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My kid started watching another talking vehicle show. The garbage trucks name? Stinky. Bulldozer? Dirty. And the Firetruck? Brave. There’s a bunch of anthropomorphized propaganda shows out.
There’s this cognitive dissonance that we don’t need to police things made for children because no one would be so evil as to manipulate a child, but also we’re constantly worrying about random people manipulating our children. Like… Why don’t we turn that scrutiny towards the corporations obviously manipulating our children for their own gain? Why isn’t advertising to children banned as a form of brainwashing??
So many contradictions…
The lack of classism and bigotry in SpongeBob is always an appreciated. Really, all of its lessons were well thought out, between respecting yourself, respecting your friends, and learning to exploit the sexuality of the proletariat for money. Way ahead of its time.
They even made Mr. Krabs a halfway decent boss. Dude wants you to work while at work, then tells you to go home and leave him alone.
Even sends Sponge Bob to the doctor numerous times and tells him to take the day off.
The first Paw Patrol movie is about a corrupt and incompetent mayor who accumulates too much power, wrongfully imprisons dogs, and must be stopped, for the good of the public. At least, that’s how it’s presented at first glance.
But if you peel back the layers, it’s really about the elected leader in a two-party system, from the cat party, being overthrown by the dog party (note that all first responders seem to be from the same political party), for daring to put the dogs in obedience school (that is, requiring first responders to actually abide by the rules of their society). Worst part is that the mayor isn’t even mayor of the same town - the dogs go to the next city over to overthrow that political leader, akin to some kind of cold war era foreign-orchestrated coup.
The next step is an episode where they call a black dog a thug and justify shooting it.
Intentional or not paw patrol always reeked of police state propaganda, so somehow calling the sanitation worker a mongerel fits with my expectations.
this is the medium article linked in the post: The Misogyny and Authoritarianism of ‘Paw Patrol’
That article gets cut off. I could remove it on my computer but I figured the archive would work.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong though. Whenever I scroll down the page gets reloaded.
Edit: I kept going back and eventually found a snapshot that worked https://web.archive.org/web/20190212082650/https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican-dystopia-f178161fce54
Do people (on Tumblr) think paw patrol is intentional propaganda? I would think it’s much more likely that they just made a show with cute dogs with jobs that kids understand. Actually, does propaganda need to be intentional?
I believe the prevailing opinion is that it is subtly intentional but has more impact than intended because it is a reflection of the indoctrination of the writers, but I may be mistaken.
It may be created to intentionally teach children not to fear police and to obey the rules of society. Which sounds good on paper but can be really problematic.
It’s not just Paw Patrol. It’s every cop show that has messages of the cops always being on the side of “good”. There are many many many articles and academic papers about “copaganda” that explain it better than I can.
I love pointing out problematic behavior in cop shows.
Those DAMN DEFENDANTS claiming they didn’t do it when the good cops JUST KNOW they’re guilty. The DAMN JUDGES always wanting EVIDENCE instead of just taking the cops at their word the alleged criminal dumped the drugs in the river.
How DARE they insist cops DO THEIR JOB. what’s next, asking them to PUT THEIR LIVES AT RISK?
Usually it’s more subtle like “they’re complaining about being asked to do their jobs correctly, and these are the people we’re supposed to be cheering for?” or “they fabricated evidence of one crime because they dropped the ball with another crime, and they’re the good guys? If you say so…”
Some people might say I’m ruining a show, but come on… The show was already ruined. I’m just adjusting the picture so your rose tinted glasses get the right colors.
What about when suspects or perps use a “loophole” to escape justice and then you find out that loophole was the accused weren’t read their rights or was abused during an interrogation and had no access to a lawyer. Like the cops didn’t do basic police work correctly but it’s the suspect who did something wrong. Remember that the rights read to a person under arrest are actual constitutional rights that each American is entitled to and which the police must abide.
Copaganda is real.
I think it’s more in the line of no public services is totally fine, the city hands over police, firefighting and other services to this kid and his dogs. The mayor is barely competent to do her job without the kid’s assistance. Which may also include racial stereotypes as she’s black. Look at the show, there is no services. Every crisis is solved by a genius 10 year old and his bunch of dogs. Why do we need public services if everythung can be done by… Child labour?
There’s definitely racial stereotypes; mayor Humdinger, a blonde haired blue eyed white man, spends all of his time trying to to appropriate Adventure Bay’s resources and stake claim to its governance. My dude even seized the means of government over a metropolis and proceeded to speedrun bad governance. The only way they could have leaned harder into the white stereotype is by putting him in socks and sandals and having him remind people that he’s 1/32nd native american and has black friends.
Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Anyway, it’s not exactly like Paw Patrol are bashing fash when they stop Humdinger, they’re just keeping control over Adventure Bay’s resources rather than ceding them to his. It’s Saturday morning nationalism.
So it shows the elected officials as being corrupt to the point of having broken the process, and the answer to the evil mayor is the authoritative police. How often are corporations the bad guys?
I am still convinced the show takes place after WW3. Most of the 18-50 year old adults are gone. (The movies don’t count, ridiculous fan fiction) There is a spare population and not a lot of kids, and the ones we do see are being raised by their grandparent, are running a dog grooming business, and Ryder.
Ryder’s parents were likely involved in the dog augmentation weapons program at CalTech with a massive grant from Lockheed. Since his parents are dead, he took over the remains of the program after the war and started the Paw Patrol.
Also Mayor Humdinger is not a real mayor. Foggy Bottom was annihilated and he is the only one left, so he took charge. The derivative kitty augmentation was housed there, and they are all that is left. Why he keeps coming to adventure bay, dude is really lonely.
If all dogs go to heaven and all cops go to hell, then where do k9’s go? Purgatory?
Real life ones go to heaven, they don’t get to really choose to be tools for cops or understand the ramifications of their actions. Paw patrol dogs though go to hell.
