A lot of kids movies/tv perpetuate harmful gender roles. The obvious culprit is Disney - and the ‘a woman’s role is to get married’ storylines. Even the later Disney movies seem to be embracing the message even while appearing to refute it.
But it’s larger than that. All the instances where a female character is only in a supporting role, or female characters have certain traits (empathy) but lack other traits (aggressiveness). Doing a gender swap and seeing the differences in how characters are portrayed has helped me see the double standards.
I’ve become more sensitive to this as I’m screening media for my young girls to watch.
A couple of the media that I’ve seen are the g rated Ghibli movies - Totoro and Kiki’s shows young girls that are independent, aggressive, courageous, and go through problems and overcome them.
I’m looking for some more examples of movies - g rated especially - in that vein.
You included a lot of the Disney/Pixar I would have suggested but OP had said they weren’t too keen on Disney. I feel the ones you listed do have healthy gender representation, so I’m glad you included them.
Suggestion, maybe start them on Melanie Martinez. She is a pop star who talks about societal roles, gender roles and more within her songs. Then if you have any young teen kids. Maybe Heartstopper which shows a wide spectrum of relationships and shows change is ok. Then Ark: The animated series or for older teens Young Royals and possibly Red, White and Royal Blue!!!
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We’re fans of the Ghibli movies for our 5 year old as well. Others we’ve liked include:
Sing (1&2)
Secret lives of pets (1&2)
Storks
Elemental
Inside out (haven’t seen the new one yet)
Book of Life
Moana
Encanto
Tv shows:
Bluey
Spirit: Riding Free
You included a lot of the Disney/Pixar I would have suggested but OP had said they weren’t too keen on Disney. I feel the ones you listed do have healthy gender representation, so I’m glad you included them.
That’s fair. I listed them mostly to hopefully illustrate that there are at least some from Disney/Pixar that are worth watching in this context.
Cheers!
Suggestion, maybe start them on Melanie Martinez. She is a pop star who talks about societal roles, gender roles and more within her songs. Then if you have any young teen kids. Maybe Heartstopper which shows a wide spectrum of relationships and shows change is ok. Then Ark: The animated series or for older teens Young Royals and possibly Red, White and Royal Blue!!!
Movies:
Trolls
We Can Be Heroes
Home
My Little Pony: A New Generation
Spy Kids
TV Shows:
Gabby’s Dollhouse
Star Trek: Prodigy
True and the Rainbow Kingdom
Puffin Rock
Spirit
Dragons Rescue Riders
She-Ra
Starbeam
Supa Team 4
You can’t have a list of kids TV shows without Bluey. Come on.
I haven’t watched it enough to know if it has healthy portrayal of gender.
Oh, it does.
It’s perhaps been a bit heteronormative so far, but the characters aren’t restrained to “traditional” gender roles.
Ghibli’s great, but skip Grave of the Fireflies. That one is depressing. Also avoid Ocean Waves, it’s got emotional abuse that just gets glossed over.