Who Do We Privilege?

Much of children's cultural socialization comes from television shows, most notably cartoons. The creators of these shows, presumably without realizing it, impart their own values and opinions of the world to the children that consume the shows by the manifestation of their beliefs in the events of the episodes.

One of the many children's cartoons that we have here in the United States is called The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. This show follows the lives of two children, Billy and Mandy, after they become friends with the Grim Reaper by winning a game of limbo against him. In spite of its fanciful premise, this cartoon has nevertheless proven to be a good sample of how we as a culture privilege certain groups over others.

Race/Nationality/English-Speaking: First and foremost, the majority of the characters in the television show are white, or are at least drawn with a light skin tone which presumably means that we are supposed to view them as white/European. Both of the main characters are white and all of the side and background characters are as well. Irwin--Billy and Mandy's African-American friend--and his family are the only characters of color that are featured on a recurring basis in the television show. This indicates to children that are watching the television show that white people are always supposed to be in the majority and that they are "normal," while people of color are an exception to the general rule. The notable exception to this is the fact that The Grim Reaper (called Grim for short), another main character, speaks with a Jamaican accent. The fact that this is presumably supposed to be funny to the audience indicates to children that people who don't speak flawless or non-accented English are somehow supposed to be considered funny and/or are not to be taken seriously.

Mental Illness and Capability: One of the prominent features of the show is the juxtaposition between the two main characters, Billy and Mandy. Mandy seems to enjoy schoolwork, and she is generally quiet. She also seems constantly frustrated with others and generally bored and uninterested in whatever is happening to or around her. Billy, on the other hand, is loud and energetic, and seems to find fun in everything that he does. In short, the creators of the show intended for Mandy to be "smart" and for Billy to be "not smart." Billy, coincidentally, is the brunt of many jokes. Mandy is constantly exasperated with his failure to understand what she is saying. Furthermore, Billy also has difficulty pronouncing certain words in the way that is commonly expected and has trouble reading situations/empathizing with others. Also coincidentally, all of these characteristics of Billy's are things are loosely similar to symptoms of various mental illnesses, such as ADHD and autism. In this way, the creators of the show are privileging people who do not have mental illness by making a character that is the brunt of many jokes one who exhibits the traits of a mentally ill person. This encourages the societal stigma against mentally ill people.

Gender, Sexuality, and Gender Roles: There are several instances in the segment of the show that I watched alone in which characters that break gender roles are stigmatized, thereby privileging people that do conform to gender roles. At one point, Grim discovers a bra in Billy's room. Billy yells, "I can explain!" This could have meant one of two things. Firstly, it could have been meant to indicate that Billy had some sort of involvement with a girl. By suggesting that a young boy is already having relations with a girl forcibly reasserts the character's heterosexuality and aggressively establishes heterosexuality as the privileged norm. Secondly, the joke could have been that Billy himself was wearing the bra in secret, and was surprised and ashamed that Grim found it in his room. By presenting this idea of a boy or a masculine person exhibiting feminine behavior as a joke/something that the person participating in the behavior would want to hide, children are made to believe that that is a funny thing at best and a bad thing at worst. This is, among other things, generally transphobic and privileges cisgender/gender conforming people. In addition, male characters that are supposed to be the brunt of jokes generally have more feminine characteristics, such as a high voice or the tendency to exhibit emotional vulnerability. Finally, the girls at Billy and Mandy's school who are mean to Mandy fulfill an extremely feminine stereotype. They seem brighter and more outgoing than Mandy, have higher voices, say the word "like" a lot, and enjoy femininity more than Mandy seems to. In this way, the show privileges masculinity by associating femininity with negativity and pettiness.