Often “dad’s plague” or “love interest”, are girls the unloved of cartoons? What vision of society are offered to young children through these images? In recent years, the question of gender has come to be added to that of social representations in the production of animated series. For two specialists on the subject, interviewed by 20 minutesFrench achievements are still too cautious on the subject, compared to their Anglo-Saxon counterparts.
And the observation is particularly true for the series reserved for toddlers, between 3 and 6 years old. In his book, Liberated, delivered? (edited by INA), published in 2020, media sociologist Mélanie Lallet assures us that the younger the audience, the more simplistic and conservative the discourse is. “There is an imperative of protection for toddlers, to the point that almost no one imagines bringing complexity into social relationships”, underlines the author.
“The weight of society plays an important role in this conservatism”
Especially since the stereotypical vision of the family works perfectly, as evidenced by the series Little Brown bear, in which the mother is devoted to interior tasks and in which the boy and the girl are very differentiated. And the YouTube channel devoted to this famous bear family has just exceeded one million subscribers. “The audience targets of the TV channels and the weight of society play an important role in this conservatism, observes Mélanie Lallet. The 3-6 year olds are also an age group somewhat despised by animation professionals, hence the lack of debate on the subject. »
HAS on the contrary, some Anglo-Saxon series do not hesitate to take the opposite view of this “normality”. In 2020, Disney Channel launched a series Luz in Osville in which the heroine was openly bisexual. A small revolution, especially at Disney. “The Anglo-Saxon countries are generally more progressive than us and leave more freedom to producers. Their series also more easily show characters with disabilities or single-parent families, ”says Claire Lefranc, production manager in cartoons and co-founder of the Intervalsan association that fights against discrimination on the screen.
The Australian Series Bluey, for example, does not hesitate to demolish stereotypes about the family by featuring two little heroines (Australian Shepherd dogs) escaping gender representations, whether by their clothes or their behavior. And history often has fun bludgeoning clichés about the roles of each in the family.
Understand that the character is a girl
These shots, however, still feed too much certain series, according to Claire Lefranc. “The most striking examples are when mum doesn’t know how to drive, wears an apron and spends her time in the kitchen. While dad does DIY and reads the newspaper in his armchair,” she points out, regretting that “these sometimes caricatural representations are not a concern for broadcasters.” And if we take a closer look, certain prejudices are sometimes more discreet. “In almost all French production, the girl must always be clearly identified. This is a request from producers and TV channels, ”she laments.
And to provide some examples: “In gigantosaurus where the heroes are dinosaurs, the female character has pink colors. Same in paw patrol, the female character is quickly spotted by her pink or purple outfit and her flirtatious hairstyle. In Mike, a dog’s life, the female adopts a look that no longer resembles that of a dog. »
The application of gender norms to animals can go very far. Until imagining breasts to a female kangaroo in Micmac Tarmac, a 2009 series. “When a series is offered, the broadcasting channel has the right to look at the graphic style of the characters, explains Claire Lefranc. For broadcasters, the viewer must immediately understand that such a character is a girl. However, there is not the same preoccupation with the boy characters. »
“The number of female characters today reaches 30 to 40%”
The change, it would not be yet for now? “There have been a few developments, admits Mélanie Lallet. In particular on the number of female characters which today reaches 30 to 40%, but for toddlers, it is always the pattern of a boy, a girl, the father, the mother. Therefore, we must be wary of purely quantitative statistics. “Sexist prejudices sometimes hide in the details,” remarks Claire Lefranc again. If there is a girl in a group, whom I call ”the Smurfette”, it is often a character who has no particular character. She is THE girl, who can sometimes even become a simple trophy for the boys. »
Problem when neuroscience teaches us that a child is in full construction of his identity at this time. “Broadcasters have a responsibility when they show a stereotypical image of society, worries our expert. In any case, it does not help to form a tolerant idea of gender representation. A boy can conform to many different patterns. There are less for girls. »
The taboo of homosexuality
Then remains the French series The Adventures of Lupin which thus allows its hero, a little wolf, to sometimes turn into a girl to take his place in an initiatory story. Or the 1960s series Good night kids and its famous teddy bear. “The two children share the same activities and, in one episode, even exchange their clothes to cross-dress,” says Mélanie Lallet. At the time, that was no problem. » The series in 16 episodes Owl, not owldesigned by the Center for Media and Information Literacy (Clemi) even aims squarely at deconstructing sexist stereotypes using humor.
This initiative of the Ministry of National Education does not remove the tensions that may have arisen in the 2010s around gender theory with, in the background, the taboo of homosexuality. “We have to wait for breaches to open up in the United States. If it works, French broadcasters will follow, ”says Mélanie Lallet. And to evoke an episode of miraculous ladybug which is a hit on TF1 with a target audience a little older than 3-6 year olds: “a character makes his mark there coming out and it didn’t make as much hay as the series Ridley Jones on Netflix in which a bison presented as non-binary. »
Society evolves. And identification with an imaginary character in no way predicts the future of a child. “I imagined myself being Batman when I was little because I had very few female role models,” admits Claire Lefranc. And Mélanie Lallet’s childhood hero was Little Brown bear “That didn’t stop me from becoming a sociologist and a feminist. »