Gender & Cartoons

What do you think of the modern representation of gender in cartoons Sup Forums? Is it an area worth of being researched and academically discussed?

No

Why not?

I mean possibly, gender roles have always been defined by culture and cartoons are certainly a building a block of culture that everyone can relate to. You can ask anyone today and they'll probably recall waking up early saturday morning to watch something.
>inb4 'get out tumblr' I'm referring to the original definition of gender roles, not the special snowflake variant. The one that represents how the different sexes interact in todays climate.

>cartoons are certainly a building a block of culture
Cartoons are a reflection of culture, not a component of it. They are shaped by the preferences and economics of the times in which they exist.

Nostalgia is unrelated to this.

People have always been interested in the sociological effects that exposure to the media has on children; since children are impressionable and experiencing these ideas during their formative years will have an affect on their attitudes during their adult lives.

tl;dr Yes, as a study of popculture and how it will affect the next generation.

>implying the OP isn't talking about early age baby shows, which is the only time cartoons have a genuine impact on kids these days
>implying most kids don't just play vidya as soon as they can so they're not stuck watching baby shit like cartoons
>implying said vidya isn't just the hyper competitive masculine retreat for young boys that cartoons don't provide anymore
>implying girls don't just stop watching cartoons in favor of shoujo anime and visual novels, maybe some rpgs and puzzle games

literally as irrelevant as could be.

I only meant to bring up nostalgia in the sense that everyone can remember cartoons. In this way they can be considered as something of a cultural touchstone that you can look at.
I didn't mean to indicate that cartoons make the culture either, but since the op wanted to talk about research it would make sense to use something that mirrors culture.

Okay but has there ever been a study determining how much influence cartoons have in children's development in the first place?

Nah

Also nah. Anything that is a product of culture possesses the potential to become more culture.

This.
Overwatch is more relevant to children than literally any cartoon right now.
fucking undertale is more relevant to children than cartoons. dota 2 is more relevant to children, as well as most free games on steam. Any cheap games where you fuck around with friends a lot is also more relevant. Cheap flavor of the month story games are more relevant.

The most relevant cartoon for kids today is pepe the fucking frog.

It's not necessarily about whether or not the cartoons influence children, so much as whether or not it can considered a reliable enough mirror of society that you can make a claim out of it. The point of the research only needs a sturdy analogy to modern day life.

Needs more cute boys

consider this: its a reflection of the kind of people who make cartoons, moreso than their audience.

Here's a hint: it's the frenchies. The calarts style, the lgbt stuff? frenchies. It all just trickles down, but the source is the same.

All it says is that artists are very liberal and progressive people, and very open to homosexuality in particular. This has been the case for ever.

A couple years back, I actually wrote a paper on the portrayal of gender roles in cartoons and the effects of these portrayals on children for a women's studies class I took as part of my bac core. It wasn't very good (I'm a shit writer), but I could pastebin it if anybody's interested.

Fujoshit pls go

>its a reflection of the kind of people who make cartoons
manchildren? hipsters? out of touch with reality SJW feminists? fetishfags?

>women's studies class

and people seriously say this board isn't tumblr.

cute boys are not for sexual

No, people on that field of study made an awful choice, they wouldn't given any chance to pay their student debts.

a combination of all four.

Same way you can tell most anime is made by otaku shut ins because of all the incestuous referencing and glorification of neetdom, and oversexualization of waifus.

Both genders have biological dispositions, we create shows to capitalize on those dispositions. While it's true that cartoons socialize children, the way they choose to socialize them is not arbitrary, it's informed by the way we naturally react anyway. Pre-natal testosterone makes boys more aggressive, more likely to play rough, and more disposed to material things. Girls are less aggressive and are more interested in other people.

In Scandinavia and other Northern countries such as Sweden, huge lengths have been taken to create an egalitarian society free of gender roles based socialization. Gender roles division and traditional gender role adherence is also the most prevalent in these countries. If you remove socialization from the equation, biological disposition becomes the only variable determining gender role.

Who cares? Unless they are very young they wouldn't real be changed by it

I did both a bachelors and a masters in production of animation and I can tell you now that this is the most over done writing subject.

I wish I did my papers on it because theres a fucking wealth of source material on it.