This Post Whomps

This weekend I've come down with a flu (most likely not of the swine variety, but nonetheless annoying) and have spent a lot of time on youtube as a result. When I'm sick I like to curl up with a bowl of soup, a box of tissues, and some of my favorite old Saturday morning cartoons. I've also recently finished a paper in which I examined the gender portrayals in some of my old favorites, like Recess, Pepper Ann, Doug, and Pokemon. This weekend I've just been watching as many Recess episodes as I can stay awake for, and just honestly wanted to share how much of a great show I think this is for children to be influenced by. I'm horribly biased, so probably if you aren't already a fan or at least aren't against Recess for some reason or other, you'll find very little of interest in this post. But if you've never heard of Recess (gasp!) do some youtubing and join fifth-grade me in giddy, if fever-induced, joy.

So first things first, I love T.J. Detweiler. Not in the weird, college-girl-in-love-with-an-animated-10-year-old way that it sounds. Which is how it sounds. No, I just love a character that I don't have to hate. See, most shows that I watch are made for people who don't consider coloring to be a worldly skill and so are full of characters that have moral issues they must overcome, who sometimes don't do the right thing even if they know what the right thing is, and who make bad decisions on a regular basis. Most of the characters I like, I like despite something, and that's usually the realism that I praise in shows. But it's so nice to watch a character who always knows what's right and fights for it no matter the odds. I want to give speeches that can convince anyone to do the right thing. I want to convince all kids of the playground to work together against the tyranny of rules and adulthood. I want to be T.J. Detweiler when I grow up.

The other (one other among many) reason that I love Recess is that it lets the girls play too. On Recess there are a lot of weird stereotypes of people (the snitch, the kindergartners, the bullies, the pale kids) but there are very few gender biases. Spinelli and Gretchen get to play sports and solve mysteries just as much as the other four boys in their gang do.

So, if you've stuck with my feverish rantings to this point, the main argument I'm making is to make a little time in your adult schedule for a 90's classic that gives me a little hope that Disney has made some headway over the years. Cheers, wishing Recess and cough syrup to all.