Cartoons used to be just for kids, but in wake of Matt Groening’s landmark creation of “The Simpsons”, cartoons took an interesting twist: some cartoons came to be made solely for the adult audience. Since the popular recognition of the Simpsons cartoons as broadcast series have gone thought the gambit of issues from raunchy political incorrectness to slice-of-life portrayals of “the common people” and their families.
Yet what is of most intriguing issue to me, is when these series tackle the questions of gender, the place and oppressions of women, or just begun to look at the issues or questions of rights which circulate around the feminist complex.
In this post I will discuss some of my favorite cartoons episodes that (may) be feminist.
“Lisa Vs. Malibu Stacy” from “The Simpsons” (aired 1994) – Let’s start with a real classic, shall we? This is one of the very, very few episodes from “The Simpsons” which deals with gender, as well as one of the few which actually raises feminist issues. It starts with Lisa, the 8 year old daughter in the Simpson family, buying the newest talking Malibu Stacy doll (a fictional satirical doll based on “Barbie”). Excited, the young girl “gathers” all her other dolls to hear the astonishing first words of the talking Malibu Stacy… only to hear the doll say, “I wish they taught shopping in school”, followed by the doll claiming one should not ask her anything, she’s “just a girl”.
Lisa, disgusted at the sexist and demeaning message of her new doll, devotes herself to stop the production of such dolls. She visits the company to express her feelings, explicitly states to her friends that the things Malibu Stacy says are sexist, and tracks down the inventor of the original doll, Stacy Lowell (Voiced by the great Kathleen Turner). Together with Stacy, Lisa starts to make her own talking doll, hoping to make a more feminist toy for girls. The episode was a direct critic of Mattel’s Teen Talk Barbie, a toy that appeared in the 90’s, which was criticized for enforcing shameful stereotypes of women. However, “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy” can also be seen as an attack on dolls that are marketed to little girls on a whole. As Lisa points out in the episode, girls learn through such toys to be shallow and center their lives around looking pretty and landing a man. Lisa bravely fights for change, demanding a better role model for girls, advocating for women’s right and hoping to teach young girls to be more than empty vessels.
“Breast Cancer Show Ever” from “South Park” (aired 2008) – This episode is entirely about female empowerment, pure and simple. The plot centers 9-year old Wendy, who attempts to raise awareness of Breast Cancer by doing a presentation on the subject in class. She is rudely mocked and interrupted by her classmate Eric Cartman’s* sexist and taunting remarks. Wendy enraged by the callousness of Cartman to the plight of this disease (and its victims) challenges him to fight. This episode is a remarkable depiction of a strong girl standing up against, and calling out, sexism. Cartman is portrayed in this episode as a typical sexist bully: he acts tough and is a loud-mouth, but in actuality is a coward. Wendy is also shown to be quite alone in her battle against Cartman, with little sympathy from her parents (mostly due to Cartmans manipulation). But near the end, there is one adult woman who encourages Wendy to fight the “cancer”, giving a rarely shown positive portrayal of women supporting each other. Even in the fictional world of South Park, Sisterhood is powerful!
“The Story of Catcher Freeman” from “The Boondocks” (aired 2008) – I’ll be honest, this show wasn’t always positive in its portrayal of women. But this episode is one of the most critical attacks against male centrism and patriarchy that has been seen in recent years in Adult animations. The episode is a recounting of a tale from the family-tree about a “slave who struggles and fights” for Freedom. The story of Catcher Freeman takes place during 19 century, when slavery was in full play below the Mason-Dixon line and the protagonist of the tale is attempting to slip the bonds of slavery (or not?). While the tales spun by the ancestors to the “hero” describe Catcher as a strong, avenger of the wronged who is determined to the task of freeing all of his brothers-in- bondage (and who is recounted, at times, as being a animalistic hunter with super powers) the truth turns out to be that Thelma, the famous love interest of Catcher, was the real hero.
Thelma all by herself found the strength to fight back against the white slave owners after trying to escape. She kills two men who attempted to rape her, and in a final leap of courage and honor, returns to the plantation (she originally escaped from) to organize a rebellion among her brethrens to oppose the oppressors and she, ultimately, leads them in battle to freedom. Thelma is strong, smart and a highly skilled fighter. Yet even if she is the true hero, the male centric world, where men are the ones who dominate the dialogue of history, choose to portray Catcher as the hero, which is far from the truth and it unfairly excludes the women from history as well as the present day and the contemporary context.
I have written a longer post on the depiction of women in “The Boondocks”, which you can read here.
Cathcher Freeman, the fictional version
“Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset” from “South Park” (aired 2008) – This episode was produced when Paris Hilton was constantly in headlines and was a new idol to some young women. In this episode, Paris Hilton arrives in South Park, causing all the girls to become crazed with the idea of mindless shopping and pointless partying. Wendy is at first appalled at the girl’s behavior, believing they’re purposely killing their brains, but due to peer pressure goes to the notoriously masochistic gay man, as well as her teachers lover, Mr. Slave for advice. “Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset” has a bit of a nasty title, but the episode is an interesting critic of how society favors mean-spirited and shallow women, ignoring the intellectuals, as Wendy in the episode articulates. The writers of the episode show a concern that young women are given terrible role models who do nothing but party and rely on men to “buy them things”, while actually ambitious women are viewed as strange. Parker and Stone made clear in the episode that accomplishment, struggling with thought and self-awareness are to be considered the important, something which is ultimately devalued in our commodity and idol driven culture.
“A Leela Of Her Own” from “Futurama” (aired 2002) – Honestly, it’s hard to tell whether this episode is feminist or not. So I’ll just explain why I think it’s feminist.
The episode centers Leela, who after being spotted by a sports agent gets signed on to play Blurnsball, a fictional future sport similar to baseball. Leela is excited about being the first woman to play Blurnsball on a professional team, ignoring how she obviously got the job mostly for her utter lack of talent in the sport. She is used to make people laugh, since she always hits a person in the head with her bat instead of hitting the ball. As Leela grows in popularity, she comes to believe that she’s pioneer for women in sports, but Jackie Andersson, a female star in a college Blernsball team, approaches Leela to tell her she’s actually making it harder for female athletes, since Leela’s incompetence causes more sexism in the sports community. Leela is crushed by Jackie’s words and goes about, with a sudden insight into her position in the sport, trying to approve her skills. “A Leela of Her Own” deals with the fact that there are still a lot of communities where women are seen as inferior to men and it is considered a triumph if a woman, any woman, rises to the top of a field where men hold dominance.
However, it is not always that simple: what if that woman actually makes it even harder for women to join the overly male centric clubs?
Even if it is unfair that people group all women into one category – like people do with Leela and other female blurnsball players – it’s important to discuss whether some women actually reinforce certain stereotypes of women, such as them being dumb or weak, in fields where they are already highly discriminated against. (By the way- the episodes title is a reference to Penny Marshall’s awesome movie “A League of Their Own”, which centered the first professional Baseball League in the US. Worth checking out!)
Here where my personal favorite episodes with feminist themes. Hope you enjoyed my post!
*Eric Cartman often is the embodiment of the “incorrect”, mean-spirited, capitalistic (in the pure-greed sense), immoral, prejudiced, and un-self reflective person in the South Park meta-narrative (through all of the whole series)
Ruby Soup with Pearl Juice 
Drawing Gender – Hit and Miss Portrayals of Women in “The Boondocks”
“The Boondocks” was an animated television series that aired from 2005-2010. It ran for three seasons with the third and final season taking a full two years to complete. The show starred the unusual and charmingly abrasive Freeman family, which is composed of a grandfather and two grandchildren, all with extraordinarily strong characteristics, and all African-Americans. The main protagonist of the series, Huey Freeman, is a ten year old of Marxist inclination who attempts, always, a rational view of everything around him with a sharp economic/political and critical/analytical eye. The show, and most specifically the first season, centered around Huey’s criticism of US politics, evaluations of black culture, especially Rap, Hip Hop, and pop culture, and ferreting out the hidden racism in the culture around him. This was the shows high point; Huey’s thoughts and tragicomic reflections on his encounters with a” back-words society” (a backwards society based on a language of oppression) were witty and thought-provoking. “The Boondocks” first season, and the last five episodes of season two, really dared the viewer to confront their own ideas and prejudices. Huey Freeman as a character alone was a challenge, alone, in following his moving ideals and ethical values. The creator of the show, and majority writer of the episodes, Aaron McGruder, often used Huey as an alter-ego to represent his ideas and critiques.
The other main protagonists of the series were the eight year old Riley Freeman who represented the misguided direction of consumer-oriented and culturally controlled black youth. His arrogant admiration, near worshipping of mainstream popular Rap culture was a mainstay of the series. Riley’s penultimate dream is of one day becoming a real “Gangsta”, meaning a rich as hell, tough-guy criminal. McGruder uses Riley as a foil to talk about the pitfalls of a self-destructive and negating black culture for its young members, and is exactly the opposite of the Black Culture of Affirmation and Progression Huey typifies.
Robert Freeman is the somewhat neglecting Grandfather of the two young boys. He spends most of the show looking for a girlfriend, never really succeeding. He often is as misguided as Riley, even, at times, taking Riley’s bad advice instead of the sage admonishments of Huey. The boys, however, both express overt signs of affection towards Robert; even if it’s not quite clear, in turn, what he feels towards them.
“The Boondocks” plied a diverse field of themes from the Iraq War, to homophobia in Black culture, to mainstream capitalism. Sadly the final season lost the show’s original charm and political edge. Yet, even if the last bits were a letdown, there have been few gutsier attempts on TV.
Aaron McGruder
Even if I love this show, I have to admit that one thing that always bothered me was its portrayal of women. To be fair, McGruders representation of women wasn’t always bothersome. Before the TV-show, “The Boondocks” was a comic strip McGruder solely penned. The comic strip (whose characters and themes were explored, also, in the animated show) often featured strong, independent, secure and rational women. To point out how this divergence takes place between the mediums – in the strip series, Riley had a female teacher called Mrs. Petterson. She was a smart no-nonsense lady who treated Riley as an equal and no differently than the others in her predominately white class. Mrs. Peterson never was want to put up with his bad behavior and responded to it always with reserve and fairness. She was shown as a reasonable white person working within the school staff; while the principle and Huey’s teacher Mr. Petto were shown as soft-racists who couldn’t handle the idea of community with, teaching as equals, or even justly interacting with black students. Mrs. Peterson, however, gives little thought to Riley’s ethnicity and is concerned only with his behavior in the teaching environment.
Another example is the neighbor Sara, a white woman who is married to a black man. The couple are both lawyers who have a single, biracial child, Jazmine. Within the marriage, McGruder positions Sara as the reasonable one and somewhat more open minded than her spouse. Even when Huey tells fairy tales to her daughter with alternative and exaggerated social commentary, and in confronting inappropriate behavior in the School staff (in regard to ethnicity), Sara is shown as fundamentally open while simultaneously being socially and ethically unfaltering. McGruder has Sara even go as far as to vote for a third party in the US elections, something Huey expresses as a brave and radical thing to do. In the Strip, then, Sara represents all the characteristics of female pure awesomeness and empowerment!
Sara shows up in the Television show too, and this is where the problem begins.
As Sara in the comic strip was intelligent and strong, Sara in the television show was a painful thing to behold. The first episode of the animated series to delve into her personality was, “Tom, Sarah and Usher” (Ep. 2, s. 2), and portrayed her as an immature, giggling spouse who continually embarrasses her husband in public. When she meets the singer Usher in a restaurant, while she and her husband Tom are celebrating their anniversary, Sara starts to go “Fan-girl” on Usher, leaving her husband to sit alone at their dinner table. Another horrid example of this behavior McGruder gives her, in the animated series. Is from “It’s a Black president, Huey Freeman” where Sara acts hysterically and is consumed whole in the Frenzied Idol Worship of Barack Obama. McGruder turns Sara from one of the most fully expressed mature grownups in the Comic strip to a simpering and vacuous gender pacesetter in the animated series.
Other examples of poorly portrayed women McGruder proliferates within the animated series are Luna, a young black woman Robert dates. Luna typifies the stereotypical bitter woman who takes her disappointment from past relationships and embeds it in all the other relationships around her. Not being complete in herself as well, Luna is propelled to take bad advice from her “girlfriend” and apply it to her world and relations.
And, lastly, a predominantly large and obvious number of female side characters who meandered across the Boondocks Universe either were to be women marked as prostitutes or (music) video vixens.
Yet, luckily and in the end, Boondocks was too deliver one episode that made up – well, almost! – For these near misogynistic portrayals.
The second season featured an episode titled “The Story of Catcher Freeman”. This episode features three stories about a man named Catcher Freeman, and legendary ancestor in the Freeman family tree. While Robert and a (self-hating) black man named Ruckus tell the tale of Catcher Freeman as one of a tough, strapping, and ultimate masculine Hero, Huey discovers that the true hero of the Catcher Freeman chronicle was a woman of no small skills and spontaneous bravery named Thelma. In this episode McGruder shows us that even when women are the historical and human motivators of Action and Belief they get no credit and, indeed, become invisible to the world. McGruder also makes this episode an insightful mockery of men’s daydreams of always, and continually, being the Center of the World and the Creators of History.
Given this, it is obvious McGruder’s way of portraying women is erratic and problematic. At times his Gender politics is right on, while at other times his view of the female borders on misogyny.
Why is this the Case in Boondocks? Perhaps McGruder often becomes seduced, trapped and contained by certain clichés and stereotypes of women that exist inside a specific ideological location in the Black community (or even American community in general). There will always, and often, be a dangerous interplay between culturally ingrained ideas about gender and those which are rationally confronted by the individual. How this plays out in the secondary field of ethnicity is the problematic which McGruder confronts in the Animated Series and where this gender vision comes out as lacking verses the Comic Strip which comes through with flying colors in regard to gender and the ethnicity of the characters.
“The Boondocks” as a whole is an extremely impressive and important show. The first season was totally unapologetic in its social commentary and the animation was brilliant and unique (highly informed by anime). The second season has its moments of flight and whimsy as well, with the highlight of “The Story of Catcher Freeman”. “The Boondocks” is historically important as it is one of the first (PJ’s by Eddie Murphy being the first) and undoubtedly the best televised animation centered on African-American experiences and has a critical and analytical view of this culture.