Part One talks about the preponderance of male characters and the subservient roles into which female characters are often placed.
Part Two discusses girl viewers and how they interact with what they’re presented on television.
Part Three is about boys as viewers and the role of violence in boys’ programming, as opposed to girls’. All three of these installments are fairly short and able to be read in a single, short sitting.
About two weeks ago I asked Loretta who her favorite Sesame Street Muppet was, and I was quite pleasantly surprised when she said Zoe--who wasn’t an option when I was growing up--precisely because, Loretta said, “she is a cute little girl just like me.” Zoe is the show's first regular female monster Muppet and, as far as I know, its second regular female character, after Prairie Dawn from the original, or perhaps second, season; both are shown above with puppeteer Fran Brill. By comparison, this month Mother Jones ran an interview (which is apparently not online) with Toy Story scribe Joss Whedon wherein he points out that nary a Pixar film as yet has featured a female protagonist; he himself was tortured over how to write the character of Little Bo Peep (he is also the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other kick-butt feminist characters). So thank goodness for the Zoes, the Buffies, the Angelina Ballerinas, and the Kimpossibles out there.
Similarly, though there is always more to do I have already been amazed by many of the individual women who have worked in children’s television (compare the prevalence of their accomplishments with the much more male-centric world of adult television or feature films), including but not limited to Joan Ganz Cooney (cofounder of CTW and creator of Sesame Street), Sheryl Leach (creator of Barney), Angela Santomero (Blue’s Clues), Kay Wilson-Stallings (head of production at Nick Preschool), Anne Wood (head of Ragdoll and creator of Teletubbies), Jennifer Oxley (director of Little Bill and Wonder Pets), and on and on. If the gender imbalance is to be erased in children’s television productions, it will be in large part thanks to women like these (though I hope a guy like me may get to play too).
Part Three
About two weeks ago I asked Loretta who her favorite Sesame Street Muppet was, and I was quite pleasantly surprised when she said Zoe--who wasn’t an option when I was growing up--precisely because, Loretta said, “she is a cute little girl just like me.” Zoe is the show's first regular female monster Muppet and, as far as I know, its second regular female character, after Prairie Dawn from the original, or perhaps second, season; both are shown above with puppeteer Fran Brill. By comparison, this month Mother Jones ran an interview (which is apparently not online) with Toy Story scribe Joss Whedon wherein he points out that nary a Pixar film as yet has featured a female protagonist; he himself was tortured over how to write the character of Little Bo Peep (he is also the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other kick-butt feminist characters). So thank goodness for the Zoes, the Buffies, the Angelina Ballerinas, and the Kimpossibles out there.
Similarly, though there is always more to do I have already been amazed by many of the individual women who have worked in children’s television (compare the prevalence of their accomplishments with the much more male-centric world of adult television or feature films), including but not limited to Joan Ganz Cooney (cofounder of CTW and creator of Sesame Street), Sheryl Leach (creator of Barney), Angela Santomero (Blue’s Clues), Kay Wilson-Stallings (head of production at Nick Preschool), Anne Wood (head of Ragdoll and creator of Teletubbies), Jennifer Oxley (director of Little Bill and Wonder Pets), and on and on. If the gender imbalance is to be erased in children’s television productions, it will be in large part thanks to women like these (though I hope a guy like me may get to play too).
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