Sexism in ‘Down the road’

by Silvina Rago

Have you paid attention to the people working with you at the office? Are they mainly women or men? Who drives the bus or taxi you take frequently? A woman maybe? The increasing presence of women in the labor market is certainly one of the most noticeable phenomenons of the last century. In the USA, women on the payroll employment grew from 31.6 percent in January 1964 to 49.9 percent in March 2010  and, in Latin America the percentage of households in which the contribution of women is the only income reaches important proportions.  ‘Down the road’ was written by Celia Berridge and published by Kingfisher Publications Plc. Having in mind genre roles in the labor market, I dare say ‘Down the road’ is sexist and discriminatory.

It was long ago when women's place was at home, taking care of the family and managing the domestic world. I have paid special attention to the drawings selected by the author of the book and, she explicitly depicts women as a house-wife, devoted only  to  bringing up children and taking them down the road. Surprisingly, women who don’t have children are doing shopping! Isn’t this discriminatory? Let us be realistic, decades ago it was seen as unfit for women to be in certain professions but nowadays, we can see with our own eyes that women’s labor force is equal to men in many fields.

Going back to the drawings in the book, man's figure is pictured as predominant on labour force. All situations of work are carried out by men, some are digging up the road, others driving a bus; there is no father taking his child down the road. Personally, I know many cases, even friends of mine who raise their children sometimes better than women do.

Despite statistics and everyday-life situations, some people still think of women only as housewives. Having in mind a labor force that has been historically dominated by males, it is hard to admit that women now spend more hours in their workplace than they do caring for their children as opposed to 20 years ago.

[1] http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C374.pdf
[2] http://www.cinterfor.org.uy/public/spanish/region/ampro/cinterfor/temas/gender/gestion/accempre/empre.pdf

The Doorbell Rang

by Belén Giamberardini

Every day teachers and parents  have to choose among a great range of  stories for kids to read. Some people prefer stories with  a didactic purpose, some others try to find stories that make emphasis on values. Some people prefer choosing old stories, while some others prefer choosing new ones. But no matter the kind of story people are going to choose, it is certainly true that those stories will reflect throughout their pages the social characteristics of the society in which they have been immersed.

 Among the great variety of  children’s books one can choose is “ The Doorbell Rang” by Pat Hutchins. The story is set at a middle calss family house in which two children have to share the cookies prepared by thier mother  with a lot unexpected guests, all of them being children. In this book, that has been published in 1986,  it is possible to see a middle class family, the kind of house in which they live as well as some possessions they have. However, women seem to have a very traditional role for a book that has been published in 1986.
If you have a look at the illustrations you will see that the mother cleans the floor in almost all pages of the book.

However, it could be said that by 1986 the expected role of the woman was no longer the one of cleaning the house all day long. By that time women shared those kinds of responsibilities with their husbands.

It is also noticeable that the mother is dedicated to looking after her children and cooking meals.

By 1986 women were not expected to spend hours in the kitchen cooking or to look after the kids during the whole day. By that time her husbands, again, cooperated with them in carrying out those tasks.

All in all, when people are going to choose a story like “The Doorbell Rang” for their kids to read, it is significant that they take into account what aspects of society the book is reflecting. If they don’t care about those kinds of things children can get the wrong picture about what they are reading and, worse than that, they can misunderstand the role of their mothers.

About talking houses, tricksters and the power struggle

by Angélica Santi

“Houses don’t talk, you know!”, writes Linda Hayward at the end of “Hello, House!”, her simple retelling of one of the "Tales of Uncle Remus", a well known collection of oral tradition folktales compiled by the American journalist and writer Joel Chandler Harris .

Probably an adaptation of the African cunning rabbit[1], Brer Rabbit, the clever protagonist of “Hello, House!” as well as of other two-thirds of the “Tales of Uncle Remus” and a supporting character in most of the rest, is regarded by some scholars as the best-known trickster in American literature[2]. Throughout this story he manages to outwit Brer Wolf, one of his usual victimized opponents, with complex simplicity. He does so in such a way that readers are almost compelled to reflect upon his doings. And out of this reflection various authors have considered Brer Rabbit as “a revolutionary black figure” from African American traditional lore[3].  More precisely, through this particular story, the power struggle, typical of colonial times, is depicted in a new and improved manner, one in which Brer Rabbit comes out victorious in what could be thought of as a “brain beats muscles” situation.

Historically speaking, the people from the colonies underwent many abusive situations in the relationship with their colonizers. Also within this category, African American slaves needed trickster stories to pass on their experience and knowledge without provoking the dominant white society. And most frequently, these stories focused on oppressed weak characters that used previous experiences and had all their wits about them in order to take advantage of their powerful opponents[4]. Uncle Remus, the protagonist of the mentioned tales, is a vehicle through which this purpose is accomplished using Brer Rabbit and his counterparts with considerable significance.  
However, as feeble as they may seem, tricksters don’t pretend to carry a moral tone. In order to be successful, they would not stop to think about right or wrong. They would come up with any prank to deal with the crisis. Similarly, Brer Rabbit achieves his main objective, to fool his enemy, by performing a trick that best suits the circumstances through lies, stealing, injuring, betraying, humiliating, even murdering. In the case of “Hello, House!”, Brer Wolf is really humiliated after falling for Brer Rabbit’s trick. Another tale places Brer Rabbit at the bottom of a well, a hapless victim of Brer Fox, and develops in Brer Fox rescuing him from the well by asserting that the moon reflected in the water at the bottom of the well is really a block of cheese. Brer Fox jumps into the other water bucket, descends into the well, and, in the process, enables Brer Rabbit to rise to freedom.

Being at ease during stressing times is another interesting aspect of this character’s personality.  It is the perfect complement to brains and the cherry on the cake in Brer Rabbit’s temperament that, together with sensibility and wits, leads him to take the dominant role in underprivileged conditions. This emotional-rational combination is perfectly pictured in “Hello, House!”: Brer Rabbit does not panic when he comes back home and sees the door open. Instead he calmly inspects the surroundings and finally comes up with the brilliant culminating idea of making Brer Wolf believe that the house would talk.

In trying to find a way out of the oppression, the enslaved peoples found it impossible, under that social context, to parallel their masters’ power. They had to get the most out of their cultural wisdom and did so by trickster stories like “Hello, House!”, which contains underlying serious comments of the injustice they had to endure and whose leading roles are performed by animal characters that carry considerable significance. When placed in the stereotypical situation of the weak against the powerful, the weak characters, who represent the black minority, use brains, intuition and prior experience to find a smooth way out of the conflict and outwit the strong ones representing the more educated, resourceful white society.

[1]Harris, T. The Trickster in African American Literature. Freedom’s Story, TeacherServe. National Humanities Center. Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/trickster
[2]Kemper V. eNotes.com. 2006. The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised Third Edition. Salem Press. 1998. Retrieved October 23, 2010 from http://www.enotes.com/complete-tales-uncle-remus-salem/complete-tales-uncle-remus
[3]Cochran, Robert. (2004, March 22). Black father: the subversive achievement of Joel Chandler Harris The Free Library. (2004). Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Black father: the subversive achievement of Joel Chandler Harris-a0117188856
[4]Harris, T. Op.cit.

The Doorbell Rang and the promotion of values

by Florencia Villaverde

The Doorbell Rang is a children’s story written by Pat Hutching. It is very popular among children because of its lively, full-colour illustrations that provide young readers with a meaningful visual context to understand the story. It is also a great tool for teachers because it can be used for teaching numbers.

There are many people who consider that the story contains a moral purpose since it promotes the value of friendship. We can realize this throughout the story as the children of the story share the cookies that their mother has prepared for them with their friends. But although The Doorbell Rang has a moral purpose, which is to teach children the importance of sharing with others, it also promotes sexist values.

The mother in the Doorbell Rang is represented in a traditional female role. She is a typical housewife that is always cleaning the floor, cooking and taking care of her children. This stereotypical representation of women is not positive for children at all since it gives them a sexist message: women can not be equal to men.

This promotion of sexist values in the story is not only represented through the role of the mother but also through the role of the absent father.  In this case, he may be absent because he is the only one who works outside. This is also a traditional view of the men’s role in society which is not beneficial neither to girls nor to boys.

All in all, The Doorbell Rang can not be considered part of the stories in which it is shown a positive, respectful attitude towards gender roles. This story is a clear example that although women and men were able to make changes to their traditionally accepted role in society throughout many years, there is still work to be done.

The great, Big, Enormous Turnip: a story that deals with an important value

by Melina Nuñez

The great, Big, Enormous Turnip is a children´s story retold by Alexei Tolstoy.

It is a very popular story in children´s literature. The main character in this story is an old man, who plants a little turnip. The turnip grows and it is very big, so the old man looks for help to pull it up.

Many English teachers in their lessons and also many parents at home read this story  to their children. They consider this story interesting since the author transmits the value of solidarity to children, which is very important nowadays. Solidarity is concerned with cooperation, and children need to know that cooperate with other people is necessary to live in the society. Solidarity is shown by Alexei Tolstoy in The great, Big, Enormous Turnip as a tool to achieve an objective.

Solidarity is present in the story all the time since the old man receives help from other people and animals to solve his problem and achieve his objective. The reader can notice the presence of solidarity when, for example, the old man realizes that the turnip is very big and he cannot pull it up alone, so he decides to call an old woman. Thanks to the solidarity of the people and the animals, the objective is achieved and the turnip is pulled up. All the characters are together in the end of the story and they share the turnip.

This story is a clear example of solidarity. The author shows the reader that it is not always possible for a person to solve problems alone and that people´s help is useful whenever there are problems to solve.

Family portrait

by Karina Moreschi

Children’s literature can be considered a powerful tool to communicate important values and beliefs to a society. But what is it communicating? Let’s think about a relevant issue as family.

I have taken into account two stories to check this out: “Eat up Gemma” and “The Doorbell Rang”. In both stories a family is shown with some features in common. In the two stories, the women’s role is a traditional one. Mothers devoted to their children, cooking and doing the housework. In “Eat up Gemma”, the father takes care of children in his free day .

An extended family is rendered with the inclusion, in both stories, of the grandmothers. They have an active role within the family helping with the housekeeping and children’s care.

It is well known that this kind of extended family is becoming hard to find in everyday life. Even the stereotype of the nuclear one has changed. Most children, who are the audience of these stories, live immersed in a new model of family different from the ones presented in the mentioned stories.  In real life situations, some of them may coexist with monoparental, interracial or even homosexual families.

Consequently, the recognition of diversity in family types would be outside children’s literature. In spite of the changes operated in the construction of the family, children’s literature remains surprisingly conservative in its aspiration of supporting the archetype of family in its young readers.

It would be a great step foward, just for the sake of inclusion, to leave behind conservatism in children’s literature and accept the diversity of family’s types to promote an open-minded and healthier society.

“Eat up, Gemma”

by Pilar Granda

Before 1970´s, gender roles presented in children´s books were traditional and stereotyped. Families in children´s books were formed by a mother, a father, the children and, in some cases, a grandparent. Although the story “Eat up, Gemma” was written in 1989, it is not the exception.

“Eat up, Gemma” is a book written by Sarah Hayes, which tells the story of a black working class family who encourages their little brown tanned toddler to eat.

In the story, Hayes gives Gemma´s mother a typical position within a traditional family since the female parent looks after the children and she is in charge of the housework. This position is clearly shown in the story and in the pictures. It can be seen that Gemma´s mother goes to the supermarket and she is most of the time at home.

Considering that Gemma´s father hardly appears in the pictures, readers can infer that he works during the week and has the duty of bringing money home like in all traditional families. On Saturdays, he goes to the park with his son and daughter and, on Sunday´s morning he goes to church with his family.  

Taking into account what have been mentioned before, “Eat up, Gemma” plainly reflects a stereotyped family.

“Eat up, Gemma”, more than a story for children

By Natalia Diquech

When thinking about children’s literature we have to bear in mind two important features. First, children’s literature has to be didactic. Second, it has to be fun for children. “Eat up, Gemma” encompasses this two basic issues concerning literature for children. On the one hand, the book deals with feeding issues. On the other hand, the story is entertaining and calls children’s attention. “Eat up, Gemma”, which is retold from the point of view of Gemma’s brother, deals with a color family’s attempt to make their baby daughter Gemma eat. The interested turning of the screw is that the one who accomplished that task is her eldest brother. The book, written by Sarah Hayes and published in 1989, is perfect to be read to children between the ages of 3-8 because its didactic value

However, we need to be aware that “all writing is ideological since all writing assumes values even when not overtly espousing them” (Volosinov, 1929/1986). Even though the book works perfectly for children, when “Eat up, Gemma” is analyzed from an adult point of view an important matter arises. The story, from my point of view, may have stereotyped gender roles.

Concerning women’s roles, there are two characters that we can analyze. One character is Gemma’s mother. She is represented in the story as the typical housewife who takes care of the children and who does the domestic chores. 

In addition, she is the first person who asks Gemma to eat, without succeeding of course. She is not only in charge of feeding her daughter, but also she is in charge of going to the market. In the story, she is seen with her two children buying some fruit.

Another woman character is Gemma’s grandmother. As well as Gemma’s mother, grandma is placed in the role of the woman who prepares the meal and tries to satisfy the male’s taste. “Nice and Spicy,” dad said, “just how I like it.” This was said by Gemma’s father when the family was eating what grandma had prepared for dinner. Taking into account that she is a woman, grandma is the second person in the story who asks Gemma to eat.  This shows us how deeply engage is the idea that women should take care of children.

Finally, in the story Gemma eats thanks to her clever brother’s idea, which consisted in turning a bowl over and arrange fruit round it, but guess who is the person that cleans the mess Gemma has done, If you are thinking about Gemma’s grandmother, you are right.

Evidently, all the things stated above follow the idea that “wifehood and motherhood are regarded as women's most significant professions” [1].  

If we talk about stereotyped gender roles, we need to analyze, if possible, male roles too.  In the book, the father, a working class man, has a dominant position. He is the head of the household and the wage- earner. Gemma’s father works outside the house and provides the money. Apparently, the only moments he spends with his children are on Saturdays when he takes them to the park, when the whole family goes to church or when they go to a friend’s party. This shows us the traditional male’s view in which the father is the income earner and he is not taken as an integral part of children growing process [2].

Although the book is didactic and entertaining for children, we need to bear in mind that “Eat up, Gemma” puts into focus the author’s ideology concerning genre roles which cannot be seen unless the book is analyzed by an adult.

    

[1] Women's History in America, presented by Women's International Center. http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm

[2] Enhancing men’s roles and responsibilities in family life. 

http://cl-t077-040cl.privatedns.com/intercenter/role4men/enhancin.htm

Eat up, Gemma: a change of view in Didacticism

By Bustingorri Guadalupe 

Eat up, Gemma is a short story written by Sarah Hayes and illustrated by Jan Ormerod.  Gemma is a baby girl who refuses to eat her food while everyone in her family asks her to do it. The story is specially designed for little children. However, adults may also enjoy it and reflect upon it.

The story seems to be innocent in its content but, at the same time, it hides an important change in the way in which stories are written for children. Different view changes were arising as regards Didacticism after the 70s. Certain issues such as social- class division, gender roles and racism were discussed and, to some extent, redefined. In concordance with these arguments Eat up, Gemma has a great ideological impact because it represents one of those changes.

It is for sure that ideology is present in almost every human act. Everything that people do is surrounded and shaped by ideology. That is why children literature can not escape from some of the ideas of a certain period in history. Before the 70s, children’s fiction was illustrated and written with white characters and other races were nearly denigrated.

The use of black characters in Eat up, Gemma represents a change of view as regards the negative representation that black people and other races used to have before the 70s. Perhaps the fact that black characters should be included in children’s stories is what really leads Jan Ormerod and Sarah Hayes to include them in Eat up, Gemma. Perhaps Eat up, Gemma is the perfect image of that revolutionary and important transformation in children’s literature. 

As it was mentioned before, Eat up, Gemma is an enjoyable and innocent story for children in its surface, but its content and illustrations are probably based on the different values and points of views that were revolutionizing Didacticism after the 70s. So, as far as I am concerned, Sarah Hayes’s story is a powerful and purposeful exemplifier of what was going to come next in relation to children’s literature and its didactic use.  

"When the Elephant Walks"

Essay by Agustin Lopez 

When the Elephant Walks, by Koiko Kasza is a story about being afraid and how to deal with this feeling. The topic is very common to all people (even the ones who deny it), and especially children, who feel that the new things may hurt them. All in all, the story mixes some entertaining pictures, a structure of events very easy to follow, patterns repetition, and a clear message that will certainly convince the reader at first sight. This message appears on Kasza final comment; "The next time you feel afraid, remember there may be someone bigger than you who gets scared too!."

Although it seems to be, to a high degree, persuasive, the message contains a high degree of irresponsibility in its words. You may think that this is a silly thing, something that does not deserves criticism, but I think this occurs because the story is presented in such a very good way that we feel it is not necessary to look for failures. The message seems to be good also because of the fact that it is easier to look upon others instead of oneself. How many times did you heard the phrase "you are not so bad. Look at him!"? When the Elephant Walks reinforces the same idea. Instead of trying to solve the problem, we compare us to another person in order to feel good.

It is necessary to teach children to be responsible for their feelings. It does not matter if someone is getting better or worse than you. We must start to think about ourselves without comparing our situation with others'.
  

It is a good thing to tell children that they do not have to be afraid, I know, but always with knowledge, with an explanation which can help them how to deal with fear. The comparison with other people leads to the evasion of the problem. 

The Simpsons

By M. Belen Giamberardini and Gisela Koval

Every day in Argentina lots of children watch TV after school or during weekends and one of the favourite TV shows chosen by them is The Simpsons. Children follow Homer and his family’s adventures in Springfield day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

It is well known that The Simpsons satirizes the American life style. Incompetent authorities, irresponsible adults, little tolerance and acceptance to everything that is “different”, out- of- control children, both at home and at school, are examples of this. But this is not all. The Simpsons can also underestimate the image of what is culturally taken as good.

“¡Púdrete Flanders!”(“Screw Flanders!”) has been a well known phrase daily heard by Argentinean kids during the last fifteen years. It’s not difficult to see how Homer mistreats his neighbor and makes fun of his way of dressing, religious beliefs, values and healthy habits. All this gives as a result a distorted image of what is considered a good neighbor.

Matt Groening reflects the failures of the American educational system through the Elementary School of Springfield . Although it is known that some failures in the system may be real, the author exaggerates the figure of teachers and authorities making fun of them. In this way, an organization which should be respectable is pictured as a weak and useless institution where kids do whatever they want.

To avoid visiting Grandpa is one of The Simpsons favourite plans for the weekend. Old people are seen as a thorn in one’s eye and taking care of them is not a choice. To exemplify this, there is an episode in which Homer denies giving away one of his kindness to save his father’s life. There is another episode in which Bart makes fun of Lisa because she enjoys spending her free time visiting old people at the Retirement Home. Thus, it is underestimated something that is culturally considered as good as taking care of old people.

“Why don’t we do a family activity next Sunday?” is a phrase that we will never hear in the show because The Simpsons prefer doing activities separately. Homer prefers spending time at Moe’s drinking Duff rather that taking the family to the zoo, for example. Marge spends all day in the kitchen preparing meals to satisfy Homer’s hunger while Bart, Lisa and Maggie live adventures on their own. So that something good as a united family is again disparaged.

The Simpsons popularity is undeniable. It doesn’t matter whether you are six or sixteen years old, you will laugh watching them anyway. But its success is based on showing irresponsibility, intolerance and lack of family values as fashionable and cool, making culturally good habits look absurd.

Is The Simpsons the kind of show we want our children to watch? It’s better to be believed it is not.

Heidi, the girl of the Alps

By Renée Fredes and Patricia De La LLera

“Grandpa, tell me why I’m so happy.” Everybody who remembers this phrase can go back to childhood with a feeling of happiness. If you are very young, perhaps you don’t know the TV show Heidi where this phrase is taken from. This TV show is based on the novel Heidi, which is the most popular piece of Swiss literature for children, written by Johanna Spyri in 1879. Heidi, the girl of the Alps is the complete name of the most successful cartoon that captivated the heart of many generations in the late 70`s.

Heidi is a five-year-old orphan girl who lives with her grandpa in a small cottage near the Alps, far from the village. She is very intelligent and sensitive, and together with her friend Peter, who is a shepherd boy, she lives the most beautiful adventures where human values are highlighted.

The TV show Heidi is made up of fifty two episodes, which consist of different simple stories about an innocent world that gives Heidi a feeling of freedom and love for nature. Despite the fact that in general TV cartoons show technology and encourage children to consumerism, throughout Heidi’s story we can learn that happiness can be made up of non-material things.

Nowadays children spend a lot of time playing expensive indoor games and watching cartoons where technology is always present. They can see that the main characters are heroes using high technology as an ally to reach their objectives and their happiness.

The ideas that underlie the TV show Heidi are friendship and love for nature, which give children the best tools to build a happy life. The different episodes highlight the importance of playing outdoors, where materialism is not a problem, because children have at hand all they need to enjoy a good time outside.

An important thing to have in mind is that children don’t need so much technology to grow happy. Heidi gives us a good lesson about human values because she shows us happiness in the uncontaminated childhood that she lives. It is an example for our children and it is the key of Heidi’s cartoon popularity, which is still alive nowadays.

Phineas and Ferb fight against holidays’ boredom and win audiences

By María Silvina Rago and Angélica Santi

“Hey Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today!” says Phineas Flynn, one of the main characters in the TV series Phineas and Ferb. This line, simple as it is, originated an achievement in children’s programming and caught the attention of 10.8 million viewers when it was first broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007. The series deals with the adventures of two stepbrothers, Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher, who expect to get the most of their 104 days of summer vacation. Each episode depicts uncommon situations which occur in everyday contexts, performed by the intelligent yet sometimes impertinent stepbrothers. Combined with a great variety of musical rhythms, the result is a well-thought scheme, which can be the reason why this animated series has largely succeeded among children and adults. 

Every day, they start an eccentric new project, being closely watched by their teenage sister Candace. Her misadventures while trying to bust them constitute a parallel subplot in the show’s storyline. But towards the end, everything vanishes magically or ends up in destruction before their mother can find out what Phineas and Ferb have been up to.

To add even more spice to the story, the authors thought it necessary to include another subplot. In it, the boys’ pet, Perry the Platypus, has a life of its own. He’s a secret agent for an animal organization and fights against a lunatic scientist called Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, whose primary goal is to take up the tri-state area, which is the place where Phineas and Ferb live. 

Humour, as in most of cartoons, is the basic tool the series creators, Dan Povenmire and Jeff Marsh, use to make the story a success. Each episode is full of gags, jokes and repeated lines. Their intention is not to write for children exclusively. They also try to have fun themselves, and believe  that children can always have the opportunity to ask an adult when necessary[1].

One of the features that surely attract younger audiences is the visual aspect of the programme. The main brightly coloured characters are made up of geometrical shapes: Phineas’s head is a triangle, Ferb’s is a rectangle, and Candace and her friend Isabella are half circles. This has the clear purpose of facilitating the drawing of characters. 

Making it even more appealing, the episodes devote some minutes to singing and dancing as in a musical comedy. There is no defined music style but a wide variety, from 16th-century madrigals to Broadway show tunes[2] . The catchy music is a key feature that engages kids, teens and, why not, adults. 

What might have also made the show so popular among older audiences is the constant mentioning of old movies, TV shows or famous people from the past as well as endless pop cultural references – Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Frankenstein, James Bond and SpongeBob Squarepants, among the most mentioned. All inserted in the two eleven-minute segments of each episode.

“Hey, Phineas, What'cha doin?” is one of the running gags that provide a great deal of fun. The same fun the authors had when thinking about this project [3] and the same fun Phineas and Ferb look for when developing their extravagant ideas. This combination of comedy, mystery, mischief, wittiness, simple geometric graphics and lovely tunes is simply irresistible for children and the pop cultural comments definitely make adults look forward to joining them in watching it.

[1] Marjorie. "Phineas and Ferb: Music, Mischief, And The Endless Summer Vacation". 411 News. http://www.resource411.com/411Update/Issue/Articles/Story.cfm?StoryID=1020. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
 [2] Strike, Joe. (February 1, 2008). "From Swampy & Dan Emerges Phineas and Ferb", Page 2.". Animation World Magazine. http://www.awn.com/articles/production/swampy-dan-emerges-iphineas-and-ferbi/page/2. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
[3] Strike, Joe. (February 1, 2008). "From Swampy & Dan Emerges Phineas and Ferb", Page 2.". Animation World Magazine. http://www.awn.com/articles/production/swampy-dan-emerges-iphineas-and-ferbi/page/2. Retrieved September 5, 2010.

The Simpsons: a cartoon that deals with important issues

By Núñez, Melina and Villaverde, Florencia

The Simpsons cartoon was created by Matt Groening in the ´80s and made its first appearance on television in 1987. Nowadays, it has become the most popular cartoon around the world. The main characters of this cartoon are the members of The Simpson family: Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Magie who live in a city called Springfield. 

Each member takes a particular role in the family. Homer is the husband/father who does not like working and enjoys drinking beer; Marge is the housewife/mother with an unexcited life; Bart is the rebel of the family; Lisa is the most intelligent of the three children; and Maggie is the baby that does not speak. However, all the characters make use of irony and parody in similar ways, dealing with topics such as religion, politics and racism. According to the Oxford Dictionary,  Irony means “the use of words that say the opposite of what you mean, often as a joke”; and parody means “ a piece a writing, acting or music that copies the style of somebody or something in order to be amusing”. Both irony and parody are not only used by Matt Groening as tools for making people laugh but as a means to convey important aspects of modern society. This is the key for the success of this cartoon. 

Religion is one of the major topics in the cartoon. The creator of The Simpsons uses parody and irony in several occasions when dealing with this topic. Some clear examples are the followings: Homer does not think that religion is important to his life but he believes in God when he is in troubles. He practises the Protestant religion although he believes that going to the church is a waste of time. Many times he confuses God with a character of a comic strip (Superman). 

Although religion is a quite delicate matter, most people do not take Homer behaviors or actions as offences. With the use of irony people take it less seriously and many times laugh at Homer jokes and also discover hidden messages in his phrases. 

As regards politics, corruption goes hand by hand with it for Groening. He shows us that politicians can be corrupt when they have money and power through the character of the Mayor. Groening uses parody to make people aware that the Mayor is like most politicians  and does not care about the citizens´ problems, but only about getting more money. 

Sometimes people find many coincidences between the Mayor in the cartoon and the politicians of real life. People take for granted that corruption appears easily in the field of politics, but instead of feeling angry about it as they would in real life, they laugh at this situation. 

Racism can be seen in many episodes of The Simpsons. Apu, an Indian shop assistant, is sometimes discriminated by the citizens of Springfield, especially by Homer. Groening uses parody when he represents Apu as those immigrants who come to America looking for new opportunities in a way that is humorous.  For example, the episode when the Springfield´citizens discover that Apu is an ilegal immigrant and start discriminating him for this cause. 

The Simpsons success lays on the ability of Groening to make people laugh at situations that appear in this cartoon and are similar to the ones of real life. The use of irony and parody contribute to this success and help Groening developing topics that are important in the modern society.   

A puff of power for girls

By Florencia Gonzalez and Karina Moreschi

In the late nineties, a new cartoon appeared on T.V. It caught the young audience from the very beginning with its well known opening:

Sugar... spice... and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction...Chemical X!-- Thus the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra-superpowers, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil! 

Who dare say that the mixture of nice things together with an accidental drop of “X Chemical” would turn upside down the ideas about gender role in children cartoon.

Until 1998, superheroes used to be played by males characters and if there was a woman with superpowers, she always had his male counterpart. Let’s take Wonder Woman and She-Ra as examples. She-Ra was He-Man’s sister and Wonder Woman was the only of her gender among all the members of the League of Justice. But The Powerpuff Girls broke this pattern in which women, even the strongest, had only a supporting or passive role.

Created by Craig McCracken, The Powerpuff Girls’ cartoon was broadcast for the first time in November 1998. Its author didn’t have on purpose to cause such a shift of paradigm in children cartoon. The three little heroines, Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles, have well defined characteristics: the sweet Bubble, the irritable Buttercup, and the intelligent Blossom. With this clear opposition of sweet and spicy features, they play the role of protectors of Townsville without loosing their femininity. The novelty of The Powerpuff Girls is given by the performance of the female characters.

The Powerpuff girls don’t always have to use violence or their superpowers to defeat their enemies. They take advantage of their sex attributes becoming stronger by employing the intrinsic power which lies on them as women. An example of this is the way in which they beat the Rowdyruff Boys in the episode number twelve. Kisses were the girls’ secret weapon on that occasion. 

Not only are the three girls portrayed in a distinctive superheroe role but also the women in the supporting characters. Ms. Keane is one of them. She is the Powerpuffs Girls’ kindergarten teacher. And she provides a good example for the three little girls. The reason why, is that she is very intelligent and frequently advices her students to change the perspective from which they can attack the villains, by using methods which avoid the use of brute force. One instance of this can be found in the episode where the superheroines defied the Gangreen Gang to be their opponent in a video game competition.

The other secondary character that is worth to be mention is Ms. Bellum, the Mayor’s assistant. Sexuality is the quality which defines her. She has a voluptuous body which is her only part shown. Her face has been never revealed maybe because that is not necessary to know that she is beautiful according to the cultural-social standards of society. But that is not her only virtue. In her person, the forces of beauty and intellect merge to prove that women can be sexy and clever at the same time. In contrast with her perfection, the Mayor is a bald old man, short both in height and mind, who depends on her assistant and the Powerpuff girls to solve all the problems of the city. Returning to the example found in episode number twelve, it is Ms Bellum who helps the girls to discover the power of kissess to destroy the Rowdyruff Boys[1]. 

Perhaps, it is not easy to perceive the relevance of the effect of these changes in the characters that play the leading role in children cartoons. However, it is important to consider that this is the reflexion of a society which is evolving. And this is also, the new model of superheroes for children, a model without gender distinction. 

To summarize, the Powerpuff girls have turned weakness into opportunity and threat into strength by capitalizing femininity. As a consequence, this cartoon displays a new range of possibilities for the females in the role of superheroes.

[1] References: The Powerpuff Girls: A Society of Girl Power by Krissy Naudus. http://www.urbangeek.net/writings/academic/powerpuff.html

Teletubbies: Why are they so much questioned?

By Palazzetti Ivanna – Bustingorri Guadalupe

Teletubbies is a TV show which was specially created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for babies and little children. Its first appearance on television was in 1997. The characters of this TV show are Tinky Winky and Dipsy, whose blue and green colours respectively are proper of male characters, Laa-Laa and Po, who apparently are females, and the Sun, which is a smiling baby face. The setting is a great garden full of coloured flowers.

What is the reason why Teletubbies are so hypnotizing for children? What do these ETs have that call children's attention so much? Why are they so successful among young audiences? What is the reason why adults hate and mock on Teletubbies? We are sure that the answer to the first three questions is that this TV show makes children laugh and have fun. However, the last question seems to be harder to answer. That is why we will try to explain and justify our agreement with the social prejudice as regards the stupidity of these modern ETs.

To start with, we think Teletubbies are not based on something real. They seem to be strange aliens or something like that, and as far as we know, science has not still proved the existence of extraterrestrial subjects.

Apart from that, these four ETs show stupid movements and speak with a very basic vocabulary. In fact, these four telly-characters repeat actions and words at least two times in a row in only thirty minutes. However, the use of repetition is a great and powerful tool to get children engaged with the TV show.

We should not forget about the shiny sun. We do not understand quite well the meaning of the baby´s face which is constantly smiling. It seems to be diabolic and overexcited. Why does he laugh all the time? What is that makes him laugh? It is quite abnormal. Why does not he cry? Would not it be more normal if he would also cry as all babies do?

In addition, one of the Teletubbies called Tinky Winky can be seen playing with a pink bag. This seems to show homosexual features since it is apparently a boy using a girl’s stuff. For us, it is completely unnecessary to display situations or images to little children that can be discovered and experienced by themselves in future time. It does not mean that we are against the free election of sexuality, but the fact that Tinky Winky plays with a female handbag, looks like made on purpose for getting kids asking questions which are difficult to be answered at their ages.

As if this was not enough, during the TV show, a video is played with the objective of teaching something useful to the audience. But it is still something meaningless and out of the real world since people in it repeat actions and words like parrots, and what is funnier, they celebrate a birthday party to a teddy bear in one of the programmes. 

But all these arguments can be justified if we bear in mind that Teletubbies was made for babies or very little kids. Perhaps their parents turn the TV on and select this TV show in order to keep their children distracted for a while. Perhaps children enjoy watching such strange silly ETs moving all the time and saying things that are senseless. Maybe little kids get fun with those kinds of TV programmes and their parents find them very interesting for their children´s growing.

Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport´s creation seems to underestimate children´s capability and intelligence. It does not help neither complement the knowledge the school tries to transmit. Putting it all together, this TV show is not recommendable for children. It is prohibited for people who are looking for something interesting and at the same time entertaining on TV. We think it is obvious why Teletubbies are so questioned.

The Behaviouristic School bus

By Natalia Diquech and Ma. Florencia Dominguez

As my Aunt Minerva used to say, ‘there's nothing more marvelous than mud.’

Mr. Frizzle (The Magical School Bus, 1994)

Can you imagine a magic school bus? A bus which can take you to extraordinary didactic journeys with an adventurous, intelligent and wise teacher? Actually, it’s not far from imagination. In 1993, a clever writer called Joanna Cole, who previously had written about science and humour, decided to explore this fields by turning complex topics into simple and engaging ones. In order to achieve her ideas, she wrote a book named “The Magic School Bus.” Cole was then supported by Craig Walker, the vice-president and senior editorial director at Scholastic. According to walker, the main idea of the book was to combine science with fictional stories. Later, in 1994 the idea was taken to the TV.

The show places an elementary school teacher called Ms. Frizzle and her students as the main characters. They all travel in the magical bus which takes them to unreachable places such as the solar system, the sea, and other sceneries. Although all the characters take an important role in the show, the teacher is the one who has the knowledge. Can be possible that Ms. Frizzle is following a behaviouristic approach?

During the different episodes you can see how children are transported by a magical bus driven by the teacher to meet knowledge. Children are taken to the centre of knowledge, where they take a passive role because they only observe what the teacher shows them. For example, in one episode the teacher drove the bus, with the children in it, inside the human body in order to teach them how the body functions.

Walker once said that a teacher he had when he was a child inspired him to help Joanna Cole to create Ms. Frizzle. Considering he was born in the 60’s, we can infer his teacher may have followed a behaviouristic view. As a result, Ms. Frizzle may have behaviouristic characteristics concerning her active role in the TV programme.

But what about Joanna? She never stated she had been inspired by any of her school teachers, however, as she was born in 1944, she may have also had a behaviouristic view of education, in which the teacher is the one who posses the knowledge and transmits it to the students. This is something shown in all the episodes. Ms. Frizzle posses the knowledge and she always leads her students to it.

There is a student, called Arnold, which cannot reach learning because he feels he is not brave enough to face the different adventures. That’s why the teacher tries over and over again to teach him until he reaches the teacher’s goal. Once the child has learned the teacher fells she had succeeded. This is a clear example of how the behaviouristic view is immersed in the teacher’s active role.

This analysis understands the show as having a behavioural background in relation to the context in which it was created. As we have mentioned before, the show itself shows behavioural aspects concerning the teacher’s role, the students` role and the way in which knowledge is presented.

We need to be aware of the mixture between science and fiction used to engage children but without forgetting the hidden ground on which the TV series was built up.