March 21, 2016
EP. 114 — Children’s TV Shows With Horrifying Implications
Last week on the site, Daniel O’Brien told us why Pinocchio was a secretly terrifying tale about a monster-boy thrust into existence by a bumbling old man who probably shouldn’t be anyone’s legal guardian. To become a real boy, he’s expected to prove himself brave, truthful and unselfish. But he’s like, 30 seconds old, how would he know anything about that? None of us have these virtues and we’re not wooden little puppet-devils.
Inspired by last week’s video, Jack O’Brien, Daniel O’Brien and Soren Bowie sit down for a conversation about the ways children’s entertainment was either secretly horrifying, or simply giving us awful life-lessons. They talk about how the Nickelodeon shows of the 90s led to a generation of depressed loners, JK Rowling’s subtle misanthropy, how the early Disney princesses were awful representations of women, and how Winnie the Pooh set back how we deal with mental health.
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