SheZow Revisited

I wrote about SheZow, a Canadian cartoon now on The Hub.  SheZow is a girly superhero whose power is passed down from generation to generation via a ring.  Well, a boy put on the ring and now becomes SheZow, complete with long styled hair, skirted costume, and high-heel boots, whenever there is a "shemergency."  "Her" powers diminish when she's not girly enough ~ for instance, if her hair gets badly messed up or she's not wearing pink.  I say "her" because there is no gender issue, really.  He's a he, except he has to look like a girl when the powers kick in.  He doesn't savour the girl role, or eschew it.  He's just SheZow and enjoys the superhero role, ignoring the girl role.

There is one big problem with SheZow:

It's horrible.  The jokes are mostly puns on par with the "shemergency" noted above.

But it's been getting attention on the idiot web sites ~ you know the ones: the ones that scream how horrible it is that a boy is (gasp) dressed as a girl.  They clearly have no idea what's going on in the cartoon and their complaints have nothing to do with the show.  And if they watched it, they'd realise that, well, as I said above, it's horrible.

HOWEVER, I dug around on the Discovery web site until I found a place where you could leave a comment.  I commended them for helping to show that what you wear has nothing to do with who you are and what you can do.

If you'd like to contact The Hub to encourage stretching gender boundaries, you can go here.

In the meantime, I'll watch it so you don't have to.

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Exposure Is Good

There's a Canadian/Australian cartoon show that's made its way to the states.  It's called "Shezow," it's on Hub and it features a twelve year old superhero.

I think that's a good start: give the audience someone they can identify with.

The superhero story is kind of a mashup of others: a magic ring (a la Green Lantern) converts him into Shezow (credit Captain Marvel).  His powers include super strength, speed, and voice.  He has gadgets (belt, car, plane like Batman).  He protects the people of Meg(!)adale.
 
The ring is made to be passed down from woman to woman within his family and when he puts it on he magically acquires the SheZow costume (and hair, but he seems to keep his own voice).

He's all-boy and totally unfazed by wearing the costume.  He's clearly not transsexual in any way, but he

seems comfortable with the costume, which is a great lesson for kids (it doesn't really matter what you wear, does it?).  I guess he's an accidental crossdresser, and the show has a couple of important lessons for those outside our community:
   * women can be empowered and powerful.  One of the problems civilian males have with crossdressing is, dressing as a woman is seen as giving up power.  You're taking a strong (male) role and giving it up for a weak (female) one.  This might help kids shake that long-standing stereotype.
   * dressing is OK.  The hero (Guy) doesn't become a woman when he uses the ring.  He becomes a superhero who has long hair and wears a skirt.  If he had a hammer, he'd be Thor.

One fun thing the creators added: he gets his powers from "good grooming."  In episode two, his hair gets messed up and he loses his powers until he uses the special hairspray in his "beautility belt."  Yes, they are pun-heavy.

So far, there's one season of SheZow.  The hero is 12.  His voice doesn't change, his physical features don't change.  When he has to make an appearance he's clearly trying to sound like a girl.  I wonder if he'll have to make an effort to pass as he grows older.

Only the writers know.

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