Kids TV

            This afternoon, I watched two children's television shows. I watched Scooby-Doo on the Cartoon Network, and Arthur on PBS. After carefully reviewing these shows, it's quite funny when you really notice the stereotypes that are exposed in cartoons. For example, in Scooby-Doo, the first thing that you notice immediately is the way the women characters are dressed. Daphne, is supposed to be the more attractive girl on the show and in this particular episode she was wearing a bikini with a sarong tied around her waist. Her stomach was flat, and she had long, flowing red hair. On the other hand, Velma, was intended to be more smart than beautiful. Therefore she wears a long sleeved shirt although it's depicted on a beach, thick glasses and a skirt with bobby socks. Her hair is not styled very pretty, it looks as if it was cut with a bowl on top of her head. These girls are always in the same predicaments no matter what episode you watch; Daphne is always the damsel in distress, and Velma says "Jinkies" and comes up with a clever solution for the crime committed. The males in the cartoon are also stereotyped as well. Fred, the so-called leader of the bunch, is a blonde haired muscular guy who always has to "save" Daphne. He commands the team with his Velma-inspired knowledge, and he always splits them with himself and the two girls while Shaggy and the Scooby the dog must venture off alone. Shaggy is considered the grungy type who does not be eat, sleep, and stay horrified of everything and anything that comes toward him. He's quite unkempt, and he cares for Scooby-Doo, his dog. Overall, they use their skills or in the case of Scooby-Doo and Shaggy lack thereof to solve mysteries. 95% of the time Velma solves the mystery, and everyone puts in their $.02 to help her theory out. It's a cute show, but now that I"m an adult I find it to be very elementary.
             PBS" show Arthur, is in fact very different from Scooby-Doo.