Thomas the Tank a Sexist Little Engine that Shouldn't?
So apparently there’s a big controversy over Thomas the Tank, the seemingly innocuous train engine that always reminds me of a frantic bus driver trying to stay on schedule.
According to the pretty funny web site Canadian of the Week, there’s a new theory arguing that Thomas offers lessons in gender inequality and class struggles.
The site quotes University of Alberta professor Shauna Wilson, who apparently watched 23 episodes after coming to the conclusion that Thomas is a rather conservative figure and not particularly a great role model, especially for young girls.
“The gender roles were particularly interesting to me because I have a daughter who watches the show, and as the mother of a daughter, I want her to be watching shows with strong female characters in them,” she added. “And female characters are pretty much confined to supporting roles in this show.”
I admit I’m always on the look out for weak-kneed girl characters in children’s movies and literature, and maybe I just haven’t watched enough Thomas television — I’ve seen half of one episode and read the same book about 250 times — but I haven’t seen it yet.
Have you noticed the streak of a cad in Thomas?
My son was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine when he was younger. The show has wonderful messages in it for children about kindness, responsibility, and friendship. It is true that there are not many girl characters in the stories, but it is a show that is primarily geared towards boys. However, in the movie “Thomas and the Magic Railroad,” it is the female character of Lady who is the source of all the magic in Thomas’ world. That not withstanding, sometimes we need to just let a child’s show be a child’s show and not make it in to something beyond what it really is. I mean I grew up watching the Smurfs in which there was only one female (who was created by an evil wizard) among 100 males and all she wore was a slip. Now if that doesn’t screw up your feminine identity, a show about a bunch of friendly trains certainly won’t either.
There were no girl trains originally; the only original female character that I can recall is Lady Hatt. There are some girl trains now but not many.
The two cars Thomas pulls are female. It was written by a conservative Anglican reverend in the 1940s. It is very sexist and classist. It is a product of its time. It is still entertaining and can teach children about kindness, responsibility and friendship.
Good point re: the smurfs. But I wonder if it’s still OK for boys to watch a cartoon that seems to place girls as second class citizens. Sure, it might not screw up a girl’s identity, but what image of girls is it sending to boys? That said, I watched the smurfs and never even caught onto the idea that there was only one girl until much, much later.
My daughter watched it once and that was enough. There was one girl in the episode we watched. The moral was that even though she was not strong like the others, she could still be helpful by pulling balloons. That was enough for me- no more Thomas. I’m so glad someone else is talking about this. I tried to bring this up with some playgroup moms and they all looked me like I had 3 heads. What do feminist parents encourage their kids to watch (if anything)? We limit tv and have found few suitable shows. Dora is always being rescued by Diego and there are way too many factually inaccuracies (e.g. polar bears don’t live on tropical islands!). We love Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street and Signing Time but that’s pretty much it right now.
How about just not watching much TV and finding real people to interact with that are good role models? I think that watching thomas the train will not harm your little girl, especially if that show and ALL tv is not given a central place in their lives, or even given much importance at all.
My daughter who is 2.5-years-old is in love with all things transportation. That being said, we have watched and read many a DVD and book about Thomas the Train, Cars, and plenty of others (who are less mainstream) who are not as well known. This issue is something that comes up in most of them—the movie cars has the main girl be nothing more than the future girlfriend. That said, so far my daughter could care less about gender representation. Perhaps later she will. For the most part, I find the overall themes to be good lessons as others have mentioned.
I have to say it’s a little weird to worry about factual inaccuracies in a cartoon where the polar bears speak English and need a six-year-old to rescue them in the first place…
I just don’t like the messages in Thomas in general. The one story we have suggests that it’s ok to shirk you responsibilities if you have other things you’d rather do as ling as your goofing off turns out well. Plus the writing is awful.
Can girls only identify with other female characters? Why can’t all kids glean things from all characters. Characters don’t have to be “just like us” to be liked or to be interesting. I am not looking for my daughter to have trains, monsters, princesses or animals to be her role models. That’s my job. It’s just a kids’ story. Any more weight given to these things is obsessive and should be curbed anyway.
One issue I have with the Thomas series is the glory of being “useful”…like we are supposed to be cogs in some societal wheel or something? There is value in that, but I have higher hopes for my daughter than her just being merely “useful”. “Useful” to whom?!?
Very interesting. My son (3.5) loves Thomas. I can’t stand the writing of the show, and the children’s books are just as bad. But as for sexism, one of the few female cars makes as appearance (Daisy? not sure) in one episode and STRIPPER music is played in the background. The train is wearing eye shadow and blush. WTF? Also, I overheard my son playing with his trains, and he was saying that “Rosie can’t pull that many cars, but Thomas can.” Eek. I think the sexist messages are there, and harmful. One last complaint is that the last line in one of the books we have is, “Isn’t it nice to have such useful friends?” So friends are only valuable in so much as they are useful? Nice.
Stripper music on Thomas? I missed that episode. Got a clip?
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I think Thomas The Train is another tool for turning our kid’s minds to Socialist thinking. Emphasis on “being useful” is found throughout almost each episode, and there’s emphasis on not thinking for yourself, but rather on working together. Whenever one of the engines does something on its own, it makes big mistakes, but if it is following orders or gets advice from other engines, to get a job done, then it is a success.
Now, I hadn’t considered the lack of female roles in this cartoon.. That is interesting. It’s true, I noticed Rosie is stated as not being as strong, but that she’s capable of being useful or helpful in her own capacity, which to me just seems like more socialism. As long as you’re working or being useful, you’re doing your part. Like an ant farm.
But, here’s a thought. It is, I believe, common-knowledge that European countries have high abortion rates. Perhaps, and this might be a stretch, but perhaps the lack of female roles in Thomas The Train cartoons is a way to brainwash the kids into a dislike for the opposite sex. There isn’t any emphasis on family. It’s just each man doing his job. No one goes home to anyone or anything. There’s no mom and dad roles like the Flintstones or the Jetsons, as I remember watching as a child. It could just be more “social engineering” as my husband likes to say. Teach the kids from the start to want to work, not be a mommy or a daddy.
Well, that’s my opinion.
I’ve been waiting for the Thomas the Tank Engine and the Proliteriat Revolution to appear on You Tube. I see all those Troublesome Trucks who are always subdued through violence as coming together and going on strike. I figure that the Diesels will be first to side with them because they suffer so much racial teasing at the hand of the Steamies and never get to stay in a nice place like Tidmouth Sheds, but are always forced to do the dirty jobs and sleep out in th open. I can totally see Mavis as a Mother Jones type figure, while Gordon leads the Pinkerton type response to put them all down. Meanwhile Sir Topham Hat can cuddle his gold and complain about the “confusion and delay” making government susidies and bailouts necessary.