Hamilton 1 Becea Hamilton Dr. Noh Gender & Media Comm 211 11 December 2013 BB Comics and Cartoons Case Study The joy of waking up to Saturday morning cartoons has been a tradition for children across Ametica for generations, From Mickey Mouse, to Scooby Doo, o Spongebob tat kvl, ‘Squarepants these goofy characters always bring smiles to children’s faces. These innocent looking characters often teach children life lessons and morals, yet what if they were portraying negative lessons as well? When analyzing four popular cartoon TV shows featuring either male or female protagonist, one can find that gender construction greatly depends on stereotypes and sexuality, while they also teach strict gender specific morals. Starting with gender construction, cartoons reveal a strong tendency to represent suminliy jhrong suaaanestd ecstyped a aera cf peta nal cxvbsgpnit I studied Kim Possible, featuring a headstrong red-headed teen who saves the world, and Lilo and Stitch: The Series, featuring a young git! and her pet alien who together try to capture all the evil aliens in their own. In both shows, femininity is constructed to center around being beautiful, serobti, smart, and in charge oftheir buffoon male counterparts The episode “Fashion Vietim’” from Kim Possible shows Kim and her girly best friend working ata clothing store, where the designs for the fall collection are stolen, Kim comes to save the day by using lipstick she applies during battle to also bum through metal and crash a helicopter. She defeats many of the villians wearing boot heels and exemplifying a very acrobatic fighting style of kicking and flipping instead of punching and blocking. She is eventually able to save her other fiend, Ron Stoppable and their very large and muscular teacher in the process of getting the designs back. It seems that in order to compensate for saving the world and being a strong leader,Hamilton 2 v Kim must fit the exaggerated ‘girly’ stereotype in the processes. To be feminine she must be {flipping both hair and body while defeating her opponent; she must look fabulous in boot heels while saving the world. Even the fact that the over all mission to save the designs mold her into this feminine ideal Not only were her actions feminine, but the physical representation of Kim conforms to dal ecitinty os well Sho hee vay er, vohumitous ir the eine cpio expect for when Kim’s friend quickly fixes her luscious locks because she has “mission hair”. Many times Kim is wearing a shirt that exposes her midriff, and her body type is very skinny and developed for a teenage girl. This sexy image helps to enhance the idea that girls can only be powerful if they compensate with fein, In the article, Inventing the Teenage Girl: The Construction of Female Identity in Nickelodeon's My Life As A Teenage Robot by Rebecca Haines states, “Yet even in their most action packed scenes, they are always distinetly and visibly feminine, there by challenging the interlinked, hierarchical binary oppositions of masculine/feminine, active/passive, and strong/weak. These girls exemplify how girl power's embrace of gitlishness rebels against ‘the idea that girls and power don’t mix”(HTaines 198). Keeping strong female cartoon protagonists stereotypically feminine keeps them held in a comfortable cultural norm that sells products and is widely accept Ths construction of femininity can be seen in Lilo and Stitch: The Series as well. In the episode “Angel”, the alien pet, Stitch, encounters a female version of himself and falls in love, though she tums out to be evil. Sweet Lilo tries throughout the episode to prove to everyone that Angel is evil, and eventually helps to save Stitch and Angel from the evil boss aliens. Lilo and Angel represent Sf Lilo is Hawaiian, and very young, so she is drawn as a contrasting representations of feminin more plump child with darker skin who loves to play, conduct science experiments, and save aliens with Stitch. Angel on the other hand, conforms to the more stereotypical feminine ideal,Hamilton 3 being bright pink, having big ‘hair’, winking at people with her big eyes, and singing in a sexy voice that seduces al he aens to turn evil, Though Lilo represents a positive and different 7 4 god femininity from the norm by having a different body shape and saving the day throughher |p 0% at intelligence, it comes across as excusable and easily overlooked because she is so young and innovent to the “eal” world"Angel on the other hand is a ‘woman’ who knows about ‘reality and so knows to conform to stereotypical sexy femininity. In order to balance the different representation of femininity from Lilo, Angel is placed to counteract with ideal sexy femininity. Femininity in these cartoons are used to reinforce the cultural norm that girls are beauty objects and are meant to consume even when they are strong, smart Jeaders These cartoons construct {femininity to be all about conforming to stereotypes and using sexuality to achieve ths ideal. ~ On the other hand, the construction of masculinity in cartoons rely on violence and leadership to define their manly ideal the TV shows Danny Phantom, featuring a boy who saves his town by hunting ghosts who escape from a portal in his basement, and NFL Rusit Zone, featuring a band of friends who love football and protect their favorite teams from opposition, both have male protagonists who use strength and power to protect the ones they love. In the episode “13” Danny fights off a ghost who escape and is trying to find a body for his girlfriend ghost to possess. When the ghost finds Danny’s gorgeous sister, he tries to seduce her so he can let his girlfriend take over her body, but Danny saves the day. When fighting off the ghost, many times Danny will punch the ghost or fly really fast fo catch up to the ghost. This exemplary physical strength strongly contrasts with the aerobatic way girls fought their enemies in the other cartoond/ In onder to be masculine, he nceded to use strength and power to defeat the ghost, not intelligence or cunning. Danny also fits this masculine construction by fulfilling the role as rescuer. The point of the entire episode is for Danny to save his older sister from the evil ghost.Hamilton 4 “The sister was simply awestruck and very easily manipulated, making it all(@)easy for Danny to fit this rescuer mold The physial representation of Danny enhances the idéal masculinity as sirength and protector as well” Though he has a fairly average physic, his wniform is striking and unique. Black with glowing seams, the uniform adds a layer to protection and style to his overall ook. Looking good and confident, Danny is able to use his uniform to his advantage by using it to help protect his sister and get the job done. This idea of masculine protection and power can be seen in NFL Rush Zone as well. In the episode “There's Snow Place Like Home”, the Affican American protagonist Ish, with the help of his friends including 3 boys and 1 girl, make up a group called the Guardians. Together they protect his hometown and favorite football team, the Chargers, from an evil robot who sends a wild snowstorm to destroy the town and disrupt the Chargers’ practices. They all are very active, loving to run and play and practice football. When they are called upon to protect a team, the Guardians put on a uniform closely resembling a football uniform. This physical depiction of the boys enhances their size and ability to be strong and protect’ Without their huge suits they wouldn't be large enough to defeat their enemies. ‘They also use a lot of punching and shoving to overcome their obstacles. Though they do slightly break the normative masculine stereotype by letting the girl suit up in the same armor and kick the enensin aay: itis onlyZogbelet momen All toptianSieyarintrineydsctve Hoe whose job is to protect and save through violence. In both cartoons, masculinity is constructed through the ideals of power, strength, and protection as seen through their physical representation of uniforms and their actions of punching and shoving. 4. gt sume a} In regards to the similarities and differences between the cartoons, the themes and levels of diversity creat distinct differences which each target audience’ The fale protagonist shows, Kim Possible and Lilo and Stitch: The Series both exemplify themes that require great emotion,Hamilton 5 being either love or envy, adhering to the stereotype that females connect more with issues of relationships and feetngs“Lilo's alien friends care so much about the love story between Stiteh and Angel that they act like they are making a movie of them the entire episode, adding to the drama and climax of the overall plot. In the end, Angel saves Stitch because she ‘loves’ him, revealing to young gitls that being in a romantic relationship is the only thing that truly saves, someone. This constant emphasis on romance instills in girls’ minds that they are not fully living until they get involved with romance” This emotional theme is also found with Kim and her best girl friend. Kim is jealous that her best friend got to see the fall collection designs while she was not allow to. The entire episode Kim ignores her friend and tries to do the mission on her own, but the two friends reconcile at the end, Again, the idea that girls resonate with more emotional themes emphasizes the construction of normative femininity to be defined by crazed actions spurred by hurt feelings. Women who act out of normal behavior are given permission to do so when their emotions are what are driving them. On the other hand, boys” cartoons are themed ‘more around protection. In both Danny Phantom and NFL Rush Zone, the lead male protagonists’ main job is to protect and defend things. They are violent when punching ghosts or shoving robots, though this violence is commendable because the boys are protecting something they care about. The construction of masculinity is again reinforced as being tough and strong in order to maintain this commendable theme of protec ‘Another way all four cartoons differ is in theit levels of diversity. The shows who feature white protagonists have much fewer minority friends in their close group. Kim’s best girl friend, though her specific ethnicity is unclear, is one of only two characters who is not white on the show. She fits the sassy, sexy stereotype of a foreign woman, as to not stray too far from any societal norms and lose ine Then in Danny Phantom, Danny also only has one Aftican American friend, who struggles to find his identityHamilton 6 throughout the entire episode Fee is made fun of for being interested in technology, and so tries out different stereotypical cliques but finds that being himself the best plan. This cartoon hints that being @ minority is unacceptable as an identity, but that they should find away to either conform to the stereotype of their ethnicity or embrace other majority identities instead of being themselves”Ye, inthe cartoons with minority protagonists, the casts feature much more diversity. Lilo had many friends who were not white, and was even living with aliens! She loves all and accepted anyone that was good. Ish, the African American protagonist of NFL Rush Zone, had an Asian, Aftican American, white, and even female friend in his close football friend group. Shows with a minority protagonist seem to make it ‘ok’ that there is great diversity in the show, because they aren’t already white, This sad concept seems to hint to children that people of minority only really fit in with other minority people, while white people only welcome minority characters ito ace wilting to conform othr acl Seas ofthe minority idea. This disturbing reality that can only be addressed with change, making it normal for everyone to love and accept each other equally. The differences of diversity and gender construction found between these cartoons subtly hint to the young viewers that conforming to normality is the best way to fit in and be accepted. i yew wert analy eed Overall, the four cartoons demonstrate that construction of femininity and masculinity are based on stereotypes and sexuality, and illustrate great divisions on themes and diversity between shows, Cartoons both entertain and inform children. Before mindlessly allowing these messages to absorb into these young minds, itis important to look at these representations and discern for them what they will fill their moldable minds with while they are still willing to listen. ve . See ee ann} (oO