Spooky Gender Roles on Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Something funny happened to me today.. I couldn't go out trick or treating with my family because I feel horrible and I hope I'm not getting the flu because I have sooo much to do. But that's not the funny thing. Here it is: I cuddled up with a blanket to watch my favorite Halloween show of all time-- "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." (I know..I'm a light weight.) I own it on video so I thought that and a brownie would have to be a good way to relax and spend Halloween. But I couldn't help noticing the strong gender roles portrayed in that Halloween special! Because of this class, I am noticing the gender typing in more and more things, and I can't hardly stand to watch cartoon network with my son because of the darn commercials. Did you know that little girls now can have a baby doll that wets and poops?! Horrible! But back to Charlie Brown's Halloween show...In the first scene, Lucy takes her little brother Linus out to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. She picks the largest one and makes HIM carry it. She never even helps. When the pumpkin gets away from him and he gets rolled over by it, Lucy looks angry with him, as if he did something wrong. It was strange that the boy had to do all the work. When Linus later writes to the Great Pumpkin, all the little girls come in and make fun of him. His male friend is fairly supportive, but the girls put him down and laugh at him. This show is very old, but I have noticed that the theme of girls making fun of stupid boys or men can be seen in many tv commercials and sitcoms today.
Then there is the scene where Lucy tries to get Charlie Brown to kick the football. He at first says that he is not going to fall for that trick again this year because she will pull it out from under him. But Lucy is convincing and even has a written document that she will not do that to him. But she pulls the football and makes Charlie Brown go flying through the air. She excuses herself by saying that the document was never notarized. We have seen in many of our fairy tales that women were often thought to be tricky and conniving, and now we can see this portrayed in a family cartoon. While it is interesting to start noticing this gender typing, it makes me feel a bit angry and hopeless that women will never be taken seriously or considered good and intelligent. All of the commercials I saw for little girls this morning had to do with styling hair or making the doll or pony's hair change color. The boys had cool trucks that danced and cars that raced and costumes with lazer guns. When did girls get so obsessed with hair?
Anyway, apparently I watched too much tv while I felt bad today so I hope I feel better tomorrow! Meanwhile, I'm glad I was able to be in your fairy tale class because it sure is thought provoking on many levels. Have a safe and happy Halloween!