Cartoon Cult of Domesticity

            For my analysis of cartoons I chose 3 separate series. I chose one I was more familiar with, one I was a little familiar with, and one I was not familiar with at all in order to maintain a scale of objectivity in my analyses. The cartoons were Phineas and Ferb, Danny Phantom, and The Avengers, respectively. I chose to focus mainly on the role of gender in these cartoons, all though there are countless other cultural dimensions to be noted and analyzed. Here is what I observed:

 Phineas and Ferb: I love this show, and I generally think it is groundbreaking kids television and that it promotes very positive values, so I had to tackle this as objectively as I could. The first mini-story in the episode I watched centered around Phineas and Ferb’s mother’s birthday. In the beginning, the boys wonder what to do for her birthday and they enlist help from three of their friends, recurring characters on the show. Isabella, the next door neighbor and girls scout of the group, suggests that the thing that would make the boys mother the happiest is cleaning up the house. Although Isabella is an active and adventurous character, certainly rejecting many sexist stereotypes, she stays consistently within the boundaries of “normal girl” behaviors and roles. It seems as if Isabella suggests cleaning because she is a girl and would therefore have a greater insight into what mothers and housewives appreciate. Since she is a part of that domain, she recognizes that cleaning is “the mother’s job” and that doing it for her would be a gift. Despite her suggestion and supposed authority on the topic, the boys end up building a supercomputer to tell them the perfect gift. In programming the computer, they hooked up a machine to Phineas and Isabella’s head, in order to read and understand their brains. The readings that appeared on the screen for Phineas were a series of complex scientific equations. The readings for Isabella, however, were only pictures; one of a bunny rabbit and another of Phineas’s head with a heart around it. So although the cartoon depicted a girl helping on the same level as the boys to build the machine, it depicted her contributions as being strictly “feminine.” I.e. teaching the computer about love and cuteness, while Phineas (the male) contributed his great intellect and scientific mastery.  While the argument can be made that both qualities are equally important for a supercomputer, the cartoon had no doubt made the differences between boy’s and girl’s thoughts clear- training kids watching the show to believe that their brains and priorities were similarly differentiated.            

I found another example of gender based task separation in the second mini-story, wherein we see the boys building a “fun house” inside their house. When we check in on Isabella, we see that she is in charge of the “cookie room,” a huge pink room in which Isabella is hard at work cutting out huge, heart shaped cookies. Once again, the girl is sent to perform duties specifically belonging to her domain- cooking and ensuring “cuteness” and love in the atmosphere. I have observed the phenomenon in countless cartoons and tv shows alike- women’s plotlines and goals revolve solely around love and beauty. No matter how kickass the woman character is (Yay Isabella!), or how many awesome, non-stereotypical things they do, their overarching purpose is always something like love or popularity. Unlike male protagonists and side characters who set out to change the world or cure cancer, female “endgame” is depicted as achieving the kind of “home-making love” that can be seen in Isabella’s baking of heart shaped cookies.

In the other two cartoons I watched, I saw this trend clearly. In Danny Phantom, the central antagonist of the episode was a girl named Valarie who wanted revenge on Danny for making her lose her popularity. Her overarching mission was love and acceptance from her group of popular friends- who rejected her because her father lost his job and she could no longer afford cute clothes. Danny’s overarching mission, however, was to valiantly rid the world of evil ghosts and threats to their safety. In the avengers, the main characters fighting evil were all men. The female characters that did exist (in ridiculously tight and impractical costumes) were only there to serve as love interests and participants in  the men’s complicated pasts.

Their was one particularly hilarious scene where a man and a woman were fighting- a man threw a grenade and the camera zoomed in on his muscled arm powerfully extending. When they flipped to the female, however, we got a close up view of her mouth where she removed the grenade pin slowly with her tongue before tossing it weakly. Not only were the women sexualized, but they were shown weakened by love- the villain lost because she loved the hero character- while the men were shown strengthened by love- not their own, but the love the women characters bestowed upon them. While these cartoon seem progressive at first- women play big parts- they are actually subtlety reinforcing sexism and gender role assignments. Making little girls watching think; yes, they are important and can do awesome things, but there importance and ability is only as a supporting part of the man’s whole, carefully fulfilling the duties of the feminine domain.