.

The 3 programs, the ones I just wrote about, are Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Sofia the First. That’s the Disney Junior morning line up.

In my blog, I called the home of these 3 shows the Disney Channel. Apparently, the channel is actually called Disney Junior. The goal is to hook kids while they’re young on Disney Junior and then transfer them to the Disney Channel for 6 – 14 yr olds.

“These children are the Walt Disney Company’s most important audience,” Ms. Sweeney said. “They’re the future, and this is their first introduction to our brand.”

I’ve got to admit, out of those three choices– PBS, Nick Jr, and Disney Junior, the latter has the best shows for female protags. The NYT article states Dora is getting dethroned by Sofia. Physically, I prefer Dora’s appearance, especially since both girls are supposed to be Hispanic. Dora actually looks the part. But Dora lost her coolness when she morphed into a princess herself and then was eclipsed by her cousin, Diego. I agree, though for different reasons, Dora has fallen from grace.

PBS’s morning line up is terrible for female characters.

Is the good news about the high Disney Junior ratings that female characters sell?

Disney Channel morning line-up outshines PBS in female characters

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Last week, we were on Spring break and staying at the house of a friend of mine up in Tahoe. The TV channels were different, and we found ourselves watching the Disney Channel in the morning. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Possibly, in part, because my expectations were so low. Or perhaps, because I was so disgusted and appalled by the domination of male protagonists on PBS, the “educational” station.

Here is what we watched: “Doc McStuffins.”

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Dottie McStuffins is a six year old girl who wants to grow up to be a doctor like her mother. Her animal friends, 2 female and 2 male, help her out fixing and healing. How cool is that? Also, she’s African-American. Some stuff bugs me, like her purple glittery doctor’s bag along with various other pink and purpleness, but mostly, I love this show. Reel Girl rates Doc McStuffins ***HHH/ S***

Next up is “Jake and the Neverland Pirates.”

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Obviously, Jake is the star. And, surprise, surprise, there are 2 main male characters to one female character. Not only that, the Minority Feisty is Pirate Princess. Gag. But, in every episode I saw, she had a big part, second to Jake, and she was smart, brave, and helped to save the day. Clearly, Princess Pirate’s power is safely circumscribed by pink and the more heroic Jake, but Reel Girl rates Jake and the Neverland Pirates ***H/SS***

And finally, “Princess Sofia.”

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I was so dismayed when I heard about the debut of this supposedly Hispanic princess that Disney decided to make light-skinned and blue-eyed that I didn’t even blog about her. When I finally watched her last week, I liked her okay. The show surprised me in some ways. For example, the princesses had to design their “dream castle.” I groaned, dreading decorating tips. I was thrilled when Sofia said that in her castle, she wanted a laboratory for a Sorceress and a stable for flying ponies. My 4 year old daughter was pretty excited about that too. My main complaint with the show– as with the Barbie movies–is the look of the females. If we could just get them out of the puffy dresses that are so endlessly distracting, it might be a good show. Unfortunately, the way its stands, the message girls get (and boys about girls) is first and foremost, girls must look a certain way. Once you get the look down, adventures and exciting things might just happen to you. If you don’t look this way, you’re invisible, you don’t exist at all. Also, I HATE that demure, shy way she’s standing. Ugh. Reel Girl rates “Princess Sofia” ***H/SS***

PBS blind to its own sexism says former employee

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This comment from Lisa on my post “PBS puts another male protag in coveted morning line up:”

Oh, Margot, you have just hit upon one of my pet peeves. I used to work for a PBS affiliate many years ago. At one point in the late 1990s I attended a PBS conference at which they rolled out the slate of new kids’ shows for the coming season. I was appalled not only at how few of them featured female characters, but how several of them were named for the male character: Caillou, Arthur, Franklin, on and on. As we were walking out of the ballroom and everyone was talking excitedly, the (female) VP of Development for our station said something to the effect of, “Wasn’t that great?” to me. I said, “Yeah, but where were the GIRLS? Did you notice these are all shows with boys in the lead?” She looked shocked and then as light dawned she said, “You’re right, where ARE the girls?”

I am disgusted but not surprised that even some 13+ years later, nothing has changed. I think there’s a tendency to think of PBS as more progressive, but presenting a more gender-balanced kids programming division is clearly not a priority for them.

One show that I really enjoyed on PBS once I had my daughters was Sagwa, which followed the adventures of a female Chinese Siamese cat – the title character! Notably, created by the wonderful author Amy Tan. Of course that is no longer on the air….OMG!!  I just looked up Sagwa to see when it aired, etc. and discovered this (via Wikipedia, though cross-checked in a couple other places and it seems to hold up):  ”The name of the titular character, Sagwa, literally means “silly melon head”. Although innocuous without context, this phrase is typically regarded by Chinese to be an insult, carrying connotations of incompetence, foolishness, and even mental retardation.”

Wow. So one of the few shows actually named for a female character insults her by giving her a derogatory name. So frustrating!!

 

I love what Lisa says about “progressive” too, because you so often hear about the “liberal” media, especially PBS. I guess invisible females is just politics as usual. Isn’t it nice that people across the aisle can agree on something?

Girls are as self-centered as all kids

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Girls are not born more open-minded or altruistic. Girls read stories about boys and watch movies about boys because they are trained to. (Thank you, PBS. Please see my last post.)

Doesn’t every psychologist and teacher tell us that kids need to be “mirrored?” To create healthy self-esteem, parents aren’t supposed to project their own opinions on to little kids, but reflect what the kid expresses: “You are lifting the box! You’re smiling!” etc.

So why do the “experts” forget mirroring when it comes to gender? Why do we show our kids a warped, stereotyped mirror and then exclaim, “Look at that, girls just love princesses!” Girls want to see girls. They are just as self-centered as all children are. Unfortunately, in kid world, representations of females are severely limited. They will take what they can get.

There’s a positive side to this. We can train all kids to stay open to diverse stories by exposing them to all kinds of protagonists. Please read your kids books, show your kids movies, tell your kids stories and help them write their own, do imaginary play featuring strong female characters. It will help their brains grow not to mention their self-esteem.

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PBS puts another male protag in coveted morning line up: Daniel Tiger

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My youngest daughter and I used to have a schedule where, after the older 2 went off to school, I put on PBS while I did morning chores. PBS is good for kids, right? Educational and all. Sadly, all the three shows in the morning line up had a male protagonist whose name was featured in the title: Caillou, Clifford, and Curious George.

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For a while, instead of Clifford, we had…Arthur!

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All year, I’ve been doing drop-off, so now I leave the house with 3 kids at 7:10 (and don’t get back until 9AM but that’s another blog rant.) Today, our schedule is off so I have the little one, and I turned on the TV with an eye roll, expecting the bald 4 year old (don’t get that) the giant red dog, or the monkey with his yellow buddy-man, or the aardvark with no nose. What did we find? A new show! “Daniel the Tiger.” ARGH.

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It’s really shocking to me how unimportant (or should I say “important”) gender is to PBS programmers. Thanks, PBS, for the early morning lesson in sexism for my four year old daughter. It’s great to know we’ve got a channel dedicated to education that teaches kids males are front and center while females are sidelined or not there at all.

Seth MacFarlane on a better day? Watch this hilarious “Family Guy” clip

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After I posted about Seth MacFarlane’s offensive, misogynistic, and not funny hosting of the Oscars, some people asked me if I’d always hated him. The answer is no. His name was familiar, but I didn’t know who he was before the Oscars. Though a while ago  a commenter posted a clip on Reel Girl from what I now know to be MacFarlane’s “Family Guy.” The clip totally cracked me up. I don’t know if MacFarlane wrote it, but I love it, and totally relate to it as a writer. Clearly, the clip’s creator has subjects besides demeaning women in a series of cliches. I’m reposting it here. Writers, this is for you:

Seth MacFarlane, you’re a loser

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After Tina Fey and Amy Poehler rocked the Golden Globes last month, I hoped Hollywood producers would catch on: putting women in power positions means a high quality show with good ratings. But then, Seth MacFarlane. Last night’s Academy Awards featured the the most sexist, worst Oscars hosting I’ve ever seen.

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I get that MacFarlane tried to pre-empt this blog, and many like it, with his boring, stupid, Captain Kirk snore-fest-skit. But, Seth, your fake headlines last night don’t get close to describing what a pig you are. Best Actress nominee Quevenzhane Wallis is nine years old. She was so proud. That was the biggest moment of her life, and you called her George Clooney’s girlfriend? Why would you do that to a kid? How is she supposed to feel when you say that? Are you that insecure that you want to cut down a little girl?

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Jessica Chastain had the rare opportunity to play a heroic, female protagonist and you trivialized her character, transforming her lifetime accomplishment into nagging, saying she possessed the innate female ability to never let anything go.

You sang a “boob song” that was more repetitive than my three year old, and you made jokes about domestic violence. That’s all I saw, but apparently, I missed some sexism.

Where were your jokes about men? Part of the reason your jokes were not funny is because women get demeaned and trivialized every day in this country, especially in Hollywood. All you did was jump on the bandwagon and push things a little further in the same, old, tired direction. Watching you tell your sexist jokes at a venue where in 85 years, only 4 women have been nominated for Best Director, was like watching someone point up and say, “The sky is blue,” for three and a half hours. Seth MacFarlane, you are such a bore.

Your performance did help me to explain the meaning of the term “bully pulpit” to some children. So, thanks for that, I guess.

Here’s to hoping Sarah Silverman hosts the Oscars in 2014.

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Please Tweet #SarahSilvermanHostOscars

 

 

 

If your kid says she’s bored, quote Louis C.K.

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I’ve blogged before about how I think comedian Louis C.K.’s show is one of the best depictions of fatherhood in the media EVER.

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On Facebook, I saw a great quote that I recognized immediately from one of my favorite episodes. This morning, when my daughter complained that she was bored, I tried it on her.

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She burst into a huge smile.

Thank you, Louis C. K., for getting insight to my daughter, making her happy, and rescuing our family from a cranky morning.

 

 

If you’re craving a soap, ‘Revenge’ trumps ‘Downton Abbey’

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I love Emily Thorne, the protagonist of “Revenge.”

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Thorne is unlike any female protagonist I’ve seen on TV or film. First of all, she is independently wealthy. Viewers learn of her financial status on the first episode when her friend is planning a benefit. Thorne casually says “Count me in” for a $10,000 ticket.

My mouth dropped open when I heard that line. A young, smart, beautiful, strong female who is also rich? That doesn’t happen. It’s way to much power to give a girl.

If you don’t believe me, check out the Forbes 15. Every year, Forbes does a survey on the 15 richest imaginary characters, including Scrooge McDuck, Richie Rich, Smaug (dragon from Tolkein) Bruce Wayne (Batman), Mr. Monopoly, Carlisle Cullen (Twilight saga), C. Montgomery Burns (Simpsons). At most, 2 females make the list, in 2012 Lisbeth Salander (Girl With Dragon Tatoo) and Jo Bennett. Women are rarely permitted to control billions, in the imaginary world or the real one.

But Emily Thorne isn’t just rich. She is super smart. Every time I watch someone try to get the better of her, I have total confidence she’ll outsmart him. If it doesn’t come down to  a battle of wits, Thorne can kick some serious ass. She’s a black belt in karate and this woman has no fear. She is driven and focused in every way. I feel a unique combination of calmness and excitement watching Thorne get into trouble that I’ve only felt before watching superheroes or James Bond: it’s fun to watch the action, how she pulls it all off, but you know she’ll be OK.

While “Downton Abbey” does a great job depicting how much it sucks to be a woman in 1900s upper class British society, “Revenge” shows women breaking through the limits imposed on them. I quit watching Downton because though the acting is good, it’s too prissy for me. “Revenge” doesn’t have Maggie Smith’s acting, but it all takes place in the Hamptons so you still get to gawk at rich people in fancy clothing who spend most of their time at parties.

I’ll be honest and admit that after more than one episode I’ve groaned and said, “I cannot watch this again.” But I always do.

Reel Girl rates “Revenge” ***HH***