As you get older people expect you to grow out of watching cartoons. I did not, I am still a kid at heart. I still watch all the cartoons I grew up with and some recent ones that have come out.
One cartoon that has been recently made, “The Loud House,” is a favorite of mine. This show is very open minded and I feel it deserves way more praise.
“The Loud House” focuses on a boy named Lincoln, who lives with his 10 sisters. They go through all the normal troubles that one would expect siblings to experience. They fight, they cover for each other, they work together. Looking at the bond that such a large family has is heartwarming.
These themes of family bonding are probably why most parents allow their children to watch the show, but there are some other themes that appear that may explain why some families do not allow the show.
I have noticed that the show strays away from gender norms very often. The father, although not a stay-at-home-father, is in charge of all the cooking and the cleaning. The mother does a lot of managing the house and regulating behavior. It is an interesting shift.
If you look at the sisters a lot of them are involved in what society would have once labeled as boy activities. One sister, Lynn, is the total opposite of what society says a girl should be. She is aggressive, loud and she plays every sport there is. I love that the producer and the writer of the show decided to have so many different girls being portrayed. It sends a message to girls that they can be interested in whatever they want to be.
The last thing that really stuck out to me was how the show portrays relationships. The oldest sister, Lori, is in an interracial relationship. This is the first time I have ever seen this is in a cartoon.
We also see in one of the first few episodes that Lincoln’s best friend Clyde has two dads. His dads are also in an interracial relationship. The show very carefully portrays relationships that are uncommon for shows aimed at children. This where we see a lot of complaints.
Some parents are not comfortable with allowing their kids to watch a show with same sex couples, or even interracial couples. That is fine, they are allowed to make that decision. I do think that the show is a statement. It is meant to show society is changing and becoming more accepting. If we teach our children from a young age to respect people and their differences, then I feel as a society we would grow to be more open minded.
“The Loud House” to me is a very open cartoon, that talks about and shows a lot of diversity. These are the shows we need. I think “The Loud House” deserves more recognition for the statements and positive examples it shows.
Thumbnail Photo By Jens Kreuter
Body Photos from wikia.com