It Makes Me Mad When....

Uh... because it happens? I've had that happen to me; hangin' out with my guy friends, they make some comment about me not being able to do something in some sport or another (all in good fun of course, wouldn't hang out with 'em otherwise) I do it - and do it better than them. And there's a general sensed of pwnedness. XD

I agree it's an oft overused gag though.
 
What about when female characters-in both live action and animation-cause bodily harm to there male counterparts-such as punching, kicking, slapping, etc. [a Family Guy episode, where Stewie took steroids given to him by Peter, causing Lois to hit Peter comes to mind] and get away with it, yet if it were the other way around-and this is live action, not to veer off-topic-it is the subject of a Lifetime-where men are scum-TV-movie? I've been bothered by that.
 
Haven't women had, like, literally thousands of years worth of stereotyping and sexism against them? I don't think I'll begrudge them a few jokes about guys not being able to open pickle jars.:shrug:

I see where you're coming from, GWOtaku, and I agree 100%, but I don't think that was the idea nehind this thread. Look at the specifically sited example: Shego and Dr. Drakken. Those characters are hardly flat or two-dimensional, and the fact that they got mentioned makes me think that the OP is just against women characters being stronger than male ones.

@ Bartwinkle; eh. It really, really, depends. The thing about most situations like that is just that you don't like to see anyone weaker getting hit by someone stronger. If Drakken punched Shego or Billy hit Mandy, I don't think I'd really care. But I wouldn't want to see Homer beating up Marge.
 
Basically this. Angry isn't the word to use, I mean it's not like men faced years of discrimination based on gender and fought for their rights.

The fact is, men aren't stupid. They aren't trying to say that. The basic idea is that being sexist IS considerably ignorant, which is why it's written to make them look bad.
 
I agree with the thread starter. Overt male-bashing is way to common in popular fiction (not just cartoons) these days. And nothing but bad things come out of it., specifically when it is fiction aimed at children. I remember how grumpy i used to get when i was about 5-years old and watched the 80's version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, where whenever a "boys vs girls" scenario showed up (and it did very often) the girls always won. So just going by my own experience, little boys can indeed get upset about that kind of thing, and even feel something of a resentment towards girls because of it. And you dont have to be a sociologist to understand that anything that makes children of one gender feel resentment towards the opposite gender is not a good thing. And of course, it is just as bad when the scenario is the opposite, that is, when boys are constantly portrayed as being superior to girls.

The whole idea of explicitly dividing people by gender and pitting them against each other sends a terrible message to children. Basically a similar kind of message that a kids shows were white people constantly got into conflicts with black people would send.
 
cartoonscartoons said:
I think that over the month or so since it was started you've forgotten your original post. The scenario you set out was that the boys are saying girls can't do something and then the girls do it and make the boys look foolish. That doesn't imply the girls are superior to the boys, just that they aren't inferior. Again, I see nothing wrong with this.
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The way i see it the only true path to true equality is if boys can hit girls on tv and get away with it. It would finally show that true equality existed, because atm there seems to be a feminine backlash against male oppression for thousands of years, but certainly no signs of equality. if girls can hit boys then i say vice versa is also true, and i think it's unfair women can punch men but men can't punch women on tv.
 
I agree with the initial post. Women were treated very differently than men were for centuries, and still to this day are seen as the "weaker sex". The scenario that you mentioned, cartoonscartoons, has suffered so much overkill in the last few decades. It's incredibly annoying.

I'm not saying that women should still be seen as the housekeepers in today's cartoons; I just don't think that we should continue to see women outdoing men all of the time just to make a point.
 
My only problem is when a male character turns into a sexist just for that episode only just to make that point, when before that he was perfectly normal and respectful towards women. It's a little frustrating, the equivalent of arbitrarily turning the main character into a neo-Nazi just so that they can "learn" that Neo-Nazism is wrong.

There are plenty of subtle ways to convey this theme without being heavy-handed and lazy, and while it's fine in cartoons aimed at little children (where you really want to hammer the point in) for cartoons aimed at teens and shows in general aimed at adults, writers should be free to finesse in those messages as a natural part of the fictional world instead of as a lecture.
 
For my part, I find it tedious in the extreme. The jerk boyfriend/brother/husband has been so overdone by now. The only way I forgive it is if the jerkiness is tempered by moments of real nobility, a la Homer Simpson and Fry (Futurama), and if the jerkiness mainly backfires on the jerk rather than the innocents around him.

OH, and if it's funny. But in cases as per the above, funny can be highly subjective...
 
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