"Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen
to create the perfect little girls, but Professor Utonium accidentally
added an extra ingredient to the concoction -- Chemical X! Thus the
Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra-superpowers, Blossom,
Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and
the forces of evil!"
As I was thinking about what to write about for my blog, this is what my mind stumbled across-- The Powerpuff Girls! As one of my favorite shows when I was eight years old, I used to watch it with my siblings everyday during lunch. It never occurred to me, until last week in class that is, how strongly feminism is portrayed in such a child-like cartoon. The heroes, for one, are three kindergarten girls with enough superpowers to take out batman, superman, and spider-man combined (at least I'm assuming they'd be able to). They are also extremely feminine in attire and personalities. They wear dresses, pantyhose, black Mary Janes, one of them has a red bow in her hair, and they all have high-pitched girlie voices with huge adorable eyes. These three girls have caught the attention of many third-wave feminists with their ability to kick butt and save the day without demeaning their femininity. As we discussed in class, our third-wave generation today is all about social change in general towards equality and that it's more individual than institutional. The Powerpuff Girls encompass this idea, empowering girls to see that we are capable of doing anything boys can and that we deserve equal respect for our achievements. In class we learned about the different types of feminists and I believe the cultural feminist would be the perfect portrayal of what the Powerpuff Girls depict. The show is stating that you don't have to be masculine to save the world and it promotes femininity without being devalued. One episode I remember talks explicitly about the issue of feminism and portrays an overly radical feminist villain, Femme Fatale. She wears the female symbol all over her outfit as her suit, mask, and weapon are all shaped like it. She robs multiple stores and only steals Susan B. Anthony coins while
ranting about how "there's not a man alive who can stop me". While attempting to avoid going to jail, she tries convincing the Powerpuff Girls that men are taking advantage of them and that she's the only remaining female villain so "us girls have to look out for each other". In the end though, the girls learn that feminism doesn't call for special treatment, but equal treatment and they take Femme Fatale to jail. It's not the absolute best lesson in feminism, but for a children's cartoon it does a pretty good job. In the end, it even explains a brief history about Susan B. Anthony and her contributions towards women's rights.
All in all, I think this is a perfect cartoon that demonstrates some of what we're learning in class with feminism. In one of the articles I read (Powerpuff Girls meet world) I discovered that the creator of the show never intended it to have a feminist view, but he acknowledges how it relates to the ideals of a cultural feminist as I explained earlier:
" 'There's this new feminism that's coming up that's embracing things that
are typically girlish, and not saying, "Oh, in order to be a feminist
you have to denounce all of that pink stuff and baby Ts". You can have all those things and be sexy and be
feminine and be typically girlish and still be a feminist.' "- Craig McCracken
When I watched the "Powerpuff Girls" as a kid, I never examined them as feminists children. It is interesting to look back and reflect on the series now as an adult because I can see the underlying messages the show sends. The girls really do just act like kids, instead of girls or boys, just as the creator said in the "Powerpuff Girls Meet World" article described. They do not care if they get in fights on the playground, and yet they can color or play dolls with the best. When I think about it, "Powerpuff Girls" reminds me of one of my other favorite shows as a child, "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers." The yellow and the pink rangers have a little sugar and spice, but they can also kick butt right alongside the male rangers. Another show that comes to mind is "Sailor Moon" (which some may not be familiar with), but the basic premise is that a group of girls lead double lives as students and heroes. Granted, the show is much more girly since their hair and makeup change and nails get longer, but they still fight as well as boys. I loved all of these shows as a kid, and now I'm starting to think that they are part of the reason I have the courage and strength to believe I can accomplish anything.
When I watched the "Powerpuff Girls" as a kid, I never examined them as feminists children. It is interesting to look back and reflect on the series now as an adult because I can see the underlying messages the show sends. The girls really do just act like kids, instead of girls or boys, just as the creator said in the "Powerpuff Girls Meet World" article described. They do not care if they get in fights on the playground, and yet they can color or play dolls with the best. When I think about it, "Powerpuff Girls" reminds me of one of my other favorite shows as a child, "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers." The yellow and the pink rangers have a little sugar and spice, but they can also kick butt right alongside the male rangers. Another show that comes to mind is "Sailor Moon" (which some may not be familiar with), but the basic premise is that a group of girls lead double lives as students and heroes. Granted, the show is much more girly since their hair and makeup change and nails get longer, but they still fight as well as boys. I loved all of these shows as a kid, and now I'm starting to think that they are part of the reason I have the courage and strength to believe I can accomplish anything.
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