She Ra: is she really a strong role model?
The first article that irked me was in regards to the 80s tv show She Ra. It was talking about what a great role model She Ra was to young girls, and how strong and empowered the character was. Admittedly, I was a bit young to have watched the show. But I did see an episode of it a few months ago on Retro TV, which I watched with my mom. We were scoffing at the entire thing. It is enjoyable that every man in the He Man/She Ra universe wears tights and tunics...they're admittedly not the most masculine characters, which I suppose can be viewed as a plus by femminazis. But demasculating men isn't necessary to make strong female characters.
The offending thing to me about She Ra is that her alter ego is a whimpy, stereotypically feminine character who needs men to save her. When she becomes She Ra, her voice gets deeper (like a man, I guess), and she becomes the hero who actually saves the men. That's pretty cool. But here's what I hated about the episode I watched, and that my mom and I so relentlessly made fun of: She Ra's alter ego was locked in prison, waiting for the men to save her. She became She Ra, broke out of the prison, saved a bunch of men on a pirate ship, impressed them, delivered them to safety and then...returned to prison so that the male hero could come save her. When he did rescue her, she winked at the camera and the audience implying "hehe, aren't I clever, letting the silly man think that he's my hero." But here's my issue: why does an empowered woman need to let men think she's just a weak little thing in need of his saving? What kind of message is that to send to young girls?!
The Simpsons
My latest complaint, which prompts this blog entry, is this article on The Simpsons. In this article, the author (who hails from somewhere in the Pacific Northwest and appears to be just a smidgen older than me...I stalked her blog for details) manages to perpetuate negative stereotypes...including some personal ones. Matt Groening, The Simpsons creator, of course hails from the good old Pacific Northwest himself, a fact I always delight in, as it proves that we are clearly superior to everyone else. Who wouldn't want to be a PNWer? So this author (her name is Jessica, by the way, for future reference) stereotypes the Pacific Northwest in a way which she agrees with and it irks me...because we aren't all like that, thank you very much.
First off, Chief Wiggum is not an example of why we should all hate police. While completely inept, at times corrupt and always a bumbling idiot, he's not a bad guy. I find him to be a very enjoyable character. Nobody in the town hates the man. So how on earth is this teaching people to hate the police? At most, it's poking fun at the fact that authority figures are human too and we should question authority figures prior to following them, instead of blindly following them no matter what. This point in Jessica's article followed the lesson that "vegetarians are smarter", based on the fact that Lisa is often the voice of reason in the Simpson family. She was compared to Homer in the argument. But what about Marge, who eats meat but while soft-spoken is very intuitive and observant?
Then there comes the religion argument. Of course Groening pokes fun at organized religion, and the sillier things the various fanatics like the spout. But Jessica seems to take away from this that all religion, and all aspects of it, are silly, and that Christianity deserves the biggest hit, as if it is the silliest belief. She then wraps up the article explaining how Groening is a liberal Pacific Northwesterner himself (getting the name of his alma mater wrong as she does so), and lumps all of us together to be atheists. Thanks for perpetuating a stupid stereotype, Jessica. Groening himself identifies as agnostic - an important distinction from atheist, as it means that Groening's belief system allows for the possibility that a God (or gods) exist. And while I have heard statements that the PNW has far less religious people but plenty of spiritual people, to lump all of us in as atheists is annoying. On the contrary, due to the liberal attitudes of our culture, religious and spiritual people alike tend to be far more open-minded. We can see and appreciate the humor in The Simpsons without coming away from the show thinking "gee, my beliefs are stupid, I'd better re-evaluate." If anything, when I see social commentaries on Christianity, I tend to agree. It really just strengthens my beliefs. You don't need to be a Bible-thumping, right-wing eccentric to be Christian.
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I don't see eye to eye with Jessica...on her blog, she has a letter to her future husband, and then lists men she likes. Number one is Chandler Bing/Matthew Perry, who I can't for the life of me take seriously...primarily because I will perpetually see Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing and frankly, I find that embarrassing (sorry, not a fan of Friends). The only person more embarrassing than that is David Schwimmer/Ross...but at least when Schwimmer voiced the hypochondriac giraffe in Madagascar, I was able to put aside the Ross association for a while. She does go on to list Steve Martin second, who is of course brilliant and any woman who wouldn't want a man like him (who isn't lesbian) is clearly not in her right mind and probably isn't fit to procreate. And yes, my feelings are that strong. Additionally, Michael J. Fox belongs far higher on that list, and where on earth are Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp?!
I'm disappointed that the articles I keep reading on HelloGiggles keep missing the mark, but it does provide me with fuel for my own blog. Of course, the primary difference is that nobody is reading my rants, and thousands of people are gobbling up HelloGiggles. Hm. That says a lot right there, I suppose.
