(It's) GRIM-DJ Handy Manny

Today I look at Handy Manny

Photo Credit: Disney, Jr.

Handy Manny- Manny is a handy man. Please note, he is also Latino. Does that feel a bit stereotypical to anyone else? Manny goes about fixing things. I watched two clips. In the first one, I learned that Manny is also a volunteer fire fighter. He gets a call and has to rescue his friend Mr. Lopart off of a billboard.


Speaking of stereotypes, Mr. Lopart is a single, middle-aged man who wears purple, runs a candy shop, and has a cat. He also speaks with a high pitch and of course, is miserable with tools.

Photo Credit: Handy Manny Wiki

Ah Disney! They aren't even going to wait until kids have the stereotypes in their head, Disney will just go ahead and plant those seeds early. In the first clip, there was one woman who was also a firefighter, but she had a supporting role. Manny was the one who climbed the ladder and carried Mr. Lopart off the billboard. Literally. Mr. Lopart rode down the ladder on Manny's back.

Wait, what??? Seriously?? The single, middle-aged, purple suit wearing, candy shop owner literally rides the Latino firefighter? Subtle.

In the other episode, a mother finds her old dollhouse in the attic and calls Manny to come over to put the dollhouse together. Because the mom can't do it herself. Understand, it was al together at some point, so these are all big pieces that need to be screwed together. Not a difficult job. And then Manny doesn't even invite the little girl to help set it up. In fact, even though she said she is excited about putting the furniture in, we see the tools do it. Sigh

Photo Credit: Wonders of Disney

Manny is a grown up, and all of his tools are anthropomorphic. Most of the tools are dudes, except for two: a saw and pliers. According to the wikipedia article, there are love interests between the female tools and male ones. Because we can't just have a workplace without that tension, right? The whole "men and women cannot be just friends and cannot work together without complications"--important to plant that seed while they are young. In that same vein, apparently there is a woman who owns the hardware store, and of course there is a love interest, but both Manny and Kelly are to shy to push it forward.


Handy Manny is another Dude-fest. The women are side characters, mothers, and love interests. According to the Wikipedia page, there are 8 main tools, and 2 of those are female.

Our count so far.
Count today- 1 show
Count total- 6 shows
Shows with male lead- 4
Shows with female lead- 2
Shows with a positive message for girls, starring girls-1

(It's) GRIM-DJ The Octonauts

Hello blog readers,

It has occurred to me that this will probably take a year or longer to parse out. So, I have shortened the name and will focus on one or two shows per post. I will shoot for one post per week, and more when I can swing it.

I have shortened the name to (It's) GRIM-which stands for Gender Representation in the Media. It is fitting because so far the results are grim, indeed. DJ stands for Disney Junior.

So, today I will look at The Octonauts.


Picture Credit: Brown Bag Films

As you might guess from the character placement in the picture, the girls are periphery characters.

These three are the main characters


Picture credit: Brown Bag Films

It is very disappointing that the female characters get so little screen time, because this show is pure adventure-running, swimming, rescuing animals, fleeing from other animals. It would be great if little girls could see women doing this.

Today, I watched The Octonauts and the Amazon Adventure.

It takes 4 minutes to hear a girl speak, and when she does, she says, "I'm on it Captain." In other words, she is following orders. There is nothing wrong with following orders, but it stuck out to me because of what the male characters do up to that point.

The scene opens with Kwazzi (the adorable boy cat lead character)looking for and finding a treasure map! It leads to a treasure in the Amazon River! And he has to fend off sharks to get to it!!! And the entire crew goes on an adventure to find the treasure, based on his finding!! And he gets to drive the submarine!! And Dashi (the female dachshund who runs the ships computers and is the official photographer) gets to take orders from the ship's captain.

It is feeling a little imbalanced. Her next line doesn't happen until we are in the Amazon River, when she says, "Parrots! Manatees!" (Cuz girls love the cute animals). She also gets some pointless lines, like "Look!!" when directing the men to look at the tree that fell on the sub. Thanks honey, never would have figured that out. There are two female guest characters in this episode. Bertha is a dolphin who is helpful and has lines and unique skills. Of course, she is pink, but there is a pink dolphin that lives in the Amazon, so it is a correct interpretation.
Photo Credit: Daily Mail

There is a female eel who gets to be mean, which is kind of cool. An electric eel should be mean. But it is obvious that her meanness comes from a place of fear, unlike the sharks, alligator, or anacondas; who are just mean because they are. She is also pink. And once Peso (the penguin doctor) fixes her tail, she is nice. After her tail is fixed, the eel just leaves, she doesn't do anything helpful for the guys to repay them. Although she does comes back in the final fight scene, her role is minimal, she is just one of the group of fighters.

Dashy finds a fish that is out of water, and tells the men, who do most of the rescue. Dashy does some of the pushing. Dashy's camera is stuck on a high tree branch, and she can't reach it (because apparently there aren't any long sticks lying about in the rain forest??) After the fish returns to the water, he jumps out of the water up to the branch, and gets her camera. So, she rescues him, but he rescues something for her back. After she gets her camera back, Dashy is going to take his picture. He jumps out of the water and poses for the camera mid-jump, restoring masculinity.

In another example of female helplessness, Tweak goes to get help, because even though she is in an aquatic vehicle, she is uable to move the branch that is pinning the submarine. The branch is underwater, by the way. She brings a (male) catfish, who eats the branch away. Yay! Fish saves the day!

Most of the adventure belongs to the men. Kwazzi meets up with his grandfather, a pirate who has been missing for years. The two of them have a great, heroic adventure.


Picture Credit: Disney JuniorPedia

In case you think I am over-the-top in my assessment, I would like to point out that in the very first episode, Dashy is a damsel-in-distress, photographer who is not observant or intelligent enough to notice that she is actually inside a whale shark. Luckily the smart male characters notice the teeth and tongue, and they warn her. She is not able to get out in time, and the men have to go and rescue her.

This one is a disappointment, especially since the head writer is a woman. The books on which the series is based are written by a woman and a man.

The Octonauts inhabit a dude world. The show has very cool adventures and a good learning component, but the male characters are the ones who enjoy the most screen time, adventure, and heroism.

Our count so far.
Count today- 1 show
Count total- 5 shows
Shows with male lead- 3
Shows with female lead- 2
Shows with a positive message for girls, starring girls-1

Gender Representations in Media-The Kid Edition-Disney Junior Part 1

I found myself thinking about gender representations in children's programming today. I was looking at the WalMart toys page. And there was Dora, listed under "girls."


Picture: Mega Bloks

I looked under "boys," and didn't see Dora there. It struck me as odd, because Dora is a show that appeals to kids of both genders. Then I started to think about Go Diego Go, which of course was the "boy-friendly" spin off. My kids watched a lot of Dora, but not very much Diego. Using Dora as a jumping-off place, I found myself wondering what the main character line up of kids' shows looks like.

I will present you with my "exhaustive" analysis of Disney Junior, Nick, Jr., and PBS Kids. I will break this into many posts over the next month or so. I may also tackle NickToons and the Cartoon Network.

For today's post, I will focus on Disney Junior. I am basing my analysis on their list of shows found on the "For Grown-Ups" site.

First up, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Photo Credit Poptower

The show has borrowed the annoying Dora habit of speaking directly to the camera and waiting for audience response. At least he doesn't incorporate the weird pointer (shown here):



In this clip about super powers, Mickey gets two powers: flight and super strength. Goofy becomes super stretchy, Donald is very fast, Daisy moves things with her mind, Pluto can fly and can do dog stuff on steroids. And Minnie? She can throw wonder bows. What does that even mean? Also, while everyone sings and demonstrates their skills, Minnie sings briefly about hers (and her song is really just tacked onto Daisy's), does not demonstrate it a second time, and then has the back up, cheerleader role for Mickey. Ugh. Daisy's is cool, but all the boys get powers that allow them to move and burn energy and show strength, while the girls get powers that are less physical. Daisy uses her mind, and Minnie throws. I guess it is good that they don't have to run though, since each female super hero has to wear high heels.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse appears to be a dude-world. There are three boys and two girls. Plus Pluto, who is also a boy, but less anthropomorphized. Oh wait, and the professor, also a dude, who really makes me miss Ms. Frizzle. Mickey is definitely the main character of the show.

Next up, Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

Photo: Disney
First of all, they are doing the annoying Dora-thing too. Actually, this one is even more of a Dora ripoff than Mickey. "Do you see anything we can use like a sled to slide down the mountain?"
Jake, who is obviously a boy, is the main character. He has a female side kick. You can tell she is female because of her long hair and visible eyelashes. She actually gets to talk and be smart though. I am watching this clip, and caught the weird thing where the characters instill heteronormative values onto animals, "somewhere, there must be a mom and dad missing their egg." This assumes that the egg has a mother and a father that stick around until the hatching. Okay, when they are deciding to go off on an adventure, they have a role call: Jake has his sword! Cubby has his map!! And Izzy has.... pixie dust. Yep, that is right, pixie dust that was given to her by a fairy.I have nothing against pixie dust or fairies, but she couldn't have a tool that exists in the real world? It can be used to fly, but only in emergencies. So, she can't even use it at will. The other two get to use theirs as often as they would like. Her tool is limited.

Jake is mostly dude-world as well. There are three in the crew, and two are male. The parrot is male, the villains are male. According to the Wikipedia page, there is a female mermaid, who is sweet and gentle. The mermaid is friends with Izzy and might have a crush on Jake (really!?) Izzy gets a lot of air time, but the show is named after Jake, and he is the leader.

Third on the list is Doc McStuffins.

Photo: The Truth About Mummy

Yay!! She is a girl! And a doctor! Oh but wait, not a doctor for real animals or people, but for toys. So, the girl is very obviously in the pretend world. Which is okay, but Jake was being chased by a real pirate. Like, he is a kid in a grown up role, not just playing a grownup. Her instruments were given to her by her mom, who is a doctor for people (and somehow the instruments are pink and purple). In this clip she is taking care of a fire truck, who apparently has a heart beat to check. ??

But, this has some really positive points. The little girl, her mom, and her dad are African American, and the mom is a doctor! And her dad is a stay-at-home dad!! That is a big deal. Doc McStuffins teaches her patients and audience about health, which is good.

Doc McStuffins is a girl world. She is a girl, her reception is a girl, her mom is a woman. I haven't watched much, but it looks like there is a good mix of male and female characters, and a girl is the main character. The show is named after her.

Sofia the First.

Image: Disney Wiki

OK, the main character is a girl. Most of the characters are girls. Her mom becomes queen by making the king a pair of slippers (woman with a job, cool), and then they fall in love and get married. Okay, really farfetched but okay.

Main plot: Sofia learns that looking like a princess is easy but acting like a princess is difficult, because she has to show special qualities like honesty and kindness. This bothers me in so many ways. First of all, looking like a princess is easy? I don't think that is a very good message to send young girls, especially given the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, and rampant consumerism in our country. "Looking like a princess" is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for many girls and women. Attempting to do so can be costly and dangerous. And what does it even mean? What does a princess look like? Is there one model to follow? Also, this notion that acting like a princess is hard. Ugh. The vast majority of princesses are born into it. In order to act like a princess, they must simply be themselves. That is all. Kingdoms are not democracies, the people aren't going to vote the princess out for crappy behavior. There is no single princess behavior guide, any more than there is one mode of princess dress.

Furthermore, this perpetuates the idea that those who are royal and wealthy are better than everyone else. Since most people will not be either, I don't think this is a healthy ideal to instill in our youngsters. And it feeds into the notion that girls do best when they are polite and graceful. Again, I don't think those are the best values for 21st century girls who want to succeed in the world. Yes, they are important values, but the whole of society feeds girls these messages. Why do we need more of the same?

Since this story is has been played out many, many times,no one reading will be surprised to learn that she has a step sister.

Photo: Disney Wiki

Who acts like another "princess" I know

Photo credit

However, of course exposure to the good and kind Sofia turns Princess Amber nicer and nicer. Because Sofia's background in the working class has made her nice and a good role model? But wasn't Disney just telling me that it is royalty who has these values? But the girl who grows up as royalty lacks these values and needs the poor kids to teach her? Ugh, I am so confused. I guess I will just spend the evening shopping Amazon for the perfect tiara, because looking like a princess is easy.



According to this clip, When a princess is in trouble her amulet summons another princess. It caused Princess Jasmine to just appear and know what was going on. I guess there is a special princess club that transcends time and space?


I have gotten through three shows and I simply cannot go on tonight.
Our count so far.
Count today- 4 shows
Count total- 4 shows
Shows with male lead- 2
Shows with female lead- 2
Shows with a positive message for girls, starring girls-1

More to come later....

Blog here: http://critmassmedia.blogspot.com/

A ground breaking commercial??

See the woman in the commercial in this article ? I love the author's commentary. I would like to compare it to some other commercials.

In this All commercial, every single family member is shown having fun and getting messy. And the mom? She comes in at the end, to silently clean it all up. The only help she gets comes out of the bottle (that would be the laundry detergent bottle, although maybe she needs a nip of something after the happy family trots off to bed). Even the voice over is done by a woman, because no one but women would even notice these giant stains!

What about this lady? Well, she does get help from the adorable children, but they are totally ineffective. Nope, when it is time to really do the job, it is the mom.It seems to me that something so simple as pushing the hardwood floor cleaner around would be no trouble for the little sprites, but nope, true housework is the domain of the mom. Dad doesn't even exist in this commercial. Another female voiceover, until it is time to talk money. Because numbers are so much more trustworthy when coming from a man, perhaps?

Don't worry though. Women in commercials get time off for fun too. They wash their hair (I have never found shampoo that is quite that fun), they shave (but of course their true value, even as a goddess is in their roles and relationships to other people-lover, mother, friend), they have coffee (while looking radiantly gorgeous and ready for action-again the woman is the prize, even when she is the subject), and of course, they eat yogurt. Now the yogurt barely gets to be pleasurable since it is served with a heaping helping of hair shaming. But it is marketed as the equivalent of a trip to Bermuda. The poor suffering mom (because all moms suffer and sacrifice of course) will be brought to pure happiness thanks to this plastic container of yogurt.

The other amazing thing about the commercial from the article is that she is a woman of color and gets to be portrayed with a meaningful life. Women of color are often portrayed as sassy, or sassy or fetishized. That is, when they can be found at all.

So, I will say that this Microsoft ad impresses me. Here is a woman with a job, and a career path. There are no children in the shot, and she is pursuing her own goals, neither cleaning up nor putting out for others. Is she this decade's Charlie girl? Maybe, but it is sad if we live in a world where we can point to a series of commercials in the 1970s and then again one commerical in the 2010s and say, "Wow, these show progress!" with very little in between. Hopefully that tide will turn a little more quickly now.

One last thing, the Windows ad largely avoids all the common tech commercial tropes, so props to them for that!

Les Miserables *Spoilers*

I am not what you would call a cryer. I do not tend to cry over real life events. I know people who cry once a week or once a day. This has never been me. 

I will get teary over movies sometimes. However, few movies reduce me to sobbing, blubbering messes. Two come to mind. My Girl and the color purple. Now I can add a new one. Les Miserables. Trailer here 

Although tears were streaming down my face, had it not been such a public place, I would have been lying in the fetal position, wailing like a teething colicky infant. We saw it on Christmas Day and I still keep thinking about it. 

I had no interaction with Les Miserables before I saw this movie. Never read it, never saw it on stage, never saw any of the various adaptations. The title was a bit of a turn off. Someone posted the trailer to the movie, I watched and was hooked. I know there is a lot of divide on this matter, so if you hated it, we will have to agree to disagree. I thought the scenery was stunning, the acting was incredible, and the singing was marvelous. I have read a lot of criticism about the singing voices of the male voices, but I thought their voices added to the realism. I would not expect a 20 year prisoner (or a bounty hunting police officer) to have operatic training. I am a fan of Anne Hathaway, now only more so. 

I found the themes of the movie to really resonate with me. 

what a mother would do for her child is an ageless concept, but I LOVE the fact that this went further. A man, a total stranger, took Cosette in and demonstrate that a parent's love is not dependent upon the gender of the parent. Jean Valjean loved Cosette as fiercely as Fantine did, that was evident. The love was different, but as deep.

I don't know if this is only a product of the movie, but I also loved the fact that there was never any tension between parent and child over the love interest. Cosette remained ignorant of Valjean's knowledge of Marius, and as soon as Jean met Marius and saw his heart, Marius won his heart. Cosette NEVER lost faith and love in her papa, and that was beautiful. I am so tired of formulaic coming of age strife that drives a wedge between parent and child until we are given the climatic scene. Not here. 

Speaking of lack of tension-I was also terribly moved by Eponine. I found myself continually waiting for the Mean Girl moment where she sabotages the love between Marius and Cosette. There are two reasons for this assumption. One: her parents weren't terribly nice, upright people. I know that children can grow up to be quite different than their parents, but seeing her learn the trade at her father's knee made me suspicious. Also, she was deeply in love and Hollywood has taught me that love, especially unrequited love, can make people a bit selfish and jerk-ish. Also, couples always have to overcome many adversities, which often includes betrayal by a friend. I suppose we could count withholding the letter, but honestly, he needed to get his head around the fight, and he couldn't do that when his loyalties were divided. I cast her as noble and honorable throughout, which is shocking for a lovelorn character. Her story and especially her ending was beautifully told and beautifully acted. 

Image Credit: James Fisher

I think the omnipresent themes of strife are so well understood in our society. During the Arab spring, there was some real change, but there were also man aborted protests. Occupy Wall Street was a powerful movement that changed little. I think we can see a little of ourselves in the Student Uprising. So much passion, ultimately inert.    

The other major theme that stood out for me is the injustice of justice. Valjean committed a crime, but one that many a noble soul would commit-stealing to save another. He served his time and then some, 20 years of his life gone. He proves himself to be an upright person and serves his society well. Many people are better off thanks to him. It seems to me that he is more valuable outside the prison system than inside, and he is no threat. And yet Javert destroys two lives in his bitter pursuit of justice. It brings to mind all the people whose lives are destroyed due to nonviolent drug offenses. Instead of focusing on rehabilitation, we like incarceration. 

People have been upset at the use of tight screen shots during the singing, but I think that is the point. Even though these giant events are happening all around us, we all tend to focus mostly on our own lives and what is happening at the end of our noses. 

Go see the movie if you haven't. And bring lots of tissues.

Why all the hate?

Hello everyone.

I am a media junkie. I feel the need for a space to interact with that media. That space is here. In this blog, I plan to write reactions to news articles, movies, books, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I am a graduate student and mother of 3, so my blogging time is rather limited. However, I will do my best. Welcome.

First of all, I must apologize for the use of "not-appropriate for kids" language in this piece. I censored some but not all.

Today's topic is Jezebel.com. According to Wikipedia (which never lies), the site is a blog that targets Gawker.com's female readership. In many articles, the blog comes across as an in-your-face feminist site. However, then a writer will smack you in the face with a piece like this: Sorry but the language may not be appropriate for workplaces or sensitive eyes.  If you don't wish to read it, I will explain. Jezebel has begun an annual "F*&k you" week where authors take down some of the menaces to society. So, this round we have had holiday parties, rape culture, men who sit with their legs spread out too far (??), allergies, gchat, menstruation, unsolicited advice. Okay, I can get down with that. Rants about events and bodily functions, fine they are irritating. Being a tall person myself, I understand the need to splay, but if I someone needs a seat, I accommodate. I have never seen a male-type person not do the same, but then I live in the PNW, where social nicety is a currency. I am sure the behavior written about exists, and it deserves a f*&k you.

However, there were two entries that I found disturbing, particularly for a blog that I consider to fall under the umbrella of feminist. One is "F*&k you other people's kids" and the other is "F*&k you slow walkers." These pieces make me think this isn't a feminist blog at all, but instead is a blog that hates everyone and everything that doesn't fit into a tiny demographic: middle and upper-middle class urban professional women between the ages of 23-30. Preferably single and childless. The gist of the first piece: "I have one exceptionally wonderful girl child who is so awesome that her shit does not stink (she actually devoted a paragraph to that claim), at least not to me, and everyone else's child is an absolute horror and it is because their parents are selfish urchins who lack the social skills to know how to raise an absolutely awesome child like I did." Wait, let me revise that. Some internet stalking sleuthing uncovers that she is the mother of one girl child toddler! Young toddler. Was an infant just a few months ago.

She actually refers to children (sometimes specific children) as: piss-ant, assholes, savages (no, she decides, "savages" is too kind), creatures, animal, fuck-face, dick, and bitch. All in an article that has fewer than 1500 words. If she were referring to adults like that, I would be turned off. But seriously? About kids? Oh, but it is satire! I saw over and over again in the comments that this is satire so those who are offended need to chill the fuck out! Which is interesting, because every other comment is about how spot on this article is. Here is the thing. Satire is great. However, since this is part of a theme week, you just compared kids with rape culture. More or less. One day it is F*ck you rape culture, the next: F*ck you other people's kids.

So what? A few things. First of all, you know who was the best parent in the world? Me. With one infant son. That kid was amazing. Slept through the night, was sweet, hardly cried, would crawl to his room to play for hours. Well, it must be because we are the best parents. Other parents (especially parents with those horrible toddlers) must just be bad parents. We were so good at it that we went ahead and had a second one about 2 years later. Baby number 2 cried for 5 months straight. Oh, maybe it isn't us.

Here is the bigger issue though. Why build up women by tearing them down? The author does not specifically call out mothers, she calls out parents. However, we live in a society where women are blamed for parenting failures, and women hold a perception that parenting is more their "job" than men. So, when you write in a female-targeted blog and you are calling out bad parenting, it is safe to assume that some of the blame will fall to mothers. Yes there are crappy mothers out there. Telling them they suck and getting a whole bunch of readers to side with you is not going to fix the problem. It only increases the divide.

A few mothers spoke up in the comments, "What about special needs kids?" and many ran to the author's defense, stating that it is just assumed that she is not talking about special needs kids (even though she compared kids who are afraid of fireworks to animals). However, many other comments stated that too damned bad, just because your kid has special needs, you get no special rights! Keep that kid home! Get a babysitter if you want to go out! Or: Oh, here we go with the new designer fad diagnosis for bad parenting. It used to be ADHD, now it is Asperger's. Also, some felt the need to point out that Asperger's no longer exists. Right, because the DSM is changing the name, the disorder suddenly goes away! But no, a lifetime sometimes debilitating condition is not a fad for bad parenting.

Speaking of debilitation, the other article that has given me pause: "F*ck you slow walkers." To which I say "F&ck you, able-bodied person." I am an able bodied person, and I walk pretty fast. However, I know a lot of people who aren't able-bodied, or simply choose to slow down and see what life has to offer. There are no minimum speed limits on sidewalks. "Oh, the bloody tourists are taking their sweet time" well, yeah, they are the life blood of the economy in many communities, and give a sizable boost to New York City.  They are spending thousands of dollars on their vacation, why wouldn't they want to stop and look around? Also, traveling in any unfamiliar place can be confusing, and NYC even more so. Older people and younger people have different strides and may take longer. And again, since Jezebel made the connection, I am going there: slow walkers are as bad as rape culture? Seriously?

But the part that bugs me the most is the ableist privilege. Not everyone inhabits the space in the same or with the same abilities. A person could have an invisible injury. A person could have brain functioning that doesn't fire so quickly, and so that person gets confused easily and needs to take it slowly to remember what is going on. People have knees that give out at random times, bunions can make walking painful. Hip and back pain abound. There are many reasons that a person may walk slowly (and who gets to define slowly anyway). Her abled privilege shines through when she writes that she moved here from a different country and she had to learn to drive on the other side of the street! Thanks for boot-strapping us! I would expect a female blogger to understand there are structural barriers to equality. Maybe I am expecting too much. This is, after all, a blog that thinks slut shaming is fine, as long as the women are celebrities!