This is reason enough for us to consider the effect that heroes and villains play in the formation of our systems of gender. That said, over time the details of our memories of what we watched as children fade but what remains are the relations they instill in us. Even if I pose the question later in the day, they frequently have a vivid recall for details of what they watched. While listening in on my partner's five and eight year old watching shows on Netflix, I find myself asking what they are watching. "People will forget what you said," said Maya Angelou, "but people will never forget how you made them feel." This often repeated quote seems to be extra true for children's television. Finally, I look to Buzzfeed's reasons that "The Powerpuff Girls Could Have Replaced Your Gender Studies Class," in order to demonstrate that this anxiety and debate are integral to how Him in particular and the show in general use conflict to produce new modes of gendered embodiment. Next, I take issue with feminisms that structure themselves according to progressive politics that seeks out controversy in hopes of winning one last battle that will put the dialectics of gender to rest. In fact, I begin by exploring and defending the use of Him to produce anxiety and fear as a useful means through which the expected is overturned and foreclosed possibilities are shocked open. "There's No One Perfect Girl: Third Wave Feminism and the Powerpuff Girls"). Towards this end, I follow Evie Kendral's argument that what makes Him so evil is that he disturbs the homogeny of the shows "third wave feminism," while taking issue that the goal of either the show or gender politics is stability, where " the bonds of sisterhood supersede any other consideration. In this blog post, I look at three viewer responses to Him in order to trace how transgender functions on Powerpuff Girls not merely as a figure of representation but as a narrative device that uses Fear, Controversy, and Creativity to produce new forms of gender through story's interactions with Him. In this way, rather than being merely a villain counter-point to the PPGs, Him expresses an integral transgender feminism that invokes the multiplicity and creative possibilities for gender. Claus, a dominatrix, and a ballerina, if Him is the devil, than he traces from the same genealogy of sugar, spice and everything nice (plus some secret ingredient) that the Girls do. A totally awesome (and marvellously camp) outfit, if I say so myself." ( Top 11 Lists, "'Him' From the Powerpuff Girls"). " When not bathing," writes one blogger, "he usually wears a pink neck frill, a pink tutu, long black boots, a purple shirt and a large black belt. Likewise, his clothes signify beyond easily legible codes of gender. This so-called confusion erupts from discord between high-toned male voice which echoes over itself, as though existing in a state of flux and multiplicity that will not settle into a univocal chord. Although "his name strongly suggests that he is male," admits the Powerpuff Girl wiki, " His gender is often something of confusion, as his voice, clothes, and mannerisms often contradict each other" (, "Him"). This character disturbs expectations by not allowing the girls or the viewer to feel safe in their skin. Among the enemies that the show's heroines, Blossom (the sugary one), Buttercup (the spicy one), and Bubbles (the nice one), must use their Chemical X fueled girl power to fight is the suggestively named "Him." Named the most terrifying of the PPG's enemies, "powerful, red-skinned, and demon-like," in many respects, show creators and viewers admit is not so simply the devil (, "Him"). What makes a girl? According to Powerpuff Girls it takes "Sugar, Spice, Everything Nice" and the secret ingredient, "Chemical X." With this final unknown kernel, the show veers away from normative expectations of womanhood to open onto a super-powered and diversely gendered world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |