I've been writing so many essays lately that I just can't stop! Help!

[holytoastr]

I think I shoudl ahve clarified my position on why I like shoujo. Sure, I'm probably going to cause more trouble, I it's on my mind and if I don't write it down it's going to eat a hole through my head.

The emphasis isn't just girl power. What is really important as I see it is that the cartoons are FOR GIRLS.

In the 80s, there were so many cartoons for girls. They may not have been the highest quality, or had the greatest of plots, but they were ours. There was the idea that girls were special.

When the girl cartoons of the 80s dried up, they never came back. Other girls had stopped watching cartoons by tyhen, so they may not ahve noticed, but I had never stopped. I noticed.

I think what bothers me most about the lack of female-oriented cartoons is the message that society is placing on girls. It's a dominant ideology that says, girls are not important enough to waste effort on.

Looking at the media we can see it is entirely profit-based. Corporations do not see girls as a high-profit audience. They learned that girls will watch a boys show more often than a boy will watch a girl show. Wonder why the Powerpuff Girls Movie flopped? I think it's because the boys who watched the show at home did not want to be seen in public going to a girls movie.

The corporations can make a larger profit on a show that both girls and boys will watch rather than one in which only girls will watch. When looking at it only economically, this can make sense. However, it also effects our culture. It reinforces to belief that boys are worth more than girls.

So, for me, the content of shoujo rarely matters. It's the fact that there is something there that targets girls. It can be exploitive, but when looking at hegemonic ideals being presented it can give a sense of worth.

Did I amke more sense that time? I hope so. Maybe I'm just a bitter little girl who refuses to grow up. Don't get me started on the lack of an Eowyn action figure..... ^^;

Comments

[zorikin.livejournal.com]

Is there room for an american animated romance series between "X-Men: Evolution" and "Ed, Edd, n' Eddy"?

[holytoastr.livejournal.com]

The media corporations don't seem to think so. But I would watch it.

[skwerlie.livejournal.com]

I have noticed this too... you're not alone! Whenever I watch Saturday morning cartoons now, I lament the passing of girl-cartoons. She-Ra, Jem and the Holograms... even (I hated this show) Maxi's World (I think this is what it was called?) Sure, a lot of girly cartoons focus on makeup and shiny hearts and whatnot, but those are the things a lot of little girls are nterested in. Honestly, regardless of the societal beauty standards, etc etc, little girls want to look like their moms and older sisters (i.e. grown-up) at a certain age. If you watch anime, you'll notice that a lot of the girls are really young (Sailor Moon is 14, Chibimoon is.. what, 7 in the anime?) but they look (and often act) like they're about 19. 17 year old characters in anime look about 25. It's the sort of perspective little girls have on the world... remember when you thought your 16 year old babysitter was all old and grown up?

Blah, I think this got off course. But when I watch cartoons now, sure I may enjoy Yu Gi Oh! and X-Men Evolution, btu I am also sad that the oly thing approaching a girl cartoon on the WB in years has been "Cardcaptors". "Cardcaptors", which was taken from what would probably serve as a definition for shoujo anime, and which had episodes and scenes hacked and changed to make it more boy-centric. How about Escaflowne? They changed the main character rfom Hitomi to Van, and cut out her romantic ponderings on Van and Allen... which made up a good half of the series. No wonder the thing made little to no sense in the dub version.

I find it frustrating that there isn't even some kind of channel equivalent fo "Oxygen" or "Lifetime" that airs some gold girly cartoons... or at least if there are, I don't know about them. Even the old live action stuff from the 80s and early 90s... The Adventures of Alex Mack, which I may have the name of wrong... argh. I'm babbling here.

Point: US TV used to have a lot of shows that girls watched, that were focused on girls. Now, marketeing is done towards boys, and girls just get to have fun with whatever boy shows they like, and are not focused on for their own girly merits. Girls are a secondary market. Grr.

[holytoastr.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right! I'm glad I'm not alone in this!

I don't think these guys realize how girls are being treated by american media.

[justdandy.livejournal.com]

i think the sort of anime we watched on monday night was not at all targeted at a female audience. the sex appeal of young girls in short skirts, battling tentacle monsters no less, was just way too gratuitous. my problem with this sort of "positive portrayal" of gender roles is the same problem i have with most feminist dogma: gender should be purely coincidental, not tantamount to, the characterization of a person. i think that shows like haibane and, to a lesser extent, ghost in the shell, are the archetype of girl empowerment for the very reason that they overlook gender in favor of actually developing interesting female characters who are not stereotype cardboard cutouts obsessed with shopping and drooling over some nonthreatening, effete girly-boy.

i'm not trying to say that you're wrong for liking this stuff, and i feel bad for making fun of the contribution you made to anime night, because some of it was very entertaining. obviously, if i had a real problem with it, i'd either bring in my own anime, not come, or shut my big mouth. i'm just very vocal with my misogynistic opinions; however, they are in no way an attack on you or your personal tastes ;)

... and billy's just a jerk to everybody, so don't take him seriously, either.

peace,
maryana