skykiii
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
This is something I thought of while half-asleep.
One of the issues with being "woke" is that the goalpost changes periodically, which results in times where what was once progressive is now quaint, and at times can even be undone to make way for a different progressive change.
The foremost example on my mind is the Jonny Quest series, and the example of Jessie Bannon (or Jessie Bradshaw).
The original 1960s Jonny Quest was, basically, an animated version of pulp adventure radio dramas that the creators liked to listen to. One day an adventure could be about preventing a robot spider from stealing military secrets, the next day they could be in a valley where a mad scientist controls the locals with the threat of his pet pterodactyl.
In the 1980s, the problem progressives had was that the show was a "sausage fest" (and that they had to make their derisive term a sex organ reference really does not help defeat those "many progressives are sex obsessed" allegations). Sure, there was Jade, who Race Bannon had a complicated relationship with... but she was only in a handful of episodes. Jonny's own mom was presumed dead (although the conspiratorial part of my brain notices that the female scientist from another Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Greatest Adventure: Stories From the Bible looks a lot like a grown-up, female version of Jonny).
To combat this, the character Jessie was added to the cast in the 1986 revival season.
Now, "canon" in Jonny Quest is something you shoot people with, so Jessie's origin has changed a few times. One of the movies says she's Race Bannon's biological daughter, but then the 1990s Real Adventures series says he merely adopted her...
Either way, a funny thing is that, while some old guards might have grumbled that a girl was let in to the boy's club, most people didn't mind. Heck, I'm willing to bet the Real Adventures version was some people's first cartoon crush.
In that show, by the way, Jessie had a thing with Hadji.
Then comes Jellystone, a cartoon where the entire premise is that all Hanna-Barbera characters live in a shared universe.
It also reinvented some of them, and I'm a little mixed at the results... but to stay on track:
For some reason, Jonny Quest and Hadji are in this show... and they're gay lovers now.
So where does that leave Jessie? Well, funny thing.... Jessie is nowhere to be seen.
In fact, as far as I know, every time there's been a new Jonny Quest thing, Jessie is just inexplicably gone, like she never existed.
And this is the kind of thing I mean: used to be, the "progressive" thing was to add a girl to the boy's club. But somehow we've reached a point where being a "sausage fest" is completely okay.
(If you're wondering, no I'm not mentioning that one episode of Harvey Birdman because that episode was meant as a joke, not a serious attempt to retcon Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon into being a couple).
So have you guys noticed any instances where a "progressive" change wound up undoing other "progressive" changes?
One of the issues with being "woke" is that the goalpost changes periodically, which results in times where what was once progressive is now quaint, and at times can even be undone to make way for a different progressive change.
The foremost example on my mind is the Jonny Quest series, and the example of Jessie Bannon (or Jessie Bradshaw).
The original 1960s Jonny Quest was, basically, an animated version of pulp adventure radio dramas that the creators liked to listen to. One day an adventure could be about preventing a robot spider from stealing military secrets, the next day they could be in a valley where a mad scientist controls the locals with the threat of his pet pterodactyl.
In the 1980s, the problem progressives had was that the show was a "sausage fest" (and that they had to make their derisive term a sex organ reference really does not help defeat those "many progressives are sex obsessed" allegations). Sure, there was Jade, who Race Bannon had a complicated relationship with... but she was only in a handful of episodes. Jonny's own mom was presumed dead (although the conspiratorial part of my brain notices that the female scientist from another Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Greatest Adventure: Stories From the Bible looks a lot like a grown-up, female version of Jonny).
To combat this, the character Jessie was added to the cast in the 1986 revival season.
Now, "canon" in Jonny Quest is something you shoot people with, so Jessie's origin has changed a few times. One of the movies says she's Race Bannon's biological daughter, but then the 1990s Real Adventures series says he merely adopted her...
Either way, a funny thing is that, while some old guards might have grumbled that a girl was let in to the boy's club, most people didn't mind. Heck, I'm willing to bet the Real Adventures version was some people's first cartoon crush.
In that show, by the way, Jessie had a thing with Hadji.
Then comes Jellystone, a cartoon where the entire premise is that all Hanna-Barbera characters live in a shared universe.
It also reinvented some of them, and I'm a little mixed at the results... but to stay on track:
For some reason, Jonny Quest and Hadji are in this show... and they're gay lovers now.
So where does that leave Jessie? Well, funny thing.... Jessie is nowhere to be seen.
In fact, as far as I know, every time there's been a new Jonny Quest thing, Jessie is just inexplicably gone, like she never existed.
And this is the kind of thing I mean: used to be, the "progressive" thing was to add a girl to the boy's club. But somehow we've reached a point where being a "sausage fest" is completely okay.
(If you're wondering, no I'm not mentioning that one episode of Harvey Birdman because that episode was meant as a joke, not a serious attempt to retcon Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon into being a couple).
So have you guys noticed any instances where a "progressive" change wound up undoing other "progressive" changes?
