Thursday, August 21, 2008

First Rant: The PowerPuff Girls "Him"


Today I was surfing the web, looking up "Mephisto" to use for a story that I'm working on. I came across the Powerpuff Girl's villian, Him.

I'm a bit confused here. He's a...transvestite? Woah, woah, woah! I'm not sure what the creators were trying to convey with a transvestite male as the satanic being in the show.

"Him" is supposed to convey the ultimate evil on the children's show. Normally he's asociated with fire and hell or "heck". So why is he wearing high heeled boots that go up to his thighs and talking like a woman? Why was there no controversy about this before?

I believe that if I were a homosexual or transvestite, I would be insulted to be the ultimate evil on a children's show. What does this teach children who watch the show? (ok, I know it's hardly plays anymore...)

Forgive me if it doesn't see this way to other people, but what I understand from this is that the creator is depicting Gays, Transvestites, etc. as bad. Ok, so I know that being homosexual is a sin or something (which is total bullshit, love is love), but I don't think that it should be displayed in this fashion on a children's TV show. Infact, I don't think there should be a character to represent the devil at all on a children's TV show.

I'm christian, but I'm not against other people's beliefs. Hell, even people who worship Satan are seriously just fine. I do not descriminate at all. I know that my God wouldn't descriminate as well. My God is accepting whether you are gay, straight, bisexual, transexual. My God loves people for who they are, not who they're attracted to or who they worship.

Call me a bad christian if you want. I don't care.

But back to the point of this blog: I really do not think that the ultimate evil should be depicted as a crossdresser/homosexual as it is in The Powerpuff Girls.


-Repo

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

REPO POSTED. :D


I has not much to say. :<

Anonymous said...

Being homosexual is not a sin. In Christianity, engaging in homosexual acts is a sin. There's a difference. :<

Anonymous said...

I don't see how or where you got these things in your mind about a CARTOON character. I very much doubt that it was intended to be offensive to gays, but rather, just a change-of-pace girly devil character.

I liked Him when I was little and watched Powerpuff Girls nearly every day along with the variety of other shows that were on tv around then. I saw nothing wrong with him, and still don't.

Don't take them too seriously, and you might find that you are able to just laugh at little things in shows such as this. Ha ha ha, good day.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you! It's disturbing how they had to make the ultimate evil crossdress (and emphasise it with the name "Him"). Is crossdressing supposed to be an image of evil?

I can't decide what to be more offended by--that a transgender is depicted as evil or that a man dressing up as a woman is depicted as evil.

Eddie Mumford said...

I noticed this when I was a young gay teen. It did bother me a little. What's sad is that the show in general is really well done.

Anonymous said...

i'm gat and it doesn't bother me, i think it's awesome

James said...

I've been writing an essay about gender within the Powerpuff girls now and you've just helped me with a crucial last minute support of evidence.

Thank you for (unknowingly) help support my essay!

amy-leroux said...

I don't think you're entirely off base here, I just think you're over-thinking it. Powerpuff Girls was one of my favourite shows growing up, and I'm an LGBT activist. I loved that character, I thought Him was awesome. I think anything can teach children the wrong thing if they've been trained to see things a certain way.

Anonymous said...

I think they're trying to convey Satan's genderlessness, calling him HIM while it's dressed and speaks womanly gives it all the more of a twisted feel to the character (NOTE: crossdressers are fine as long as they know they're crossdressing, Him never says his/her own gender, the anouncer simply nicknamed it, while it appears to be genderless

Unknown said...

I don't think the show was aiming to portray cross dressing as wrong or evil. On one occasion, the professor dresses as a woman and even wears makeup. Further, when the girls dress the professor, Bubbles initially uses his bow tie as a hair bow. I do think that Him's cross dressing is related to him being the ultimate evil, but rather than because he's homosexual, I think that choice was made because they did not want to identify either femininity nor masculinity as evil.

Anonymous said...

I loved the Powerpuff Girls as I grew up. Now that I'm older I only now realise the portrayal of Him isn't quite right (having a character who is genderqueer to be the all evil one). For those saying that the creators didn't intend it, I'm sure they didn't either but the thing is, it doesn't really matter whether they intended it or not. It's still offensive and shows that the creators do subconsciously see genderqueer/LGBTQA people as bad since they're portraying him in a negative light, it's quite telling for how society sees it in general. It makes me quite sad to learn that something I loved as a kid has done something like this but it is still a great show regardless. I think people should just be aware of the bad things a mostly good thing can have.

Anonymous said...

At no point was his gender or genderless said to be the source of his evil. I could equally argue that the fact that he was red and turned everything red suggested that the writers thought that all people who could be associated with red were evil.

Brianna said...

I was amazed when I figured this out and was also shocked that there was no real controversy about this before! His name is "HIM" yet he wears a skirt, high heel boots and has fluffy hair...along with a beard. The show portrays Him as being the devil, and shows him often possessing children's toys and playing with Mr. Quackers(his rubber duck) during his frequent baths. Perhaps, this is trying to imply that homosexuals/transgender people are children molesters?(or atleast something very fishy). Basically, Him is implying that gays and transgender people are inherently creepy, strange, and down right wrong. It's not very uncommon for cartoons to provide subliminal messages for children...

Unknown said...

A lot of people are using the terms "transgender" and "genderqueer" incorrectly. HIM can only be trans if HIM was born male but identifies as female or vice versa with being born female but identifying as male. And HIM can only be genderqueer if HIM identifies as both genders. But just because someone wears both "male" and "female" clothing, does not mean they identify as both genders. HIM just has way too much fashion sense to just wear "male" clothing.

Unknown said...

There's no controversy over it because it's nothing to get controversial about!!! First off, it's a cartoon. If it makes you THAT uncomfortable, then don't watch it and don't let your kids watch it, but I doubt it'll claim their innocence or traumatize them for life (rolls eyes). Regardless of how they portrayed "the ultimate evil", somebody was probably bound to get offended. I've always liked the character and I never looked at his gender or sexuality as being the evil part of him. I always thought that it was because out of ALL of Townsville's monsters and villains, Him was the only one capable of nearly defeating the girls with more than mere weaponry and fist fights. HIM was capable of possession, mind control, manipulation, CONFUSION! And what better way to depict that visually, than to create a character that you can't even give a proper name or describe who or what he is? I think it just helps to play up the mystery of the character....that'd be the ultimate evil to me! Because half the time, it's an evil you can't see. In most of Him's appearances, the girls didn't even catch on to the fact that it was him behind the chaos until later! So yea! Him was one badass villain! So call it controversy if you want, but the bottom line is no matter how high and mighty you wanna stand on your soap box and say we're all human, but it's human nature to notice and distinguish between male and female. Regardless of your opinion about them, that's just what we do. Just like animals take note of who's female and who's male... Go ahead and lie and say you don't, but I'm not that naive. Certainly not enough to let a cartoon character bother me and think that it would have ANY significant affect on society with all the many other REAL problems we face in this world everyday!!!!! IRRELEVANT!

Unknown said...

There's no controversy over it because it's nothing to get controversial about!!! First off, it's a cartoon. If it makes you THAT uncomfortable, then don't watch it and don't let your kids watch it, but I doubt it'll claim their innocence or traumatize them for life (rolls eyes). Regardless of how they portrayed "the ultimate evil", somebody was probably bound to get offended. I've always liked the character and I never looked at his gender or sexuality as being the evil part of him. I always thought that it was because out of ALL of Townsville's monsters and villains, Him was the only one capable of nearly defeating the girls with more than mere weaponry and fist fights. HIM was capable of possession, mind control, manipulation, CONFUSION! And what better way to depict that visually, than to create a character that you can't even give a proper name or describe who or what he is? I think it just helps to play up the mystery of the character....that'd be the ultimate evil to me! Because half the time, it's an evil you can't see. In most of Him's appearances, the girls didn't even catch on to the fact that it was him behind the chaos until later! So yea! Him was one badass villain! So call it controversy if you want, but the bottom line is no matter how high and mighty you wanna stand on your soap box and say we're all human, but it's human nature to notice and distinguish between male and female. Regardless of your opinion about them, that's just what we do. Just like animals take note of who's female and who's male... Go ahead and lie and say you don't, but I'm not that naive. Certainly not enough to let a cartoon character bother me and think that it would have ANY significant affect on society with all the many other REAL problems we face in this world everyday!!!!! IRRELEVANT!

bigbootyjudy said...

I actually think it is nice that they had him this way. I am all for LGBT(Q) rights and have been involved with many organizations to help the rights movement. I think it is nice that he is included as a character to give some attention to the way people are different. Yes, he is suppose to be evil but, the character is also very likable for some reason. I always liked HIM. Thought he was interesting and scary/evil at the same time. I dont believe it has any malice intent behind it. I think you are reading to much into it.

bigbootyjudy said...

i also agree that i think the intent might have been to make HIM genderless.

Anonymous said...

Okay but if HIM were Asian or Hindu or African, would you really think that race was meant to seem the epitome of evil? I wouldn't. And if you do, maybe that is why HIM is an entirely different pigment. Also, limiting the standards of evil to the bible is what makes you see cross dressing as a bad thing/ considered sinful. I don't mean to offend at all, but not everything is made by terms of Christianity. I love HIM, and never saw anything wrong with his cross dressing. In fact, that was what interested me in the first place. He made me curious about him, but it never seemed blasphemous that he was so feminine. It seems empowering for him that he dresses in such a way.