The effects of Television Cartoons in the Gender Role expectations of Children by Carmo Braga Da Costa

The effects of Television Cartoons in the Gender Role expectations of Children A look at how the Communication of Gender in Animated Series has changed in the last two decades

Name: Maria do Carmo Braga da Costa Advisor: David Alvarez Submitted for the Bachelor in Communications Date of Submission: 30.05.2016

Acknowledgments I would like to thank, first and foremost, my advisor David Alvarez for all his support and useful insights he offered to this project. His guidance on the central topics of this paper was vital to its completion and success.

I would also like to thank every scholar, psychologist, writer, professor or theorist mentioned in this paper. The true heroes are those who are willing to expose such an important subject, which is often overlooked, and who have done so for decades.

Most notably, I am thanking all LGBTQ rights activists and Feminists who have contributed not only to the spark that made me want to pursue this research paper, but who fight for the little big things that still need to change in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society.

Finally, I would like to thank Rebecca Sugar and all the creators and writers of the amazing animated series that are giving representation to all kids today. If its true that children are the future, you are shaping their ambitions, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of anything more important than that.

Thank you,

Carmo Braga da Costa

Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………..……….…... 3 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 4 Literature Review…………………………………………………………………….. 6 The Socialization Process of Children & Perception of Gender Roles (6) Theories on Media Influence (8) The Importance of Fantasy (9) Gender Roles & Lack of Representation in Televised Cartoons (11) Cartoon Characters as Role Models (15) Round up of Lit Review & Research Questions (16) Methodology…………………………………………………………………........... 19 Expected Results……………………………………………………….................. 23 Analysis 90’s

HEY ARNOLD (24 – 36) RECESS (37 – 46) ED, EDD N EDDY (47 – 55)

2010’s

GRAVITY FALLS (56 – 67) STEVEN UNIVERSE (68 – 78) THE LEGEND OF KORRA (79 – 90)

Discussion…………………………………………………………….…………….. 91 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………... 92 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………. 96 Appendices……………………………………………………………..………….. 100

Abstract This study examines the role of animated series in the gender role expectations of children. It is a look at how the actions of their favourite characters on screen translate into their real life expectations and how it affects their views on the opposite gender and their relationships with peers. The study takes the concepts of Cultivation Theory and Social Learning Theory and combines them with the idea that children adopt role models of their same gender, and the fact that northAmerican animated series have had a history of weak representation of female characters. Another question this study aims to answer is how the communication of gender has changed in the last two decades. In order to answer it, a quantitative and qualitative analysis of both 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and 2010â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s animated series will be conducted, to find the contrasts between their gender representation, through dialogue, number of characters, their purpose and their general messages on gender.

Introduction Children live according to the rules of their parents. There are many things that they are not allowed to do, places they arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allowed to go to, things they arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allowed to say, eat, or touch. But when a child reads a story book or watches an animated movie, she travels, she explores, she gets to live adventures through the characters in the story. She also learns. She will learn about colors, animals, countries, cultures, even science, but most importantly, she learns about being a person. Television cartoons accompany children from the time they start watching television until they enter their teens, and the market for animated series is an ocean of content that is distributed through a growing number of media outlets. On average, a North-American 10 year old watches 28 hours of television per week, but the experience of watching cartoons is not the same for boys and girls, due the imposed stereotypical gender roles that are often transmitted through their favourite characters. Gender, of course, is a conversation which has been gaining momentum for the past three decades. With philosophers like Judith Butler challenging the definition of the term, and scholars like Nancy Signorielli blaming the Media for the establishment of gender roles. Do children learn gender norms because of the content they watch? What are the problems of yesterday and today with the representation of women in animated series? How have things changed in this industry, often overlooked by parents? With the inarguable importance that animated series have in the development of children in mind, I set out to find what behaviours children adopt from watching television, and what messages resonate the longest. Equally important, is to expose how animated series have communicated gender for decades, not only in the characterization of female and male subjects, but also in the inclusion of the female gender by the numbers in these kinds of programs.

By exploring Gerbner & Gross’ Cultivation Theory and Bandura’s Social Learning Theory we are able to understand the impact of the media’s messages on children, and how their behaviour and beliefs are shaped by their favorite programs. It will also be relevant to understand why the industry behaves this way, by looking at the business decisions of network executives which often exclude girls and programs made for them. This will all be part of the literature review, which will guide the way to a quantitative and qualitative analysis of three 90’s cartoons and three 2010’s cartoons, all from the major North-American children’s programing networks: Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel. Since all of these channels have spread throughout Europe and, subsequently, some of their original shows are broadcast in European national television stations. By collecting quantitative data on dialogue and number of characters by gender and observing how gender is communicated in the shows from the sample, I will be able to analyze the extent to which these animated series have perpetuated gender roles. Three episodes of six different animated series will be analyzed. Looking for stereotypical representations of both male and female characters, and conducting the Bechdel Test will guide the way to a comparison of the new and the old shows, and their communication of gender and representation of female characters. Hopefully, it will be clear how the sample of animated series from our decade have changed their messages on gender, by creating empowering and prejudice shattering content, that not only values the representation of female characters, but is inclusive of LGBTQ characters and other minorities. The ultimate objective of this paper is to contribute to the gender conversation, and demonstrate not only how vulnerable children are to gender role perpetuating content, but how it is possible to create empowering, good quality content today that will benefit children by inspiring tolerance amongst them and giving representation to all minority groups.

Literature Review Children’s cognitive development and construction of beliefs is a process which has been put under the microscope by scholars for generations. The role that the media plays in such developments is undoubtedly important. How does Mass Media establish ideologies? What role do television cartoons play in the socialization process of children? And how have animated series represented gender? How do we construct childhood? These are the questions which will be discussed in the literature review section. It’s important to note the different time periods in which some of the cited papers were written. As this is a subject that has been explored throughout the decades, it will be interesting to find out what has changed, why, and to what consequences. This section also offers a background to the psychological side effects of media exposition on children, and which media theories have addressed such issues. Hopefully this will serve as a guide which will flow into more intrinsic questions on the matter, and, most importantly, questions which will help to analyze the sector today. The Socialization Process of Children & Perception of Gender Roles Gender Roles are defined as the actions of a person that indicate to others, and to him/herself, that they are male, female or gender fluid. It is what mainstream society considers acceptable behaviour assigned to your gender. Gender Roles are tricky, as it is hard to simply establish behaviour rules for each gender. These “rules” end up being extremely stereotypical, dictated by the biological and psychological assumptions made about each gender (Ramafedi, 1990). For example, the assumption that every woman wants to become a mother or that men are inherently less emotional than women. This is problematic, since it excludes an array of personality traits, future goals and longings that each individual has. Traits that have an effect on our behaviour and may diverge us from these presupposed and stereotypical Gender Roles. Not only do Gender

Roles affect the self and how we “learn to behave”, they also affect the expectations that each gender have of each other. This can have an effect on goals and aspirations and what each gender deems as an “appropriate” or “suited” job for his or her gender. The gender conversation has been going around for years, and the belief that gender is constructed is becoming more and more accepted as the norm. Judith Butler expanded on this theory, where sex is separated from gender, and we learn that gender in a social construct, not a biological condition. Society learns about Gender Roles through the Socialization Process, which “is the way in which an individual comes to adopt the behaviour and values of a group”. It is how we learn how to behave within the context of our gender. The role that the media plays in this process has been widely discussed amongst scholars, and studies have indeed shown that mass media has a tremendous effect on the socialization process of both children and adults. This falls into the umbrella of Cultivation Theory (Signorielli, 1990). Although society is evolving and - depending on the cultural circumstances, - we have learned that Gender Roles are not realistic, children have a harder time understanding this. Until the age of five and six, children tend to possess very strong gender stereotyped behaviour and perceptions. This is mostly due to three factors: 1. Their cognitive limitations, which are coupled with 2. Exposure to very simple schematic representations of masculine and

feminine characteristics (in

everyday life, media, role models etc.), and 3. Social Pressures which influence what kind of gender typed behaviour children learn to adopt and not to adopt (Banerjee & Lintern, 2000). Banarjee and Lintern found evidence that suggests that children have an active role in adopting behaviours which are “approved” by their peers, and drop those which are not. In addition to this, Professor of Psychology, Carolin Martin states that kids until the age of five “don’t really take into account counter stereotypical information about others, so, for example, if a girl at this age likes to play with cars, the boys will insist that she would prefer to

play with dolls.” (Martin, 1989). Furthermore, and relevant to this paper, is that due to their cognitive limitations, children at this very young age can’t tell the difference between internal and external experiences. This means that they don’t realize that television characters aren’t real (Noble, 1975). Coupled with Nancy Signorielli’s theory that, of all media, television is the tool most relevant to the socialization process of children, it makes sense that, the representations children are exposed to on television, - which have been considered to be stereotypical throughout generations and thus problematic - lead to this gendertyped behaviour. Since children see cartoon characters as living things, and mimic their behaviour (just like they do with their peers), it is only normal that they adopt stereotypical gender behaviour and perceptions. Perceptions which go beyond the age of five, and go into their teenage and adult years. Theories on Media Influence The constant and intense presence of the media - in all it’s shapes and forms, in our lives has been increasingly acknowledged as a pillar of the social ecology of children and youth (Dar, 2012). ‘The psychological consequences of the Media in the minds of society’ has been a widely explored subject and there are two theories relevant to this conversation, which, in their psychological perspective, offer a solid base to this discussion. These theories are: Cultivation Theory and Social Learning Theory. Cultivation Theory, introduced by George Gerbner and Larry Gross, focuses on the effects of mass media and its messages on the spectator’s behaviour. It presumes that “the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television.” (Cohen & Weimann, 2000). The theory makes three basic assumptions: 1) Television is different, and much more powerful that other mass media outlets. 2) Television shapes, not only the way society thinks, but also what we think of each other and how we relate to others, and 3) Television’s effects are limited. (Gerbner &

Gross, 1976). These limitations have to do with factors such as environment, education, culture, age etc. Considering once again Signorielli, a young child is more vulnerable to media influence because of her cognitive limitations, which lead to a flatter view of the world, where television is not a box with pictures that entertain her, but a part of her life, just like school or playing in the park. Equally important is the fact that the influence the media has on children has a lot to do with it’s fictional characters. This is because television characters serve as ‘models’ that kids look up to and imitate. Social Learning Theory reinforces this point. Social Learning Theory (the root of Social Cognitive Theory), focuses on how humans learn to behave by watching and copying the behaviour and attitudes of others. It’s originator, Albert Bandura, believed that human behaviour is learned observationally through modeling. Children especially learn how to behave through observation, they watch other people on a daily basis, encode their behaviour, and then they mimic this behaviour. Even though children can look up to people and mimic behaviour which isn’t “gender appropriate”, it is much more likely that a child will look up to someone of the same gender and who behaving according to gender roles. Children’s “models” can come in the form of parents, peers, teachers and even television characters (Bandura, 1971). This goes back to the before discussed “cognitive limitations” of young children, and the trouble they have distinguishing between real and fictional characters. This is to say, children look up to their favourite cartoon characters, not only because they provide them with a form of entertainment, but also because, until a certain age, they believe these characters are real. Another point which is often overlooked in the discussion of animated series, is the value they provide to children beyond entertainment.

The Importance of Fantasy Mainstream animation features are more than just a form of distraction for children. They are a pillar of their education, they are an important producer of codes and signifiers, portraying assumptions of values and norms that ultimately reinforce their character. A sign of their educational value is the fact that television cartoons are a globalization tool. This is because some of the world’s biggest media conglomerates (ie. Walt Disney, Viacom and Time Warner) own some of the biggest TV animation producers and distributors: Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. American products which are distributed all over the world (Leitão, 2008). But cartoons can be measured by more than their intellectual value. Renowned child psychologist and writer, Bruno Bettelheim believed that Fairy Tales are essential to the psychological development of children. This is because Fairy Tales offer fantasies that enable, in a symbolic way, their personal realization. According to the author, television is an essential tool for fantasy to spread its wings. It allows children to easily travel between the world of fantasy and real life. The power to explore these worlds through television, Bettelheim believed, awakens the imagination of the child and enables her to exercise self-determination, (Bettelheim, 1976). It’s clear that Television Cartoons, to some extent, have pedagogical importance - starting with the fact they their audiovisual nature is more appealing to children, and thus an easy access tool of learning, - surely they are a tool that “constructs” childhood and children’s beliefs. However, regardless of the role they play in the socialization process of children, and Bettelheim’s belief of self-fulfillment, television cartoons and their representation of life can be misleading. How many times has Disney been criticized for its misrepresentation of culture in movies such as Aladdin (1992), Pocahontas (1995), and even Frozen (2013)? Now that we know the importance of such representations for the development of children, we can start to have a more critical view of the messages conveyed in such cartoons. Bettelheim suggests that parents should watch television with their

kids, so they can help them learn with it and accompany the process. It’s interesting that cartoons not only help the learning process of children, but open up their imagination. Meaning that they are more than just a learning experience, they are an emotional and self-fulfilling experience, as Leitão also mentions. This, however, is worrisome. If the role of cartoons series has such an impact on children’s lives, those who are left unrepresented (either because of their race, gender or sexual orientation) are clearly at a disadvantage. Let’s explore why this is. Gender Roles & Lack of Representation in Televised Cartoons It’s not news that there isn’t a balance between male and female representation in the media. When mainstream movies today still can’t pass the simple Bechdel test1, we must ask “why does the media think women aren’t as important?”. This question has often been answered with the concept of heteropatriarchy. The dominance of the heterosexual male’s point of view in society that spans into the media, which, Francisco Valdes argues, is a system which aims to control the destiny of individuals and society itself, by managing gender and sex ideology and socio-sexual identities (Valdes, 1996). This also infects animated series. Nancy Signorielli is a professor of Communication that has dedicated most of her writing to Mass Media effects on people, including the weight that the media has on the socialization process of children. In a paper written in 1990, Signorielli states that “women are especially underrepresented on children’s programs. In cartoons, studies consistently reveal that men outnumber women by four or five to one and (...) women are presented in very stereotypical roles.” This is something to worry about, since children start watching television at a very early age, and a lot of the time they spend in front on the TV is watching cartoons (Thompson & Zerbios, 1995). There have been numerous studies around this topic, which consistently show that there is in fact a big difference when it comes 1

The test appeared in a comic created by Alison Bechdel, where two women talk about going to the movies and one of them says she will only watch movies that: 1. Features a conversation

to the number of male and female characters in cartoon television series. Not only that, but the number of female leads is also lower and their characterization - even if subtly, - is stereotypical (Eick, 1998). There is a reason however, for the higher number of male characters and “male oriented” themes in television cartoons. First and foremost, it’s essential to look at the beginnings of the commercialization of cartoons to fully understand why this happens. Television contributed to the construction of the “child-spectator” as well as the “child-consumer”2. Not only that, but television portrays images that are based on assumptions -based on gender and age, - that dictate what children would like, what they should watch and even buy (Leitão, 2008). Professor of Critical Studies at USC, Ellen Seiter, explored the issue in the 90’s. Seiter says that shows like My Little Pony and Care Bears are examples of shows destined for the market. They aren’t based on myths or fairy tales (like Disney movies, such as Snow White and The Little Mermaid), but made to be transformed into products. These products, however, are “sold separately” to boys and girls. This point has been reinforced by network executives themselves. It’s not a revelation that the television industry decides what goes on TV based on how much audience it has. In the 90’s, network executives (including CBS’s Vice President for research, David Poltrack) stated to have no intention of making content that is more appealing to girls, because the number of boys watching television on Saturday mornings was higher. “If a show is to be successful, it must appeal to boys, because boys will not watch cartoon shows that have girls as lead characters but girls will watch cartoons with male leads.” Executives claimed that it wasn’t a sexist decision to exclude shows featuring female characters from their programing, it was a business decision (Carter, 1991). A business decision that is still a problem today. In a 2013 interview, writer and producer Paul Dini - creator of several animated cartoon series for Cartoon Network-, shed some light on the subject of sexism in the cartoon 2

Historically speaking, these two didn’t exist before World War II. It was after World War II that television was commercialized in a mass scale.

industry. He said that network executives underestimate their female audience, which leads to not only poorer quality of cartoons, but less representation of the female gender. The reason why they make these decisions, he says, is because there is a common belief in the industry that girls don’t buy as much “cartoon based merchandise” as boys do. Dini claims this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If networks don’t produce toys that are also appealing to girls and don’t market them to girls, how do they expect girls to buy the merchandise? (SModcast Podcast Network, 2013). It looks as if there is simply an old-fashioned business model, and an industry which is unwilling to change it. Gender discrimination on screen is just a reflection of a social problem in real life. The consequences of this are then reflected back into society (life imitating art). As stereotypical female gender roles on television not only have an effect on the behaviour of young girls, but on how boys perceive them (Gokçearslan, 2010). This goes back to the idea of the “construction of childhood”. Childhood isn’t defined by its biological factors alone, it is also a product of historical and sociological factors. The media being one of them. An excellent example of lack of representation in televised cartoon series is The Smurfs. Originally a FrancoBelgian comic series, it aired on television as a cartoon series in 1981. At the time it aired, the show only had one female character, Smurfette, out of 91 total characters. Smurfette’s role in the show was essentially to be female, she is a blonde girl with big eyelashes, and there isn’t much more to her. The character is created by magic in the show, by the evil Gargamel and “his recipe for femininity included: coquetry, crocodile tears, lies, gluttony, pride, envy, sentimentality, and cunning.” (Cohen 2013). Smurfette was one of the first “token characters”. I want to highlight, once again, the fact that not only are girls likely to imitate this ‘model’ of their gender that they see on television, but boys will also see this character as a ‘model’ of the female gender. The main issue isn’t even the characterization of this female character (there are women like this), it’s the fact that Smurfette is the only female character. Whilst there are 90 different kinds of

men, with different qualities, personalities and characteristics, there is only one female, and this translates into ‘this is what women are like in general’. There is clearly a problem with lack of representation of the female gender. In 1974, Helen Streicher wrote about the topic, noticing that in general, there are less female cartoon characters on children’s television. Not only that, but they appear less, speak less than male characters and have fewer “lead roles”. She also observed that female characters, in general, “occupied fewer positions of responsibility, were less noisy, and we more preponderantly juvenile than males.”. Even more shocking is the observation that a lot of the actions performed by female characters - for instance, cheerleading,- were often mimicked by a dog or other pets in the show (Streicher, 1974). Two decades after Streicher’s findings, Watkins & Barcus (1983) conducted research that found that 75.5% of the characters in children’s television were male, whilst only 21% were female. In 1997, research presented at the American Psychological Association revealed that male cartoon characters were still ahead of female characters, with a ration of almost 4:1. Again, male characters were portrayed as dominant, powerful and aggressive, whilst female characters, as researchers put it “don’t have any character at all” (Hendrick, 1997). This type of research has extended into the 21st Century, and just recently, in January 2016, linguists Carmen Fought and Karen Eisenhower collected data that showed that men speak more than females in Disney movies, even the ones with female leads, even the ones from this century. The data was then put together by Polygraph, as you can see in figure 1.

Although this refers to animated films and not television cartoons, it still reflects the values of its industry. And even though we are talking about works of fiction, designed for children, works that don’t always mirror real events, they do reflect real world ideals and perceptions in relation to traditional gender-roles. As mentioned before, the perception of these gender-roles and notion of how to behave - going back to Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, - comes from ‘models’. The ‘models’, in this case, are children’s favourite television characters. We will now discuss how these characters are chosen to be models, what role gender plays in this choice, and how this choice affects the development of children. Cartoon Characters as Role Models In almost half a century of research, studies around the effects of television cartoons on children have consistently shown that kids are more likely to identify with a ‘model’ character of their own gender (Signorielli, 1990). This isn’t surprising, given that, as we learned before, children tend to strongly adhere to gender-roles. In fact, a study of children's perception of television characters, conducted by Byron Reeves and Bradley S. Greenberg, revealed that children place television characters in their sex-typed dimensions of strength (for the male characters) and attractiveness (for the female characters) (Reeves & Greenberg, 15

1997). In similar research, it was found that male characters tend to be associated with “problem solving” and female characters with “helplessness” (Mayes & Valentine,1979). Not only that, but according to Sprafkin and Liebert, children pay closer attention to scenes that feature a character of their sex, especially when they are performing in their gender stereotype. (Sprafkin & Liebert, 1978). These results touch back on the theme of children’s cognitive limitations. Cognitive limitations make for a simpler - less flexible, - view of the world. This makes the stereotypical portrayal of female (even male) characters in cartoon series even more alarming. As we are starting to see, cartoon characters are a big influence in children’s lives. In his book Children in Front of The Small Screen, author Grant Noble says that children tend to associate cartoon characters with people from real life. What’s surprising is, as Noble observed, children that have an unhealthy relationship with their close family (ie. distant parents) will learn how to interact with family members through interactions that they see on television. In the long run, children even become aware of what the future holds for them, because of their gender and the gender of the characters on screen. These particular conclusions came from a study directed by Tamar Zemach and Akina Cohen in 1987, who noticed that children believed their gender was directly correlated to what job they would have in the future (Zemach & Cohen, 1987). Masculine occupations fell within medicine, science and politics, whilst female occupations are linked with “care-giving” and “attractiveness”. The same results were found by Mayes and Valentine when they conducted similar research. Not only that, but it has been found that representation in the media has a direct correlation with a person’s self-esteem and sense of worth. It has been shown that television exposure increases the self-esteem among heterosexual white boys, whilst black girls, white girls and black boys will have a decrease in self-esteem (Martins & Harrison, 2011). These discoveries reinforce the argument that representation in the media matters, and that until now, children’s television hasn’t done a great job at representing everyone equally.

Round up of Lit Review & Research Questions With the compelling evidence we are faced with in mind, there are some key points that must be summed up. First, young children tend adhere to Gender Roles because they are exposed to them from a very young age and due their less developed cognitive behaviour. This is discussed in Albert Banduraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Social Learning Theory, when he tells us that children tend to imitate behaviour, by finding role models in their life to look up to. These role models are more likely to be of the same gender as the child and they can come from real-life or fiction, including cartoon characters in animated series. Grant Noble supported this claim, specifically stating that cartoon characters are in fact role models for children. An interesting point is made by child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, who discusses the importance of fairy tales in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives. His claim that they are extremely important to their development and self-fulfilment (since they provide an escape from the real world) is another indication that this topic shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be taken lightly. Children are extremely susceptible to these animated series and their messages, especially the behaviour of the characters, and they associate traits, flaws and occupations to gender. This is because the characters seen on screen have a tendency to be extremely stereotypical, especially female characters. Male characters are associated with intellect and bravery and female characters are linked to emotion and attractiveness. This was argued by Helen Stretcher, in 1974, who also found that there were fewer female characters than male characters in animated series, and that their roles in the story are less important. These findings were consistent through several decades of similar research. In 1983, Watkins & Barcus found that 75,5% of characters are male and only 21% are female in animated series, and a study done recently by Fought & Eisenhower - who charted the dialogue of 1000 movies, - found that female characters have severely less lines (Fought & Eisenhower, 2016). Finally, it has been found that minorities (such as white girls, racial minorities and sexual minorities) who watch a lot of television cartoons have lower self-esteem than white, heterosexual boys. This is due to the lack of representation and

misrepresentation of minorities on television (these can be cultures, like Latin American, African, Asian etc.), especially in animated series that are products of Anglo-European western culture. All of the authors seem to follow the same train of thought when it comes to children’s susceptibility and the dangers that the media poses to them due the lack of representation. With that being said, I believe it’s important to look at these animated series directly, and try to see whether or not their characters are good role models, and how they represent gender. Although I can’t refute the evidence which shows that the media, and animated series, are not gender balanced, and that a lot of their characters are gender-biased, I think that things may have changed in the last two decades, and even though a lot of kid’s shows still fail to produce content which doesn’t portray gender roles, there are more and more series emerging in the market that defy this rule. Thus, following the answers I already got from the above authors, my research questions will be: How has the communication of gender in animated series changed in the last two decades? Has representation improved since the 90’s?

Methodology In order to understand how gender representation has changed in animated series since the last two decades, quantitative and observational data will be collected and analyzed on six animated series: 90’s: 1. Hey Arnold! (Nickelodeon) 2. Recess (Disney Channel) 3. Ed, Edd n Eddy (Cartoon Network) 2010’s: 1. The Legend of Korra (Nickelodeon) 2. Gravity Falls (Disney Channel and later Disney Channel XD) 3. Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) From each of these series, three episodes will be observed: 1. The Pilot 2. Two episodes that explore gender, both male and female. this can be separate or at the same time. The goal is to understand how gender is communicated. The episodes were chosen after watching the full series and picking ones that address the themes in question. Some episodes don’t focus fully on the themes, and simply mention them at one point, this will be the case in Legend of Korra, where the plot is a lot more complicated and story based that the rest. The series chosen for this analysis are original series created by the three biggest North-American cartoon networks: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The series fall into the Tv Rating of TV-Y and TV-Y7, which stand for “suitable for all ages” and “suitable for ages above 7” respectively. 19

Although the audiences of these shows might be more male or female, they were not created for a specific gender and the themes explored in them are made for both boys and girls to watch. This choice is made not only to avoid biased observations (a show made especially for boys can’t be compared to a show made for no specific gender, since it will likely fail), but also because it is shows for both boys and girls that are really creating a dialogue where both genders are involved, even if the show in itself doesn’t have gender parity, both sexes watch it and are affected by its messages. All the episodes were found online. The data collection and analysis will go as follows: 1. A summary of the episode and the theme it explores 2. Bechdel Test The Bechdel Test has been used to qualify movies as gender biased (or not) for a couple of decades, becoming bigger in past years. Although the test can help us to get an initial idea of whether or not the episode is gender biased, it’s not a scientific method. This, however, I believe does not discredit its value. The creator the test, Alison Bechdel, said that it serves to understand if a movie represents women as subjects and not objects. The Bechdel Test, therefore, adds to the qualitative analysis of the subject, as it seeks to assess, not how many female characters there are, or how much they speak, but whether or not the contribution of these characters alone is able to generate a conversation where the subject isn’t a man, and that places them in the film, as Bechdel says, as more than “female objects”, and instead the characters are seen as subjects of the story. The test goes as follows: After watching the episode, I must answer yes to these 4 questions: 20

1. There are two female characters 2. They have names 3. They have a conversation 4. About something other than a man The reverse test will be executed (same questions regarding men in the episode) to ensure a controlled experiment. 3. Chart the characters and their purpose in the episode This part of the analysis is inspired by Vladimir Proppâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Functions Model, an old model that categorized fairytales and aimed to chart the importance of each character and the role they play in resolving the story. I will be adapting this to Ema Sofia LeitĂŁoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model, where she simply charts each character and describes their function in the episode. This will not only show how many male and female characters there are, but it will also aid in contracting the purpose of the characters depending on their gender. The aim will be to answer these questions: - What is the male to female character ratio? - Do the male characters have more important functions that the female characters? - Can I identify any gender stereotypes? (eg. in the way they are dressed and/or actions they perform) 4. Lines per gender This is a recent approach and a more accurate way of measuring gender parity in movies, by counting their lines and charting them. This will give us a visual (and numerical) idea of the balance (or lack of) between male and female screen time. Since we are following the same guidelines as Fought and Eisenhower, a gender-balanced dialogue will be 50%(give or take 10%) for each gender, whilst 21

an unbalanced dialogue will be 60%+. I expect this part of the analysis to fluctuate depending on the theme of the episode, that is to say, if the episode being analyzed is about femininity, then there will probably be more female dialogue in it. Thus, this section of the analysis serves to try and figure out if authors like Helen Streicher were right about females having significantly less lines. The lines will be counted in two ways, which will depend on the available resources: 1. Finding the transcript of the episode online, putting in a standard format on a word document and counting the lines of each character 2. If the transcript in not available lines will be counted “manually” using a clicker, every 6 seconds in a new line (this is parallel to the seconds per line observed in the transcripts). 5. Dialogue observations (when appropriate) - Any gender stereotyped/”sexist” comments made? 6. Analysis of the episode and results This will be a short conclusion after each episode, where I will comment on the episode, how it approaches gender, whether or not the main characters are good role models and what the results tell us about gender balance.

Expected Results I think that a lot of the points made in the literature review will be proven when I tally the dialogue and number of characters/purpose, especially in the 90’s. However, because the series I chose are not specific to boys or girls, there might be some interesting character development on both genders. Nevertheless, I think that we will observe more stereotypical language and gender roles in the 90’s than in the 2010’s, although I’m not sure if the dialogue will be more balanced in the 2010’s, I believe that more episodes will pass the Bechdel Test and have more female characters in important roles. Even though I am only analysing 3 episodes from each show, I have watched more episodes (on the 2010’s shows I have watched all the episodes and on the 90’s shows I watched at least 10 from each show), so I could know the characters better and get a sense of the gender balance and gender biases in each one. This knowledge will be added in the final analysis of each show. Since Legend of Korra is the only show with a female protagonist, I expect it to be more progressive that the other shows in terms of representation of the female gender, it will most likely deviate from the main assumption made about animated series in the research. Steven Universe will also produce interesting results, I expect, since it is the only show in the sample that was created by a woman (Rebecca Sugar) and also the first ever CN show to be created by a woman. Also, having watched the show before on my free time I am sure Steven Universe will break conventions when it comes not only to gender, but also sexual orientation. Overall, I think that most of the shows from the sample won’t be extremely problematic, but I expect that the 2010’s shows will be more progressive and communicate gender in a much more natural and honest way.

Analysis HEY ARNOLD! Created for: Nickelodeon Runtime: 1996 - 2004 Creators: Craig Bartlett, Joe Ansolabehere and Steve Viksten TV Rating: TV-Y7 Average Episode Duration: 10 Minutes The show orbits around Arnold, a fourth grader who lives with his grandparents in a boarding house. The story follows him and his friends as they get into adventures in the fictional city of Hillwood. Hey Arnold! approaches mature themes, such as dealing with your parent’s death, being neglected by parents and dealing with mental health, and has extensive character development for a kid’s show. (see appendix 1 for main character visuals) HEY ARNOLD! S01E01: DOWNTOWN AS FRUITS Helga is directing the school play. Arnold and Gerald decide to skip the play and keep riding the bus which ends up downtown. The boys get into a series of adventures whilst Helga’s play becomes a disaster. Eventually the boys come back and save the play.

Bechdel Test - FAIL

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES

There are two male characters? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? NO

About something other than a woman? YES

Although this episode of Hey Arnold! Features Helga and Phoebe, and the two do talk, they only talk about Arnold and Gerald, so it fails the Bechdel Test. Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Arnold

Helga

Gerald

Phoebe

Harold

Woman with broken down car

Eugene Curly Stinky Iggy Man in car that throws money bag The Great Zambone Jones Two men also dressed as fruit

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose She is the “villain” in this episode, as the director of the school play. She annoys the boys to the extent where they don’t want to be a part of it anymore. Serving as a catalyst for the adventure

Helga

that ensues.

She is also shown to have a love interest in Arnold. This is the central topic of conversation between her and Phoebe, and also her internal dialogue. The main character. He doesn’t come up with the idea to skip the play, but goes along with Gerald’s plan. Serves a somewhat of a conscience when they debate staying on the bus, but ends up going with his friend. He is the one who realizes

Arnold

(after talking to Zambone Jones) that they have to go back to the play because of Helga.

Gives the rest of the money to a woman with the broken down car.

Eventually saves the play together with Gerald. The main character’s best friend. He comes up with the idea of not going to the play and convinces Arnold to come with him. When

Gerald

Zambone Jones asks if they have anyone they hurt in the recent past, he says he doesn’t recall.

Eventually saves the play together with Arnold.

Gives a bag full of money to the boys because he mistakes them for the two men who were

Man in car that throws money bag

supposed to get the bag (who were also dressed as a banana and a strawberry). Catalyst to the trouble that ensues because of the money, but also the comedic elements that come with it. A phony fortune tellers who “senses” that the

The Great Zambone Jones

boys are in trouble and who’s “wise words” lead Arnold to realize that they have to go back to the play because of Helga and their “karmic energy field”. They play the “meats” in the school play and their performance doesn’t go so well. This creates a

Harold & Eugene

dramatic peak in Helga’s storyline (she is the director of the play and watches as it becomes the crowd boos and throws fruit at the “meats”). Helga’s best friend. She listens to her and tries to

Phoebe

calm her down.

Lines in the episode, by character gender

Helga : 24

Arnold : 30

Phoebe : 1

Gerald : 27

Others : 1

Jones : 6 Others : 14

Ratio girls to boys = 26 : 77 Percentage dialogue girls = 25,2% Percentage dialogue boys = 74,8%

Analysis of Results Hey Arnold’s first episode has a lot more male speaking characters than female characters and it also gives more purpose to the male characters. Helga’s purpose in this episode is to be the villain. She is bossy, she is uptight and she bullies the other kids. Helga is the only female character with an important role in this episode - as Phoebe hardly serves as a confidente to her, - so she represents the female gender in the episode. On the other hand, the male characters have a variety of purposes and their personalities are diverse. The male characters also have significantly more dialogue than the female characters. In terms of dialogue, there is no gender parity in this episode of Hey Arnold. Even though this episode fails the Bechdel test and thus has a lack of female representation, Helga’s character doesn’t align with the girly stereotype and it also has depth to it. However, Helga’s personality, coupled with the fact that she is the only girl given importance in the episode, is saying something about how girls can be perceived as “bossy”. It possibly perpetuates this “not girly girl” stereotype where assertiveness and ambition are bad. Another thing about this episode, is, even though the boys were the ones in the wrong the whole time (they didn’t go to the play, they used the money given to them by a stranger, they ran away when trouble came), they still came out as heroes, pushing Helga off the stage when they arrived at the play. This is slightly problematic because the message at the end is that the boys are heroes - they got a standing ovation whilst Helga gets pushed off the stage and the curtain falls on her - a la villain. This is only the first episode, and we are getting a premise of the roles that each character plays. Arnold is wise, but he is influentiable. Gerald clearly has a leader status and he is more risk taking and naughty than Arnold. Helga is a bully, but she is in love with Arnold. And for now, everyone else is just a secondary character.

HEY ARNOLD! S01E10: HELGA’S MAKEOVER Helga isn’t invited to Rhonda’s party because she isn’t girly enough, and when she tries playing baseball with the boys they kick her out of the game because she’s a girl. Feeling inappropriate (especially because everyone keeps mocking her for not being girly) Helga gets a fashion magazine and gives herself a makeover, showing up at the party and later realizing that girls don’t need to wear makeup or put products on their face, because they are only 9.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES

There are two male characters? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES

YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Arnold

Helga

Gerald

Phoebe

Harold

Rhonda

Eugene

Mrs. Johansen

Sid

Nadine Helga’s Mom

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Usually Helga is the bully, but in this episode we see her friends and even strangers mocking her for being not being girly. Helga’s purpose in the episode is to represent

Helga

tomboys and show that you don’t need to be someone you’re not, in her own words “this isn’t fun!” Phoebe is the girly girl to Helga’s tomboy. She struggles with being invited to Rhonda’s party and wanting to do girly things, because Helga isn’t invited. However, she goes to the

Phoebe

party and even laughs at Rhonda’s jokes about Helga. In the end she realizes that the reason she likes Helga so much is because Helga is unapologetically herself and she tells Helga to stop acting like so girly. Catalyst to the whole “Helga isn’t a girl” mess. She doesn’t invite Helga to her party because they are going to do girly things and she makes

Rhonda

fun of Helga in front of the other girls.

In the end she is the one who asks Helga “if this isn’t fun, then what is?” and learns that tomboy things can be fun as well and that 9 year olds don’t need to act like women. Wonders why Helga wasn’t invited to Rhonda’s party.

Arnold

Tell Helga she can’t play with the boys and joins

the boys in the “Helga’s not a girl” chant. Sees an opportunity to target Helga, who is usually the bully and initiates the “Helga’s not a

Harold

girl” chant.

Gets kidnapped by the girls and gets a makeover.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Helga : 29

Arnold : 7

Phoebe : 9

Harold : 9

Rhonda : 10

Others : 10

Others: 8

Ratio girls to boys = 56 : 26 Percentage dialogue girls = 68,3% Percentage dialogue boys = 31,7% Stereotyped/Gender Role Perpetuating dialogue “Helga is a girl?” - Gerald “Wait a minute, you can’t play, this is a boys only game!” - Harold “♪Helga’s not a girl♪” - All the boys “I am too a girl! I am pretty, I am delicate, I am feminine!” - Helga “How much for this copy of preteen miss? (...) You know, the one with the feature on how to make ugly girls pretty!” - Mrs. Johansen “We don’t have wrinkles! We don’t have signs of aging, we are 9 years old!” Helga “We don’t need to wear high heels, we are already taller than the boys!” - Helga

Analysis This episode of Hey Arnold is an example of how Nickelodeon is open minded when it comes to the representation of gender and the depth of their female characters. In this episode, Helga is the hero and the audience is able to see how intelligent she is. Although one might feel sorry for Helga at the beginning of the episode, and maybe even recall what it was like to be bullied when you were 9, she doesn’t give in to the peer pressure and instead comes to her own conclusions: It’s stupid to try to act like something you are not. Helga delivers the moral of the story and we see her a strong, confident girl. There is some problematic dialogue in this episode, but it is trumped by Helga’s attitude and serves as a “what not to say”, however, children might not understand this and repeat some of the gender biased things that are said. This episode has a higher female representation that male since it is focused on the theme of being feminine and growing up, although the boys do serve a purpose. HEY ARNOLD! S01E23: THE COOL JERK Arnold makes a new friend called Frankie G. who is known as the coolest kid on the block. He is older and drives a motorbike and the two start hanging out together. Gerald warns Arnold that Frankie might be bad news, but Arnold ignores him. One night, Frankie and his friends take Arnold to a hi-fi shop and tell him that he is the only one that can pass through the window and open the door because of the shape of his head, they want him to open the door so they can steal equipment. Gerald shows up just as Arnold gets his head stuck in the window and the other boys run away. Arnold apologizes to Gerald and everything is good in the end.

Bechdel Test - FAIL

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? NO

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES NO

Although there are two female characters with names in this episode, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t interact with each other. There is no female to female interaction at all in this episode. Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Arnold

Helga

Gerald

Mrs. Rosel

Harold Frankie G. Sid Frankieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friends & other boys

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose

Arnold is a great example of how kids can get carried away by older kids, who they consider to

Arnold

be cooler. He gets fooled into thinking he is part of a boys group but ends up realizing he is only being used to commit robbery.

We understand Arnoldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reasons for trusting Frankie when he tells Gerald that he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have an older brother, and finally he gets to see what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to have one.

He is the victim.

The older, manlier, cooler guy. He pretends to be

Frankie G.

true friends with Arnold and uses him to commit robbery.

He is the villain. Gerald realizes quickly that Frankie is bag news and tries to warn Arnold, who ignores him. He ends up saving the day.

Gerald

He is the hero. Harold tries to hit Arnold in the beginning of the

Harold

episode which leads to Frankie saving him and taking him in a friend

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Helga : 2 Mrs. Rosel : 3

Arnold : 36 Frankie G. : 26 Gerald : 17

Harold : 8 Other boys : 10

Ratio girls to boys = 5 : 97 Percentage dialogue girls = 4,9% Percentage dialogue boys = 95,1%

Analysis This episode of Hey Arnold! is the closest to the theme of masculinity. The reason it’s in the sample is because it addresses the theme of brotherhood, idols, being tough and what - for boys,- it means to be cool. Arnold just wants an older male figure to look up to and gets fooled into thinking he is in a real friendship. Although this episode has an arguability moral lesson, it doesn’t pass the Bechdel test and fails in the gender parity dialogue. It would be interesting to have more girls in the episode, which have relevant roles, just like the boys had in Helga’s Makeover. Overall, this episode delivers a similar message to Helga’s Makeover, as we see Arnold struggle through figuring out what it means to be a man and who is worth looking up to and spending time with. Hey Arnold Final Tally Passed the Bechdel test: 1 out of 3 Average female to male characters per episode: 3,7 : 7 Total female dialogue: 30,1% Total male dialogue: 69,9%

Hey Arnold! Final Observations Hey Arnold! Didn’t show promising results when it came to it’s quantitative data. As we can see from the final results of the sample episodes, the male characters are more present than the female characters. Although it has a strong female character (Helga), it doesn’t give much more importance to other characters of the gender, whilst the boys are in every episode and at least one or two will play an important role in the storyline. The same goes for dialogue. On the other hand, this series doesn’t have a lot of problematic gender roles, at least in the way they are portrayed, they tend to be debunked and seen as bad. The show seems to follow the message of “be yourself, your weird self.”, and when someone acts according to stereotypes they tend to get into trouble. Arnold is a sensitive and intelligent boy, who isn’t ashamed to admit when he’s wrong and fix his mistakes. Helga is tough, intelligent and unapologetic. Although her characterization and the way other characters see her might be a bit aggressive, she definitely breaks conventions when it comes to female characters. Watching all the episodes (although only 3 were mentioned here), Hey Arnold! Is definitely progressive for its time, in terms of the mature themes it approaches, and the sensitivity in which it does not only navigate it’s characters through problems, but how it communicates gender, both masculine and feminine.

RECESS Created by: Disney Channel Runtime: 1997 - 2001 Creators: Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere TV Rating: TV-Y (all ages) Average Episode Duration: 10 minutes Recess focuses on a group of six fourth graders and their day-to-day adventures in school and during recess time. The group is composed of boys and girls which are all unique and bring a special strength to the group (for example, Gretchen is the really intelligent one, Mickey is the sensitive guy who keeps everyone calm etc.). The show navigates through their interactions with other students in the school. Although all students get along, there is a hierarchy in the playground, which often causes conflicts between them. One of the main themes is individuality and learning how to deal with others and understand each other'sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; differences. (see appendix 2 for main character visuals).

RECESS S01E01: THE BREAK IN T.J. isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allowed to go to recess because he tries stealing cafeteria food. The other kids get together and try to set him free, only to realize they spent the whole recess planning the escape.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

T.J.

Spinelli

Vince

Gretchen

Mikey

Ms. Finster

King Bob Guru Kid The Diggers Randall

Character Purpose Character

Purpose Getâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thrown in detention for trying to steal

T.J

cafeteria food. Needs to be saved by his friends.

Vince

Wants to save his friend, talks to King Bob and keeps the whole team motivated. Important part of the team, roughs it up with King

Spinelli

Bob and ultimately gets him to help

Gretchen

The smart one. She calculates the probability of

being able to rescue T.J. Part of the team, keeps the morale up. The sensitive one, he has the idea to talk to Guru kid.

Mikey

Puts T.J. in detention.

Ms. Finster

Feared by everyone.

King Bob

Orders all the kids to help rescue T.J.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Spinelli : 13 Vince : 18 Gretchen : 11 T.J : 15 Ms. Finster : 4 Mikey : 8 King Bob : 5 Others: 7

Ratio Girls to boys: 28 : 53 Percentage dialogue girls: 34,6% Percentage dialogue boys: 65,4% Analysis Although the first episode of Recess doesn’t have total gender parity, there was no problematic dialogue and the female characters weren’t stereotypical. The show is diverse and it explores its characters, giving each of them a purpose which is not defined by their gender. Spinelli is a “tomboy”, but that doesn’t exclude the fact that she can also be sensitive, and Gretchen’s smarts are an essential contribution to the team. There are, however, almost double the amount of male characters, compared to female, and it’s easy to see when you watch the episode, that most minor characters tend to be male, and female minor characters were stereotypically female (for example, the upside down girl).

RECESS S02E23: DANCE LESSONS Spinelliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents enroll her in ballet class against her will, but when she finds out Mikey is also in the class, and a great dancer, the two become a dancing duo. Everything is going great until they have to dance in front of the whole school. Spinelli doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to do it, but in the end she shows up and her and Mikey surprise everyone with their amazing moves. (check appendix 3 for stills of this episode).

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Mikey

Spinelli

T.J

Mademoiselle Pavlova

Bob Spinelli

Flo Spinelli

Vince

The Megans

Gus

Gretchen

Character Purpose

Character

Purpose Is put in the tough situation of having to go to dance class when she is known as the toughest girl in school.

Spinelli

She overcomes her “fear of ruining her reputation” and learns that it’s more important to do good things for your friends (she is helping Mikey by dancing with him). Gives Spinelli a purpose in dance, as his partner

Mikey

and the only one that isn’t crushed by him when he dances. He teaches Spinelli the value of friendship, and he doesn’t care what people think of him, he enjoys dancing. The kind of teacher Spinelli needed in dance

Mademoiselle Pavlova

class. She is tough and she understands both Spinelli and Mikey and appreciates their talent.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Spinelli : 29 Mikey : 22 Mademoiselle Pavlova : 14 Bob Spinelli : 6 Flo Spinelli : 18 T.J. : 11 The Megans : 5 Vince : 4 Gretchen : 2 Gus : 5 Other Girls : 4 Other Boys : 2

Ratio Girls to boys: 72 : 50 Percentage dialogue girls: 59% Percentage dialogue boys: 41% Analysis This episode of Recess approaches both themes of femininity and masculinity.. The juxtaposition between Spinelli and Mikey, two characters that defy gender roles (one is a tomboy and the other is a sensitive guy), demonstrates not only that it’s ok to fall out of your stereotype, but also how powerful it can be to be different. Spinelli’s insecurities, unlike most girls, is that she is considered a girly girl, the episode kicks off with this as we see her beating up a kid in the playground for calling her a girl. However, she quickly realizes how challenging dancing can be, and how cool it can be as well. The conversation that the gang has about dance, and how it’s “nerdy” and “out dated” is an example of how society treats activities and art forms that are associated with women, and Spinelli and Mikey tear down these misconceptions. The episode has an almost perfect balance between male and female characters and dialogue, tilting more towards female. Overall, and from the perspective of gender, these characters are balanced role models for children.

RECESS S01E10: BIG BROTHER CHAD Vince is seen as the coolest guy in school, defending two little kids from Chucko the bully, but he tells the other kids that the coolest guy is his older brother Chad. The kids agree, and they all remember how Chad helped them when they were in Kindergarten, so when Chad comes to pick up Vince at school they all wait to see him. But everyone is disappointed when they realize that Chad is actually a geek. When they tell Vince, he doesn’t believe them, but when he gets home he starts seeing signs that Chad is in fact a geek, and when he confronts him about it, Chad agrees, and says he’s ok with it. Vince confesses to the other kids that 42

he is worried about becoming a geek as well, when an Chukoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s older brother, Cy, comes to beat him up. Thankfully, Chad shows up, threatening Sy to stop helping him with his Maths homework. Cy leaves Vince alone and the two brothers drive home together.

Bechdel Test - FAIL

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES NO

Spinelli and Gretchen talk to each other, but they only talk about Vince and Chad. Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Vince

Gretchen

Chad

Spinelli

Chucko (+ his gang)

The Ashleys

Cy T.J. Mikey Gus

Character Purpose

Character

Purpose Vince defends everyone in recess, often saving little kids from bullies, but he still thinks his older

Vince

brother Chad is the true hero and the coolest guy ever. However, when he realizes that Chad is a geek, he becomes embarrassed and nervous that he too will become a geek. Eventually Vince realizes that his brother is the coolest, even if he is a geek. Vince’s older brother. He stirs up conversation when, being considered the coolest guy ever when he was in 5th grade, everyone realizes he’s

Chad

“just a geek”. Chad doesn’t care that he’s a geek, and he is happy with the way he is, brushing it off when Vince freaks out. In the end he still manages to save Vince, using his intelligence and “defeating” the bully. Bullies other kids in recess.

Chucko Cy

Tries to beat up Vince but is threatened by Chad (he tells him he will stop helping in Maths) so he backs off.

Gretchen

Explains to Vince that his brother is a geek, just like her.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Spinelli : 8 Vince : 38 Gretchen : 6 Chad : 18 Other girls : 8 Chucko : 7 T.J. : 5 Gus : 6 Mikey : 5 Cy : 8 Other boys : 8

Ratio Girls to Boys: 22 : 95 Percentage dialogue Girls: 18,8% Percentage dialogue Boys: 81,2% Analysis This episode of Recess focused on two things: Vince’s relationship with his big brother and what kid’s expectations of what being cool is, and what isn’t. This topic is similar to one of the “Cool Jerk” episode of Hey Arnold! In this case, however, we are looking at the idea of the “geek”. But Chad doesn’t care what the other kids think. As it says on one of the pictures on his wall “Future Geeks of America, someday we’ll rule the world.” and the lesson here is that being a geek doesn’t mean you aren’t cool, and that you shouldn’t expect big brothers to be the stereotypical big guy (like Cy is). This episode doesn’t have gender balance in terms of dialogue or number of characters. It was also a bit problematic to see Gretchen telling Vince that his brother is a geek, like her, but not defending him. Although this was probably done to reinforce Vince’s rollercoaster of emotions when it came to the issue. Chad is a great role model, not only for the other characters, but for kids watching at home.

Recess Final Tally: Passed the Bechdel test: 2 out of 3 Average female to male characters per episode: 4,7 : 6,7 Total female dialogue: 38,1% Total male dialogue: 61,9% Recess Final Observations If Recess had 2% more female dialogue, it would gender balanced. Then again, we only observed 3 episodes. The show revealed an honest and playful way to communicate gender, with strong main characters that made up a “team” of boys a girls, some of which defied gender norms. Recess is a show filled with great role models for kids, and essential life lessons thrown in the mix. If I were to point out one issue with the show, is that they could have included a girly girl in the main characters, instead of villainizing “The Ashleys” and their snob, pink and purple ways. It’s curious to see the similarities between Recess and Hey Arnold! I would say the main difference is that one has a male protagonist, whilst the later has six protagonists of different genders. What really aligns with these two shows is how episodes focused on female “struggles” have gender balance (falling more towards female dialogue and more female characters), but still have important male input in them, whilst episodes which focus on “brotherhood” and what it means to be a man, don’t give any or little importance to the female voice. In Hey Arnold! especially, girl characters don’t serve an immense purpose in the episodes, except for Helga. Recess does a better job at this, by including their female characters in the conversation. At any rate, Recess didn’t have a lot of problematic dialogue or stereotypes involving its main characters, at least on the episodes observed, but it could do better in terms of female representation.

ED, EDD N’ EDDY Created by: Cartoon Network Runtime: 1999 - 2009 Creator: Danny Antonucci TV Rating: TV-Y7 Average episode duration: 10 Minutes Pre-teen best friends Ed, Edd and Eddy deal with the day to day problems of being pre-teens (girls, getting money for candy and anything that will prove they are cool). The story is set in a suburban cul-de-sac, and it orbits around the “Eds” and their interactions with each other and the other kids in the neighbourhood. (See appendix 4 for main character visuals) ED, EDD n EDDY S01E0: THE ED-TOUCHABLES When Edd’s magnifying glass disappears, and the boys find out that Sarah’s doll is also missing, they set out to find out who did it, making some money meanwhile. When the main suspect becomes Johnny 2x4, there is nothing he can say to prove his innocence. In the end, however, the things that were missing appear, which means no one actually stole them. The Eds run away with the money and run off into the sunset with their jaw breakers.

Bechdel Test - FAIL

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? NO

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? NO

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES NO

Sarah is the only girl who is called by her name, the other girls (who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t talk at all) arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t presented by their names by the rest of the group. Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Sarah

Edd Eddy Johnny 2x4 Jimmy Kevin

Character Purpose

Character Ed

Purpose Member of the Eds, he is the strong one, which makes up for his simple mind.

Edd

Has OCD and freaks out about his missing magnifying glass. He is the intelligent one, even building his own lie detector machine with a toaster and some wires. The leader of the Eds. He is always scheming

Eddy

new ways to make money so the boys can buy jaw breakers. He exaggerates the whole

“toucher” situation and forces Johnny to confess into stealing the things that went missing. Gets the blame for the disappearing things and is

Johnny 2x4

forced to confess into doing it. He has a wood board as an imaginary friend and the boys use that to persuade him into confessing. Ed’s little sister. She is annoying and violent. Her

Sarah

“dolly” disappears and she freaks out, prompting the Eds to begin the investigation.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Sarah : 10 Ed : 6 Edd : 16 Eddy : 23 Johny 2x4 : 7 Jimmy : 2 Kevin : 1

Ratio Girls to boys: 10 : 73 Percentage dialogue girls: 12% Percentage dialogue boys: 88% Analysis The first episode of “Ed, Edd n Eddy” is the one with the worse results in terms of gender parity, in every sense. These harsh numbers, however, can be slightly justified since this is the pilot episode, and the show’s main characters are Ed, Edd and Eddy, so we are introduced to them. It’s also correct to assume that most episodes will orbit around the Eds. Since Sarah is the only female character we are introduced to, similar to Helga in the first episode of “Hey Arnold!”, she

represents the female gender in the episode, and her character is -again, similar to Helga, - bossy, loud and annoying. Ed, Edd n Eddy is different from the other 90’s shows we have looked at. It’s more surreal, it focuses on three main characters and the plot is a little less innocent than that of “Hey Arnold!” and “Recess”. Albeit the fact that this show falls a little outside of the sample, it is meant for the same demographic as the other two, and it is the only show that falls close to the category. This also gives some insight into Cartoon Network original cartoons at the time, and how they tended to be gender specific. To be fair, however, CN is also known for having a lot of Imaginary Companions shows, starring animals, which couldn’t be used for the purposes of this analytical project. ED, EDD N EDDY S01E07: “TAG YER ED” Kevin calls Edd a dork and says he throws like a two year old, so Eddy decides to train him to become stronger. Edd doesn’t like this and he doesn’t get any stronger, yet Eddy organizes a tag team wrestling match between the Kanker Sisters and the Eds. The Kanker sisters are much stronger than the Eds and beat them easily in front of the all the cul-de-sac kids, which is humiliating for the Eds.

Bechdel Test - FAIL

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES NO

The girls only talk to each other about the guys. 50

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Lee Kanker

Edd

Marie Kanker

Eddy

May Kanker

Kevin Rolf Johny 2x4

Character Purpose

Character

Purpose

Moral support for the Eds, provides some laughs and end up losing the fight for the Eds, since his mother told him not to fight with girls..

Edd

He is the sensitive guy, he’s not a figther and he is not good at sports, which uneases Eddy and causes Kevina and Rolf to make fun of him. He is scared of fighting and doesn’t want to or believe he can do it. Is set on making Edd stronger so he can prove

Eddy

the other boys of the cul-de-sac wrong. His plan, however, doesn’t work.

Calls the boys dorks and makes fun of Edd for

Kevin

being weak. They all have a crush on the Eds but are

The Kanker Sisters

extremely violent towards them. They completely destroy them in the tag team wrestling match.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Lee : 7 Ed : 10 Marie : 6 Edd : 18 May : 1 Eddy : 25 Kevin : 9 Rolf : 7 Johnny 2x4 : 3

Ratio Girls to boys: 14 : 72 Percentage dialogue girls: 16,3% Percentage dialogue boys: 83,7% Analysis Once again, Ed, Edd n Eddy fail in terms of gender balance. Edd is constantly put down in this episode for being weak. He doesn’t comply with the expectations of being a man in terms of strength and even hobbie. He is shown not being able to throw a ball, so the other kids call him a “dork” and say things like “you throw like a 2 year old”, whilst Edd seems to be proud of his butterfly collection (that the other kids also make fun of). But in the end, the boys are all humiliated by the intimidating Kanker sisters, so there is no lesson there.

ED, EDD N EDDY S01E02: NAGGED TO ED The Eds go into the forest to catch some insects but get kidnapped by the Kanker Sisters. The sisters take them to their house and clean them up and make them food, confessing their love for them. The boys are a little freaked out but decide to stay and enjoy the food, but their lack of appreciation for the girls dressing up and their cooking makes the Kankers angry and they make the Eds clean up the house. The clean up goes horribly wrong and the Eds are kicked out of the house, not before finding out that they have all have â&#x20AC;&#x153;babiesâ&#x20AC;? with each Kanker, doll versions of each of th Eds. (Check appendix 5 for stills of this episode).

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Lee Kanker

Edd

Marie Kanker

Eddy

May Kanker

Character Purpose

Character

Purpose Get Kidnapped by the girls but decided to stay at

Ed, Edd n Eddy

their place to enjoy the free food and care. When the girls get tired of it they are forced to clean.

They are constantly freaked out by the girls and the intense crush they have on the Eds. They kidnap the boys and play house with them. Cleaning them up, putting them in front of the TV and making food for them.

The Kanker Sisters

They get tired of it once they realize they arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t being duly appreciated for their efforts and make the boys clean. They have an obsessive crush on the boys.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Lee : 22 Ed : 12 Marie : 22 Edd : 20 May : 16 Eddy : 20

Ratio Girls to boys: 60 : 52 Percentage dialogue girls: 53,6% Percentage dialogue boys: 46,4%

Episode and Final Analysis This episode has gender balance in terms of dialogue, but the way it communicated gender is extremely stereotypical. The girls cook for the boys while they watch television, and when the boys ignore the girls they get mad and make them clean (the boys’ dismay).The Ed’s are terrible at cleaning (except for Edd), and they get kicked out of the house. The Kanker sisters are terrifying to the Eds. It seems that all the girl characters in this show are terrifying because it’s how pre-teen boys (the Eds) see them. And in this show, all the girls are bossy, loud, scary and bossy. Ed, Edd n’ Eddy revealed to be a show filled with characters that comply to gender roles, and those who don’t get made fun of. The final results show very low number for female speaking roles, Bechdel Test and number of female characters, results which resonated with the way this animated series communicates gender. Final Tally of Ed, Edd n Eddy Pass the Bechdel Test: 1 out of 3 Average Female to Male Characters per episode: 2.3 : 5 Percentage dialogue girls: 29,9% Percentage dialogue boys: 70,1%

2010’s GRAVITY FALLS Created for: Disney Channel Runtime: 2012 - 2016 Creator: Alex Hirsch TV Rating: TV-Y7 Average episode duration: 20 Minutes 12 year old twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, are sent to the town of Gravity Falls to spend the summer of their Great Uncle Stan (Grunkle Stan), thinking it will be the most boring summer of their lives. The kids are wrong however, as the town reveals itself to be extremely magical and mysterious. The show follows the Pines’ adventures and it’s plot unwinds to reveal the truth about Gravity Falls. (see appendix 6 for main character visuals). GRAVITY FALLS S01E01: TOURIST TRAPPED Mabel desperately wants a boyfriend and Dipper desperately wants something interesting to happen in Gravity Falls (GF). When Mabel gets new boyfriend, called “Norman” and Dipper finds a mysterious journal in the woods that has details about strange creatures that lurk in the forest of GF. Upon reading the journal, Dipper starts suspecting that Mabel’s boyfriend might be a zombie, but when he confronts “Norman”, it is revealed that he is actually a bunch of Gnomes standing on each other’s shoulders, pretending to be human, so they can kidnap Mabel and make her their queen. The twins fight off the Gnomes and all ends well, for that day.

Bechdel Test - FAIL

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES NO

Wendy and Mabel only have one conversation and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about Norman. Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Dipper

Mabel

Grunkle Stan

Wendy

Soos Norman Gnomes

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose The narrator of the show, Dipper is a curious, highly intelligent boy. He helps save his sister

Dipper

with his smarts and the knowledge he got from

the journal, but he couldn’t do it alone. Starts dating a Norman, who ends up being just a bunch of gnomes trying to kidnap her. She is loving, funny and a little hyperactive. Although

Mabel

Dipper can be seen as more intelligent in some ways, she comes up with a creative solution that ends up saving the day. The comedic villain in this episode. They are the perfect villain for the pilot, as they show just how

Norman/Gnomes

strange Gravity Falls can be.

Controversial, to say the least, Grunkle Stan takes care of the kids but also uses them to work

Grunkle Stan

in the shop. He doesn’t believe there are supernatural things in Gravity Falls and tell Dipper he’s being crazy.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Mabel : 93

Dipper : 98

Wendy : 2

Norman/Gnomes : 43

Others : 1

Stan : 28 Soos : 11 Others : 4

Ratio girls to boys = 96 : 184 Percentage dialogue girls = 34,3% Percentage dialogue boys = 65,7%

Analysis The first episode of Gravity Falls doesn’t have gender parity, but the much higher amount of male dialogue can be attributed to Dipper’s narrating of the story. Mabel is put in the stereotypical position of a girl being desperate for a boyfriend, but in the end she is strong and ends up being the one who saves the day, with her wits and creativity. Stereotypical traits are not always bad, it all depends on how the character develops. Mabel is a pre-teen girl, she is girly, a lot of girls are girly, but this character shows how there is more to girly girls than pink and rainbows, this is also important. Dipper is also a good role model, as a pre-teen boy, he often tries to be tough, but we see him being vulnerable. To sum up, although this episode does not have gender parity in terms of dialogue, and it doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, the character representation isn’t problematic, and the main characters seem to be good role models that can help kids navigate through their pre-teens and teens, through valuable lessons and friendship.

GRAVITY FALLS S01E06: DIPPER VS MANLINESS Plot 1: Dipper is devastated when he can’t win a pile of pancakes in a “hammer strength” game, so he ventures out into the woods to try and grow some chest hair. In the woods, he meets the Manotaurs, the most manly creatures there are, and he begs them to teach him how to be more manly. The training is going great, until Dipper is faced with his final challenge: Kill the Multibear. Dipper can’t bring himself to kill the Multibear, as they bond over their joint appreciation for BABBA (a spoof Swedish pop band ABBA). In the end, Dipper tells the Manotaurs that this is not what being a man is about. Plot 2: Mabel tries to set up Grunkle Stan with Lazy Susan by cleaning him up. Stan, however, isn’t easy to clean up, so he ends up being himself and gets a date with Susan, which doesn’t go too well.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Dipper

Mabel

Grunkle Stan

Lazy Susan

Chutzpar

Wendy

Manotaurs Tyler Cutebiker Soos

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Dipper is going through a pre-teen fase of not feeling manly enough, and his peers arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

Dipper

helping his self esteem. His purpose in this episode, however, is to show that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not all the

physical things that make a man a man, but it’s being true to yourself and your convictions that really makes you a man. Mabel tries to clean up Grunkle Stan so he will ask Lazy Susan on a date, she also ends up realizing that Stan must be himself in order to get

Mabel

people to love him. He serves as the perfect juxtaposition with Dipper, he is almost too manly, in the sense that he is too hairy and dirty and rude. The lesson in

Grunkle Stan

the end is that you should just be yourself, you don’t have to clean up nicely or become stronger just to prove that you’re a man. Grunkle Stan is a great way for us to see that, his plotline adds value to the message of the episode. They try to teach Dipper how to be a man, they are the manliest creature of the forest, and show

Chutzpar & the other Manotaurs

their manliness through strength, grunting and body hair. Their purpose in the episode is to show how ridiculous the idea of being super manly can be.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Mabel : 38 Lazy Susan : 15

Dipper : 78 Chutzpar & the Manotaurs : 40

Wendy : 2

Stan : 38

Other Women: 2

Soos : 3 Others : 10

Ratio girls to boys = 57 : 169 Percentage dialogue girls = 25,2% Percentage dialogue boys = 74,8% 61

Stereotyped/Gender Role Perpetuating dialogue “No offense Dipper, but you’re not exactly ‘manly manington’.” - Mabel “A real man shows no mercy!” - Dipper Analysis Kids shows have a way of delivering meaningful messages through bizarre comedy, Gravity Falls constantly does this, and this episode is an example of it. Dipper vs Manliness presents us with the struggles of being a pre-teen boy, who is kind of small and kind of wimpy, but who desperately wants to be a man. “Is it mental? Is it physical? What’s the secret?”, Dipper asks himself upon not being able to pass the “manliness test”. In the end, it’s not about Dipper becoming a man, but it’s about him learning that he can solve problems and often save the day because he is not as manly as he would like to be. The testosterone packed Manotaurs - whose names range from Pituator and Beardy, - try to teach Dipper the ways of being a man, presented in a ridiculous training sequence of pointless exercises that, if this wasn’t a cartoon, would have killed Dipper. But Dipper is smart and sensitive, he uses reverse psychology on the Manotaurs and when he finds out that the Multibear also listens to the Islanding pop sensation “BABBA”, he is relieved to know that there is someone out there who understands him. In the end, Dipper’s concern was more than just about not being manly, it was about not fitting in, something that Gravity Falls has explored since the very beginning. Dipper is a great role model, as with his mistakes and adventures and struggles, he slowly learns to appreciate himself more for what he is, than what he is not. Episodes like this are important for young boys, although it fails in gender parity, this episode is also about embracing your side and bulldozing gender stereotypes.

The results in this episode show that it doesn’t have gender parity, however, it is meant to be focused on Dipper’s journey through pre-teen angst, and there are no harmful stereotypes towards the female characters.

GRAVITY FALLS S02E15: THE LAST MABELCORN Plot 1:The girls are sent on a mission to collect some unicorn hair, but it turns out to

harder

than

they

thought

when

the

demanding

unicorn,

Celestabellebethabelle, only accepts those who are “pure of heart” into its realm. When Mabel fails to prove she is pure of heart, the girls do anything they can to restore Mabel’s good heart, but it only ends up in another “no” from the unicorn. That’s when the girls devise a scheme to get the unicorn hair, putting fairness aside and fighting dirty, eventually they not only get the unicorn hair, but also find out that Celestabellebethabelle was lying about being able to see if someone is pure of heart. Plot 2: Grunkle Ford needs Dipper’s help to get Bill Cypher out of his head, and the two spend time in Ford’s office, exploring Dipper’s memories and finding out the secrets of Bill Cypher.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Dipper

Mabel

Great Uncle Ford

Wendy

Grunkle Stan

Grenda Candy

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Dipper is dying to help Ford with defeating Bill. His purpose is to show that there are far darker

Dipper

secrets about Ford and Bill than we ever imagined. Mabel is set out to prove two things: That she can

Mabel

take care of important jobs, like getting unicorn hair, and that she is pure of heart. Unfortunately, the unicorn doesn’t think she is pure of heart, and this makes Mabel question everything about herself He serves as the perfect juxtaposition with Dipper, he is almost too manly, in the sense that

Grunkle Stan

he is too hairy and dirty and rude. The lesson in the end is that you should just be yourself, you don’t have to clean up nicely or become stronger just to prove that you’re a man. Grunkle Stan is a

great way for us to see that, his plotline adds value to the message of the episode. They try to teach Dipper how to be a man, they are the manliest creature of the forest, and show

Chutzpar & the other Manotaurs

their manliness through strength, grunting and body hair. Their purpose in the episode is to show how ridiculous the idea of being super manly can be.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Mabel : 47

Dipper : 32

Wendy : 19

Ford : 55

Grenda : 17

Stan : 5

Candy: 10

Ratio girls to boys = 93 : 92 Percentage dialogue girls = 50,3% Percentage dialogue boys = 49,7% Analysis This episode of Gravity Falls gives a lot of things for it’s female characters to do. They are a close group of girls who are all very different from each other but who are all excited to see a unicorn. Grenda (voiced by a man) and Wendy (raised by a lumberjack) can be incredibly sensitive yet ruthless when it comes to getting the unicorn hair, and their team efforts with the more girly girls (Mabel and Phoebe) are never questioned throughout the episode. No one laughs or frowns when Grenda chants with her deep voice to open the unicorn portal or when Mabel covers the town founder’s statue with pink glitter. Often we see the theme of “women rivals” in fiction, Gravity Falls has characters of the same sex who support each other no matter what. There is an episode of GF where the girls

almost have a fallout because of a boy they all like, but once they realize that it is destroying their friendship, they decide it’s more important to be friends that chase a boy. Not only is this more realistic than a stereotypical “girl fight” but it’s a good lesson for little girls. Furthermore, this episode addresses the fact that girl things are cool and fun, and that’s it’s ok to be girly, but that girls can also be tactical, ruthless and fight when they need to protect a friend. One line that stand out in the episode is when Wendy passionately says: “Look, it’s time we stop being perfect and be who we really are. Crazed, angry, sweaty animals! We’re not unicorns, we’re women, and we take what we want!” Another key point to mention about this episode is how parallel it is to Dipper vs. Manliness, in how Mabel is also struggling to figure out what makes someone “pure of heart”, but then realizes that there is no such thing and that people are made up of flaws and strengths, and she is too. This episode had a subplot with Great Uncle Ford and Dipper, and once again the episode about the boys doesn’t have gender balance in terms of dialogue, but the one about the girls does.

Gravity Falls Final Tally: Passed the Bechdel test: 2 out of 3 Average female to male characters per episode: 3,3 : 4,7 Total female dialogue: 35,6% Total male dialogue: 64,4%

Gravity Falls Final Observations Gravity Falls is an example of how fairy tales and stories teach valuable lessons to children, and it does this through nuanced messages and through its relatable (yet crazy) characters. In GF there is very little “petty rivalry” between sexes, or between members of the same sex. Mabel is a character who is comfortable with 66

how conventionally feminine she is, but isn’t afraid to do or say things that are not. And although Dipper’s insecurities can lead him to do dumb things to prove he is grown up, his sensitiveness towards others and his intellect always end up being the things that save the day. Although the final numbers show that, in the episodes observed, there isn’t gender balance in terms of dialogue and number of characters (by 5%), the show wasn’t problematic in the ways it communicated gender, and it did so in very unapologetic ways that definitely opposed stereotypes and even made fun of them at times. It’s essential to mention that Gravity Falls is one of the very few animated series to introduce a gay couple on screen, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland (see Appendix 9).

STEVEN UNIVERSE Created for: Cartoon Network Runtime: 2013 - today Creator: Rebecca Sugar TV Rating: TV-Y7 Average episode duration: 10 Minutes A 13 year old half-gem half-human boy lives with his three gem “mothers” (The Crystal Gems) in Beach City, where they are often faced with outer space problems that they have to battle with their powers. The Crystal Gems - Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, - are a group of rebel Gems from a planet called Home World, which is trying to destroy the earth. Steven’s mother was also a member of the Crystal Gems, but lost her physical form when she gave birth to Steven, so the other Gems take care of him. Although Gems are technically aliens, they are humanoid and all identify with the female gender and their characters are voiced by women. The show follows the daily life of Steven, the Crystal Gems and their interactions with the humans of Beach City. Steven has a best-friend/eventually girlfriend called Connie, who often joins the group on adventures. STEVEN UNIVERSE S01E01: GEM GLOW Steven’s belly button gem starts glowing for the first time but he doesn’t know to control it. The Gems try to teach him how to summon his weapon (which comes out of the gem), but he only manages to do it by accident. When a monster comes to the beach and Gems have to fight it off, Steven is able to help him without his weapon (which is a pink shield) but they are hopeful that soon he will be able to control it.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Steven

Garnet

Lars

Amethyst Pearl Sadie

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Struggling to figure out how to summon his gem weapon, Steven looks for guidance from the

Steven

Gems. He thinks that he can summon the shield by eating his favourite ice-cream “Cookie Cat”. He ends up helping the Gems fight the monster in the end even though he can’t summon the shield. Try to guide Steven on how to summon his

weapon. Pearl is very methodological, explain to

Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl

Steven that he has to be like a falling rose petal. Amethyst says he canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think too much about it and Garnet says he needs to combine the connection of all the elements and with that strength be about to pull out his shield. Ultimately, every Gem has a unique way of summoning their weapon, and Steven must find his own way.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Pearl : 17

Steven : 36

Garnet : 9

Lars : 5

Amethyst : 18 Sadie: 2 Ratio girls to boys = 46 : 41 Percentage dialogue girls = 52,9% Percentage dialogue boys = 47,1% Analysis This is the first pilot (from the ones looked at until now) that has gender balance in terms of dialogue and that has more female characters than male characters. Steven Universe has strong female characters, and an unconventional family structure. Steven was raised by three â&#x20AC;&#x153;womenâ&#x20AC;?, who are all very different from each other. Pearl is very feminine and delicate, Amethyst is fun, childish but extremely strong and Garnet is a wise, strong female character. Steven is a teen boy just trying to figure out who he is, not only as a Gem but as a human. He is extremely sensitive and joyful, which is a bit odd for a male protagonist. Steven is extremely uninhibited, - for a boy character on screen, - probably because he

was raised by the three Gems, and he can appear feminine at times. His belly button Gem is pink, his shield is pink (see Appendix 11) and he is transparent with his emotions. This is the main reason why this show is so different from the others. There isn’t an episode where Steven tries to be manly (although he has some insecurities about being short), he is comfortable with himself. This show is strong in terms of representation and it addresses themes in the field of gender and sexuality that haven’t been addressed before, which is great for LGBTQ kids, and all kids for that matter.

STEVEN UNIVERSE S01E37: ALONE TOGETHER The Gems try to teach Steven how to “fuse”3 through dancing. He isn’t able to do it with any of the Gems, but later, while he is hanging at the beach with Connie, the two start dancing and fuse by accident, creating Stevonnie (see appendix 12.2). Stevonnie goes out to the town to have fun, and ends up going to dance with a bunch of teenagers. When everyone is staring at them, Stevonnie gets nervous and separates. Steven and Connie laugh about the whole experience and how fun/terrifying it was.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - PASS

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Fusion is when two Gems perform a dance and fuse together, forming a single Gem which combines their powers. See appendix 12 for examples of Gem Fusions

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Steven

Connie

Kevin

Pearl

Lars

Amethyst Garnet

Others: Stevonnie (both male and female, they are a gender-fusion) Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose To experience what it’s like to be grown up. When Steven and Connie fuse they become a tall

Stevonnie

teenage “gender fluid” person, Stevonnie feels beautiful and confident, so they go to a dance. But eventually it gets to be too much attention, and Stevonnie, feeling lonely by themselves, separates. Once again he unleashes one of his powers by

Steven

accident, by dancing with Connie. Like Connie, he is excited at first about their fusion, but feels too lonely as Stevonnie. Connie is the first person who Steven is fused with because of their love for each other.

Connie

Stevonnie is a way for her to let go of her

shyness and dance in public. He is the cute boy at the party who starts dancing with Stevonnie. He tells Stevonnie that everyone

Kevin

else at the party is “garbage” and that they are angels. This really upsets Stevonnie. Try to teach Steven how to fuse and are

Pearl, Garnet & Amethyst

surprised that he is finally able to do it with Connie (since this is the first even human-gem fusion)

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Connie : 6

Steven : 8

Pearl : 11

Kevin : 6

Amethyst : 4 Garnet: 4

Lars : 3 Other boys: 2

Other Girls: 2 Stevonnie: 21 Ratio girls to boys (adding Stevonnie’s lines to both) = 48 : 41 Percentage dialogue girls = 53,9% Percentage dialogue boys = 46,1% Analysis This episode of Steven Universe is about the experience of being a teenager. Not a pre-teen, but a full blown teenager, someone who’s around 16. The fusion of Steven and Connie is able to experience this. They go to their first dance party, and although it is fun at first, Stevonnie hates all the attention and gets nervous about having everyone staring at them (because Stevonnie is beautiful) “This is what being cool at a cool dance is, right?” Stevonnie says. It’s an 73

interesting peek at the awkward phase that is being teenager and how growing up too fast can be scary. Stevonnie is a gender-fusion, meaning that they don’t identify as either male or female, touching upon the concept of gender-fluidity. Also, the other characters - both male and female, - are attracted to Stevonnie. For example, when Stevonnie goes into the Donut shop, both Lars and Sadie blush (see appendix 12.3), in cartoons this tends to be a sign of being smitten by someone. All in all, this episode’s strong point is in terms of representation. There is, again, gender balance, there is a genderfluid character, there are interesting nuances when Garnet and Pearl dance together that may suggest them being romantically involved at some point (see appendix 12.4). Steven Universe delivers an episode full of surprises and themes that aren’t usually explored in animated series, but which are important to show to their audiences, some of which might be seeing themselves represented on screen in animation for the first time.

STEVEN UNIVERSE S02E09: SWORN TO THE SWORD After protecting Steven’s snack from a group of seagulls with her Violin Bow, Connie confesses that she would love to know to sword fight. Steven suggests that Pearl train Connie in the art of sword fighting, and although Pearl isn’t convinced at first, she is moved when Connie admits she want to be able to protect Steven if even anything happens. Pearl trains Connie, and tells her she needs to devote herself to protecting Steven. The training goes a bit too far when Pearl says things like “you would die for him(...) you don’t matter(...)” etc. and Steven intervenes, saying they should fight side by side and help each other. Pearl is upset by this, as she clearly has issues with Steven’s mom, Rose Quartz being dead. It is revealed that Pearl was in love with Rose, and she sees her in Steven. In the end, Pearl agrees that it’s better to fight side by side, and she will train both of them together.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - NO

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? NO They have names? YES

They have names? NO

They have a conversation? YES

They have a conversation? NO

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? NO YES

Steven is the only main character in this episode, as it focuses on Connie and Pearl. Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Steven

Connie Pearl Amethyst Garnet

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Connie want to be able to protect Steven in battle

Connie

and it turns out she is a pretty good sword fighter. In this episode, she gets to be up close with Pearl and be a little more integrated in the world of the

Gems. Connie becomes a great Knight, despite being a kid and being human. Convinces Pearl to train Connie but realizes that it gets a bit too intense so he steps in to help

Steven

Connie and make sure she knows that they will be fighting together. At the beginning, he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand why Pearl in being so intense about it, but after Pearl mistakenly calls him Rose, it is made clear. She is moved when Connie says she wants to protect Steven, so she agrees to train to be a

Pearl

Knight. Things get a little intense when Pearl starts mixing up her past with Rose Quartz and telling Connie that she needs to put her own life on line for Steven. Pearl was in love with Rose Quartz, and when there was a war with Home World, she did anything to protect her. Even though Pearl doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand that Connie is human and thus cannot regenerate if she dies, she ends up realizing that this all because of Rose and that she needs to train both kids together.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Connie : 20

Steven : 31

Pearl : 20 Amethyst : 3 Garnet: 3

Ratio girls to boys = 46 : 31 Percentage dialogue girls = 59,7% Percentage dialogue boys = 40,3% Analysis of this episode & final observations on Steven Universe This episode of Steven Universe focuses on the emotional and physical developments of Connie and Pearl, and Steven’s reactions to them. First we have Connie. She is Steven’s best-friend/girlfriend and she is an extremely intelligent and sensitive girl. Steven doesn’t even hesitate to suggest she train to be a knight, and Connie is happy that she will be able to protect him. Symbolically, Steven’s weapon is a shield, and Connie’s weapon is a sword. All of these messages are important, because they play with gender roles and discard the ancient concept of “the man protects the woman” and the “damsel in distress”. We see this in the first scene of the episode, when Connie protects Steven’s snack from the seagulls (see appendix 13.1). Not only is this an interesting and valuable message, but it’s delivered nonchalantly throughout the episode. Steven Universe is filled with characters that defy gender norms, there are also no boundaries when it comes to a character’s sexual orientation, something which is also presented (not only in this episode) in a very organic way. Pearl, who is a strong Gem, falls apart when she realizes how much she misses Steven’s mom, Rose Quartz, who she was in love with (see appendix 13.2). Pearl is usually the most delicate and mature Gem, but in this episode she is extremely vulnerable, and tells a 12 year old that she should risk her life for Steven. Then, when Steven realizes that Pearl was in love with his mom, he feels sad because Pearl is sad, and he comforts her. Pearl says things like “She made me feel like I was everything!” and, to Steven “Why won’t you let me do this for you Rose?”. So we see a lesbian love story in Steven Universe, and it isn’t the first. On the last episode of Season 1, it is revealed that Garnet is a fusion,

formed by the two Gems Ruby and Saphire as we see the two embracing and fusing to make Garnet (see appendix 14). This is the first lesbian couple seen on screen in a Cartoon Network animated series, and perhaps even more important is the fact that there are more than two characters in this show that are homosexual or bi. In terms of the representation of women, Steven Universe is definitely doing it right as well. Not only is it uncommon to see such a strong female presence in a show about a boy, it is refreshing to see all these strong female

characters

with

diverse

personalities

and

interesting

character

development. Steven Universe was Cartoon Networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most watched TV premier of 2013 among kids and boys of ages 6 to 11. This is the first show, out of the ones analyzed, that got gender parity in the total results, on all aspects. It is also the first Cartoon Network show to be created by a woman, this could be key to understanding why it stands out in terms of gender balance. Steven Universe Final Tally: Passed the Bechdel test: 3 out of 3 Average female to male characters per episode: 2 : 4 Total female dialogue: 55,3% Total male dialogue: 44,7%

THE LEGEND OF KORRA Created for: Nickelodeon Runtime: 2012-2014 Creators: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko TV Rating: TV-Y7 Average episode duration: 20/25 minutes The Legend of Korra is the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show takes place in a fantasy world where people are able to control (bend) the four elements: Water, Air, Fire and Earth. This world is extremely intricate, dealing with political and social issues, wars and magic. Korra is the Avatar, the only person that can bend all the four elements and thus the most powerful being in the world, and it’s protector. She is, however, only 17 when the story takes place, and still in training. The story follows Korra as she tries to figure out her powers and how to use them in order to be able to perform her duties as the Avatar. Korra is extremely strong, self-assured, brave and sometimes hot headed, and her biggest obstacle is to get in touch with her spiritual side, an essential part of becoming the full fledged Avatar. During these growth years, Korra counts on her friends and family to help her as she defeats evil forces. (see appendix 15 for characters). THE LEGEND OF KORRA S01E01: WELCOME TO REPUBLIC CITY In the beginning of the episode we meet young Korra, when she is discovered as the Avatar. She is only 5 but she can already firebend, earthbend and waterbend. Flash Forward to when Korra passes her firebending exam and is ready to start training airbending. However, when her supposed trainer, Tenzin (the son of the previous Avatar and the only airbending master in the world) arrives, he says he can’t train Korra in the South Pole, where she lives, because he has to go back to Republic City (the capital of the world). Korra is disappointed, as she isn’t

allowed to go to Republic City with Tenzin, but decides to run away nevertheless. In Republic City, Korra is faced for the first time with having to buy things with money and she gets arrested for fighting with a gang that was stealing from an old couple. She meets chief of police Lin Beifong, who lets her go after Tenzin comes looking for Korra. Tenzin tells Korra that she has to go back to the South Pole, but in the end she stays so she can live with Tenzin and his family and train airbending.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - YES

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Tenzin

Korra

Order of The White Lotus Leader

Katara

Homeless Man at the Park

Chief Lin Beifong

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose The main character and heroine of the story. She

Korra

is brave but a little hot headed and still needs to figure out how to behave in the city. She isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afraid of beating up gangsters and she pretty stubborn. It seems like the other characters will have to learn how to deal and contain such a hurricane. The only airbending master in the world. He is

Tenzin

calm and serious, the opposite of Korra. He will be training her and guiding her on how to be an airbender.Tenzin has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, as the only airbending master and as the son of the Avatar. The Chief of Police of Republic City. She is can

Chief Beifong

be aggressive and ruthless but she is fair, and although she reprimands Korra for her behaviour, she lets her go, but not without letting her know that she will keep an eye on her.

Katara

Katara was one of the main characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now she is old and wise. She tells Korra that she should escape to Republic City to follow her destiny.

Order of The White Lotus Leader

He discovers that Korra is the Avatar and is in charge of her since she was little and during her training. He thinks Korra is too childish to move to Republic City and tells her she is not allowed to go.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Korra : 56

Tenzin : 24

Chief Beifong : 10 Leader of White Lotus: 8 Katara : 11 Homeless Man: 4 Other Women: 17 Other Men: 26

Ratio girls to boys = 94 : 62 Percentage dialogue girls = 60,3% Percentage dialogue boys = 39,7% Analysis In this first episode of The Legend of Korra (LoK) we are introduced to its female protagonist and hero: Korra. She comes in in full force as a 5 year old and we see how strong she is when she is 17 (see appendix 16). Korra has an extremely athletic body (her creators say she was inspired by female MMA fighters - see appendix 16.1) which is offbeat for a female protagonist. This is the first pilot episode from the whole sample which has more female dialogue than male dialogue in it and it is the second pilot that passes the Bechdel Test. What can be observed already, is how these shows are introducing new outlooks on gender, and putting female characters in the front lines. Although Korra still has to grow and mature, her progress will be interesting to see, and throughout the show we will see how she is admired by both male and female characters, due to her strength and ability to connect with others as the Avatar. Unfortunately, only three episodes will be observed, so we will skip ahead quite a bit on the story. As mentioned in the Methodology section, LoK has a much more complicated story line than the other shows.

THE LEGEND OF KORRA S02E04: CIVIL WARS, PART 2 The South Pole is about to enter a Civil War and Korra is trying to stop her father from being arrested by her uncle, Unalaq. Meanwhile (and the theme I was to focus on for this analysis) Bolin tries to break up with his girlfriend Eska, Unalaq’s terrifying daughter who is a great waterbender and often intimidated Bolin. But Eska doesn’t want to break up and instead forced Bolin into engagement by giving him the traditional Water Tribe betrothal necklace, which is usually given by the man to the woman when they get engaged. Bolin’s plans to escape from Eska fail, and he gets a Water Tribe makeover (see appendix 17). In the end, as Civil War breaks out and Korra and her friends (Mako, Asami and Bolin) have to leave to Republic City, Eska is finally left behind, but not without chasing after Bolin by running through the water (see appendix 17.1).

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - YES

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Bolin

Korra

Unalaq

Asami

Varrick

Eska

Varrick

Senna

Mako Tenzin Tonraq

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Korra is trying free her father from jail, after she

Korra

find out her uncle Unalaq is responsible for it (and for other past events that happened) she basically causes a civil war between the Water Tribe. Korraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evil uncle, puts her father in jail and then

Unalaq

attacks Korra when she tries to help him escape. Tries to break up with his somber girlfriend, Eska,

Bolin

but fails. He is a sensitive guy and at times doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to stand up for himself which causes Eska to take advantage of him. He is forced to wear the traditional betrothal necklace of the Water Tribe, even though only women are supposed to wear it. He also gets a makeover.

Eska

Obsessed with Bolin, she is the daughter of Unalaq and she is used to getting what she wants. She forces Bolin into being engaged to her.

Asami

Tries to help Bolin to get out of his relationship

with Eska but her advice doesn’t help at all. She helps Korra free her dad from jail by piloting the airplane.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Korra : 51

Bolin : 21

Asami : 12 Mako: 10 Eska : 10 Tenzin: 15 Senna: 5 Varrick: 16 Other Women: 25 Unalaq: 12 Tonraq: 7 Other Men: 31

Ratio girls to boys = 103 : 112 Percentage dialogue girls = 47,9% Percentage dialogue boys = 52,1% Stereotyped/Gender Role Perpetuating dialogue “I’m pretty sure the guy is supposed to give the betrothal necklace to the girl.” Korra “Look, the only way to deal with crazy women is to lie big and leave fast.” Varrick “Is this thing fast enough to get me away from my crazy girlfriend?” - Bolin

Analysis It’s hard to find episodes that focus on one character’s development in terms of gender on a show that has such a complicated storyline. It’s also difficult because the characters in LoK are almost adults, which means they have already gone through their pre-teen and teen years (as opposed to the other characters in the shows from the sample). However, this episode touches on the theme of gender roles, as Bolin is forced to wear the betrothal necklace. Even though gender roles are inverted between Bolin and Eska, this episode can be problematic, as the other characters seem uncomfortable with Bolin’s makeover (and of course the fact that he is engaged to Eska). Eska is also repeatedly called “crazy” during the episode, which isn’t a lie, but can be problematic when you call her “the crazy girlfriend”. After all, Bolin is also to blame, since he can’t stand up for himself. However, Bolin isn’t insecure about not being tough and standing up for himself, he is a delicate guy, that’s why he likes Eska in the first place and she liked him. The reason this episode is the sample is because it touched on the topic of gender role double standards which affect guys. LoK is constantly supporting strong women who don’t adhere to traditional femininity. However, Bolin, who in this episode isn’t being traditionally masculine, is made fun of and ridiculed. This is absolutely one of the ways in which gender roles in cartoons can be harmful to boys as well as girls. It’s a double standard that still pops up once is a while for comedic purposes THE LEGEND OF KORRA S03E11: THE ULTIMATUM Korra and her friends find out that The Red Lotus rebel group is planning on attacking the airbending temple, which has all the last remaining Airbenders, unless Korra gives herself in. The episode follows the story of Bolin and Mako rescuing their family and finding Korra. It also features Mako and Bolin’s Grandma meeting Korra and Asami for the first time and a lot of female characters in positions of power.

Bechdel Test - PASS

Reverse Bechdel Test - YES

There are two female characters? YES There are two male characters? YES They have names? YES

They have names? YES

They have a conversation? YES

About something other than a man? About something other than a woman? YES YES

Characters with speaking roles, by gender (Characters with a purpose are underlined)

Male

Female

Bolin

Korra

Mako

Asami

Tenzin

Lin Beifong

Zakeer

Mako and Bolinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Grandma

Bumi

Su Beifong

Tonraq

Kya

Purpose of each character

Character

Purpose Korra is trying to save the airbenders.

Korra Asami, Bolin, Mako, Lin Beifong

Helping Korra

Tenzin

Getâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attacked by The Red Lotus group and tries to protect his family Leader of the Red Lotus, trying to get Korra to

Zakeer

surrender to him by threatening to kill all the airbenders.

Lines in the episode, by character gender Girls v Boys Korra : 26 Bolin : 20 Asami : 3 Mako: 20 Lin Beifong : 4 Zakeer: 6 Grandma: 12 Tenzin: 9 Other Women: 13 Other Males: 37

Ratio girls to boys = 58 : 92 Percentage dialogue girls = 38,7% Percentage dialogue boys = 61,3%

Analysis This episode was selected for the sample as the one alluding to femininity themes for two reasons: 1. It showcases a large number of women characters who hold positions of power and who help each other through this crisis, and 2. Bolin and Mako’s Grandma meeting Asami and Korra is an example of clashing generations and their different views on gender (even if nuanced). First, the women in positions of power: -

Korra: The Avatar

Lin Bei Fong: Chief of Police of Republic City

Su Beifong: Leader of Zaufu City

Zuko’s Daughter: Firelord (head of the Fira Nation)

Asami: CEO of the Sato industries (Sato for the world of Avatar is like Ford for our world).

In addition to these female characters, there is Ming-Hua, a powerful waterbender with a physical disability. Ming-Hua is congenitally armless, but she uses waterbending to make arms, and uses them as weapons (see appendix 18). This gives extra representation points to the show. Showcasing female characters in different positions of power, good or evil, with disabilities, with flaws, but all of them have something in common: Their strength. Theme of this episode is women’s strength, introduced when Bolin and Mako’s Grandma tell Korra: “You are very muscular for a woman.” to which Korra answers, slightly confused: “Thanks. You too?”. For Korra, an essential part of being who she is, is how strong she is. Korra was always physically strong, since she was 5, and she prides herself in that, it’s ever a “thing”. Grandma is the first character to point out Korra’s muscles in relation to the fact that she’s a woman. This interaction shows how the world of Avatar itself has developed in terms of gender roles and gender biases. The Legend of Korra Final Tally: Passed the Bechdel test: 3 out of 3

Average female to male characters per episode: 5,3 : 4,3 Total female dialogue: 48,9% Total male dialogue: 51,1% Final Observations on The Legend of Korra The Legend of Korra stands out of the sample as the only animated series that has a female protagonist, whose name is the name of the show (we had Hey Arnold! Ed, Edd n Eddy and Steven Universe). Overall, the show goes a long way in terms of representation of women by having a lot of strong female characters, of different races and even sexual orientations. In the last episode of LoK we see Korra and Asami walking hand in hand to the Spirit World, and although it’s not explicit, the writers of the show did confirm that Korra and Asami do get romantically involved. This makes Korra the first ever canonically4 bisexual heroine in American children’s television. Given these points, and having watched the complete series, it’s clear that LoK really broke conventions of what female superheroes are, and treated gender differently than the 90’s show observed, alongside Steven Universe and parts of Gravity Falls.

When something isn’t explicit on screen and is subject to speculation, it becomes “canon” when the writers/creators confirm that it is indeed true.

Discussion Although the analysis did give us some conclusive results, it’s important to consider the flaws in the data collection of this research. First of all, one could argue that the sample of animated series is too small, not only in the number of shows (only three from each decade), but also in the number of episodes observed for each show (three each). In order to properly analyze one episode, it takes a certain length of time and pages, which wouldn’t be possible to achieve if we were to collect a sample of, say, 10 episodes per animated series. Instead of choosing to do a larger sample, an in-depth analysis was priority. There are in total 18 episodes in the sample, and having this relatively small sample allowed me to properly analyze each episode, and to be able to make appropriate comparisons between shows and decades. Therefore, the sample for this research allowed for a more “niched” analysis. Because the shows and episodes chosen fall into the same categories (as explained in the methodology section), the analysis can be fluid and linear, and provide a more solid answer to the research questions posed. Nevertheless, if I were to expand on this subject, I would also expand my sample, by not only doing more episodes for each animated series and adding more decades to the sample, but also by looking at series that are tailored for girls and those which are tailored for boys. Furthermore, it would be interesting to answer a few more questions: Why are these new shows including LGBTQ characters? What has changed in the societal mindset and why is the media changing their ways? These are questions I would certainly be eager to answer with further analysis and research material.

Conclusion The goal of this research paper was to identify how North-American animated series communicate gender, and to pin-point the problems there are in terms of perpetuating gender roles in their content. North-American major networks Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel were selected as the main sources for the sample, as they are the biggest exporters of animated series from North America to Latin America and Europe. The research and analysis conducted also served to answer the question of “How has the communication of gender in animated series changed in the last two decades?” and “Has representation improved since the 90’s?” The shows selected for the sample all had things in common: They were designed for the same age groups, they weren’t gender specific, and they all featured both male and female main characters (even though some had a male protagonist or female protagonist, which is the case of Hey Arnold! and The Legend of Korra, for example). Analyzing three episodes of each show (the pilot, and two episodes about gender), was vital to obtaining insight on the research questions posed. Although the 90’s shows weren’t as problematic as expected (except for Ed, Edd n’ Eddy), there are visible differences in the way gender is communicated in the animated series of today. In terms of characters being portrayed in gender roles, a lot the main girl characters of the 90’s fell out of their stereotypes. Such as Helga, Spinelli and Gretchen. However, these characters - particularly Helga, - were often scrutinized by their peers for the way they behaved outside of their gender roles. Another observation is that all of the 90’s shows problematized the “girly girl” stereotype, this was seen as the villains in both Recess and Ed, Edd n´Eddy fell into the stereotype. In terms of male characters, Mickey was the only male character that didn’t conform to gender roles. In the 2010’s, we see a shift, as girl characters are free to be girly or not. On one hand we have Mabel, who is conventionally feminine, but at the same time very intelligent and creative, often

solving problems and guiding the other characters. On the other hand we have Korra, an athletically strong female protagonist who is admired by the characters around her, and is seen as beautiful and strong by both male and female characters. Asami (from The Legend of Korra) is another character which is conventionally feminine, but she is also extremely intelligent and the best character in the show at driving cars, planes and giant robots. This contrasts with Helen Stretcher’s point, of how female characters in cartoons weren’t as important, and a lot of times not seen as intelligent. All of the shows from the 2010’s sample have a myriad of strong female characters, in contrast with the 90’s, where each show has one or two “token” tomboys which we are made aware of through plotlines which exploit their nature and are accepted as such because they relate to male characters and male audiences. Overall, the girls in the 2010’s shows had more respect from the other characters and even outnumbered the male characters, which is the case of Steven Universe and The Legend of Korra. Something that also changed, but still has space for improvement, is the double standard that girls are allowed to be “boyish” but boys aren’t allowed to be “girly”. In the 90’s, we see characters like Mickey and Edd being singled out of their guy friends group for not being conventionally male. But the 2010’s shows explored this theme in depth. With Dipper trying to come to terms with the fact that he is not a manly man, or Bolin getting the betrothal necklace from Eska. However, Steven Universe does the best job at debunking the double standard, since Steven himself is filled with non-conventionally masculine traits and is often the damsel in distress. The key thing in Steven Universe - which is missing in Gravity Falls and The Legend of Korra, - is that Steven’s attitude is constant and unapologetic, and the other characters around him don’t acknowledge the fact that he is a little feminine. Perhaps because he was raised by three women. Another element of the 2010’s sample that stands out.

An unexpected result was the amount of LGBTQ representation in the 2010’s animated series. All of the series in the sample had at least one gay, lesbian or bisexual character. Gravity Falls has a gay couple, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, Legend of Korra, offered us the first ever canonically bisexual heroine, by putting Korra and Asami together at the end. Yet, most notably, was Steven Universe’s amount of LGBTQ representation. There are Ruby and Saphire, Pear and Rose Quartz (Rose being bisexual) and there is the episode when Steven and Connie fuse and make Stevonnie, a genderfluid person who everyone in town has a crush on. Perhaps the most important aspect is that these are all main characters (except of Blubs and Durland). Main characters are heroes, they are in the spotlight, they are the most important. When a kid sees himself represented on screen, it boosts his confidence and self-esteem. He is also more likely to adopt this character as a role model. LGBTQ kids also deserve role models on television in their favourite programs, just as all other kids do, including girls. From what was seen in the literature review section, combined with the results obtained, the sample of shows from the 2010’s have characters that appeal to everyone. To girls and boys, LGBTQ, of color or white. Although the 90’s shows had elements to them that were inspiring at times, and characters which didn’t conform to gender stereotypes, they were often “token characters”, and heterosexual white boys were the protagonists and the heroes in all of the shows observed from the 90’s. It would be hard to find shows in that decade (and before) where this doesn’t happen, unless the show is specifically tailored for girls (and therefore is made up of a girl team) or for people of color (like Fat Albert, Harlem Globetrotters cartoons, Jackson 5 cartoons etc.). All in all, and to answer the research questions, there is a visible difference in the way gender is communicated in animated series today, in the samples observed. Although we are talking about three animated series, they still stand out, it’s still a new thing, and I believe that they will trail blaze the way for more and more

shows that represent all children. I think this will be the case because all of the 2010’s shows observed have been extremely successful. I believe we are seeing a shift. Writers and creators are taking risks, and adding powerful messages and characters in commercialized animated series. However, there is still a long way to go. Network executives are still not convinced that their female audiences are watching enough TV or buying enough merchandise, so they prioritize “heterosexual white boys” (referencing Paul Dini’s podcast interview). If things are to improve on all levels, including having superhero shows with gender parity and better representation, the business model of the industry needs to change. It’s not unrealistic, they can still sell products to girls, like Paul Dini says, they just need to change their marketing strategies and adapt to both sexes. Perhaps understanding this mentality and the reasons behind this business model, the people in power and how we could implement change would be an interesting next step to take in this research. Meanwhile, it’s vital to understand how powerful the Media and its messages can be. We know about video-game violence and sexism and the effects they can have on children who aren’t properly supervised. Now we also know how important gender role communication is in children’s cartoons, and how representation can go a long way, influencing what kind of behaviour children adopt, their perceptions of the opposite sex and LGBTQ people, as well their aspirations for the future. When a child watches animated series today, she travels, and she learns how to be a person, and how much potential she can have as a woman.

Bibliography Journal Articles & Dissertations Bandura, A. (1971). Social Learning Theory (1st ed.). Stanford: General Learning Press, pp. 2-8 Retrieved from http://www.esludwig.com/uploads/2/6/1/0/26105457/bandura_sociallearningtheory.pdf.x Banerjee, R., & Lintern, V. (2000). Boys will be Boys: The Effect of Social Evaluation Concerns on Gender-Typing. Social Development, 9(3), pp. 397-408. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00133.x Cohen, J., & Weimann, G. (2000). Cultivation revisited: Some genres have some effects on some viewers. Communication Reports, 13(2), pp. 99-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08934210009367728.x Dar, M. (2012). Exposure to Television Cartoons and Information Retention in Children (Undergraduate). Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976). Living With Television: The Violence Profile. J Communication, 26(2), pp. 172-194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.14602466.1976.tb01397.x Levinson, R. (1975). From Olive Oyl to Sweet Polly Purebread: Sex Role Stereotypes and Televised Cartoons. J Popular Culture, IX(3), pp. 561-572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1975.0903_561.x Martin, C. (1989). Children's use of gender-related information in making social judgments. Developmental Psychology, 25(1), pp. 80-88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/00121649.25.1.80.x Martins, N. & Harrison, K. (2011). Racial and Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Children's Television Use and Self-Esteem: A Longitudinal Panel

Study. Communication Research, 39(3), pp. 338-357. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0093650211401376 Mayes, S. & Valentine, K. (1979). Sex role stereotyping in Saturday morning cartoon shows. Journal Of Broadcasting, 23(1), pp. 41-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08838157909363916 Reeves, B., & Greenberg, B. (1977). Children's Perceptions Of Television Characters. Human Communication Research, 3(2), pp. 113-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1977.tb00510.x Remafedi, G. (1990). Study group report on the impact of television portrayals of gender roles on youth. Journal Of Adolescent Health Care, 11(1), pp. 59-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0197-0070(90)90130-t Signorielli, N. (1990). Children, television, and gender roles. Journal Of Adolescent Health Care, 11(1), pp. 50-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/01970070(90)90129-p Sprafkin, JN, Liebert, RM. Sex-typing and children's television preferences. in: G Tuchman, AK Daniels, J Benet (Eds.) Hearth and home: Images of women in the mass media. Oxford Press, New York; 1978. Thompson, T., & Zerbinos, E. (1995). Gender roles in animated cartoons: Has the picture changed in 20 years?. Sex Roles, 32(9-10), pp. 651-673. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf01544217 Valdes, F. (1996). Unpacking Hetero-Patriarchy: Tracing the Conflation of Sex, Gender & Sexual Orientation to Its Origins. Yale Journal Of Law & The Humanities, 8(1). Watkins, B., & Barcus, F. (1984). Images of Life on Children's Television: Sex Roles, Minorities, and Families. Contemporary Sociology, 13(4), pp 450. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2069064

Zemach, T., & Cohen, A. (1986). Perception of gender equality on television and in social reality. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 30(4), pp 427-444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08838158609386635

Books Bettelheim, B. (1976). The uses of enchantment. New York: Knopf. Leitão, E. (2008). Desenhos Animados: Discursos Sobre Ser Criança. Lisboa: Edições 70. Noble, G. (1975). Children in front of the small screen. London: Constable.

Newspaper Articles & Blogs Carter, B. (1991). Children's TV, Where Boys Are King. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/01/movies/children-s-tv-where-boysare-king.html?pagewanted=all Cohen, P. (2013). The Banal, Insidious Sexism of Smurfette. The Society Pages. Retrieved from https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/08/12/the-banal-insidioussexism-of-smurfette/ Eick, K. (1998). Gender Stereotypes in Children's Television Cartoons. Hendrick, B. (1997). In TV cartoons, gender stereotyping still prevails. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-0819/features/1997231026_1_cartoon-characters-female-cartoon-male-characters

Podcasts SModcast Podcast Network,. (2013). #52: Paul Dini: Shadow of the Shadow of the Bat. Fatman on Batman. Retrieved 13 March 2016, from https://soundcloud.com/fatmanonbatman/52-paul-dini-shadow-of-the-1

APPENDICES Appendix 1 Hey Arnold Main Characters

ARNOLD

GERALD

HELGA

Vince

Ashley Spinelli

Appendix 2 Recess Main Characters T.J.

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Gretchen

Mikey

Gus

Appendix 3 Stills from Dance Lessons

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Appendix 4 Ed, Edd nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Eddy characters

The Eds

The Kanker Sisters

102

Appendix 5 The Kankers bring food to the Eds

The Eds are forced to clean, and they fail

103

Appendix 6 Gravity Falls Characters

Dipper Pines

Mabel Pines

Grunkle Stan

Candy

Grenda

Wendy

104

Appendix 7 Dipper vs. Manliness 7.1:The Manliness Tester from the beginning of the episode

7.2: Mabel shaves Grunkle Stanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chest hair whilst Chutzpar glues his chest hair to Dipper

105

7.3: The Manotaurs:

Appendix 8 The Last Mabelcorn Celestabellebethabelle:

8.1: Mabel covers the town founderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statue with pink glitter:

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Appendix 9: Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland in the last episode of Gravity Falls, where it is confirmed that they are a couple:

107

Appendix 10 Steven Universe characters Steven

Amethyst

Garnet

Pearl

Connie

108

Appendix 11 Stevenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shield appears for the first time:

Appendix 12 Gem Fusions

109

12.2: Stevonnie

110

12.3: Sadie & Lars see Stevonnie

12.4: Pearl and Garnet Dancing

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13.1 Connie Fighting Off Seaguls

13.2: Pearl and Rose in Battle

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Appendix 14: Ruby & Saphire: Stills From S01E49: Jailbreak

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Appendix 15: Characters in The Legend of Korra Korra:

Mako

Bolin

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Asami:

Tenzin

Lin Beifong, Chief of Police

115

Appendix 16: Korra as a 5 year old and Korra at 17

16.1: Korraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design

116

Appendix 17: Bolinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Water Tribe Makeover

17.1: Eska Chases Bolin

117

Appendix 18: Ming-Hua Ming-Hua was a prisoner for 25 years, and water was kept away from her so she couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t escape.

Here we see her using waterbending to her advantage, after this she was able to escape.

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