Reading the first post about it made me skeptical, which I usually am when it comes to supposedly "gender-bending" shows/movies etc. But I watched the first episode and actually think its pretty good. I like that he starts off as kind of like this stereotypical boy who thinks skateboarding/sports is for boys, while house/domestic tasks are for girls...but he changes pretty quickly. At first he seems pissed off about turning into Shezow, but by the end of the episode he's actually starting to like it. I feel like as the show goes on it's going to become more and more normal to him and not as "sensational" because it'll be apart of the normal pace of the show. I also feel like this is gonna differ from other instances of "gender-bending" in cartoons because he's pretty much made permanently into Shezow. It's not something he can change, and it's an actual part of the show and its concept instead of being one instance in an episode or a single episode. And in the beginning its played off as "comical" (in the same way "gender-bending" usually is made comical in the media), but even by the end of the episode it becomes more a part of the pace of the show than something merely for comedy's sake.
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Originally Posted by Bad_boi
I watched the first episode of it and I don't really see the problem with him being unhappy/shocked at first. I think that would be a normal reaction really. As a trans person I guess I see it differently. Often trans people are unhappy about being trans and try to repress it before the accept it. I think the character will learn to accept his role as a female hero. He does seem exited when he gets the pink car and at the end of the episode he even smiles about being shezow.
The only thing I didn't like was everything was plastered with pink. This bugs me because I kind of hate the way pink is used to tell girls "its pink so its for you".
This is the first episode if you care to check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K3z-CRNi-E |
I think the only reason some might see it as a "normal" reaction because society sees it as degrading to be a girl. I think that's the reason why the show does it, tbh. It's playing up the stereotypical male reaction to anything female-related, which is to see it as a negative or lesser than or "not for boys." Yet for him, he's still Guy/a guy but inherits his great aunt's superhero abilities and costume that happens to come in a feminine form. It kind of takes the whole idea of a superhero and turns it on its head, and takes a shot at society's negative valuing of female/feminine roles. For me I'm not really seeing this as specifically a trans thing or even the intent behind.
I think the link that Allison W explained it really well, and is so true when you think about female superheroes. I think the show's aim really is more toward negative valuing of female/femininity and the idea that you can't be a superhero and be female or feminine without being attached to a male or masculine superhero. For Guy being given a feminine costume/appearance isn't, in the end, negative, but actually the source of his power. I dunno, I think it's pretty cool.