There Are So Skrunkly - Blog Posts

Ok so definitely this type of thing regarding the show has been talked about before I don’t doubt BUT I still wanna put in my two cents regarding it so let’s get this going.

So Bob’s Burgers. Great show, adult cartoons done right (once they got their footing since I believe their early seasons felt more Family Guy/Simpsons which considering it was coming out a little late to the game so I assume it believed it needed to be like them but thankfully they’ve grown more confident not saying early seasons are bad their still hilarious ANYWAY OFF TRACK-)

And I really love their character cast. Bob, Linda, Teddy, and of course the Belcher kids (Gene is my favorite but not the topic of discussion).

The two I wanted to point out were Tina and Louise and an interesting thing I noticed regarding the two.

Not so much their relationship (though that itself is would be fun to dissect) but the way they seem to be on complete opposite sides of femininity.

Now to be clear I don’t think anyone, fictional or real, should need to abide by gender norms, but with how engrained it is societally, it’s hard to ignore, especially in television.

Regarding the two girls, Tina seems to be what I think most people would assume a thirteen year old girl would be into at that age. Horses, boys, writing, boys, girlscouts, did I mention boys? (though I feel her level for boys kinda goes a step further which we will get into).

I’m no historical expert in regards to feminine normalities, being a male myself, but I wouldn’t be pressed to see advertising primarily push horses, dolls, and boy crushing onto girls at a young age, which Tina seems to enjoy, and that itself is fine of course, no harm done.

Now all of that?

Throw it out the window for Louise because this girl is here to bring gender norms to the back ally and murder it with a bat.

Louise LOVES fire, knives, basically anything remotely adventurous, risky, or dangerous. Literally she wanted to go out in a hurricane storm in hopes to have some fun (and did! But it was boring so they went home). When she got a crush on a Boy band member? She went through a ton of effort to meet them, all to just fucking bitch slap the guy.

She also knows how to lock pick and is a creature of chaos.

She technically does have dolls, but all of them are alien like creatures and her favorite, Kuchi Kopi, is a Japanese figure (which would be less weird if it weren’t for her being in America).

All of these things, plus more, make her very not feminine and I love her for it. Literally her gender in this case doesn’t define her, it’s her personality.

This isn’t to say she can’t or doesn’t like predominantly female things, but the ratio def leans toward more neutral or masculine things throughout the shows time on air.

And it stands out even more when we have Tina, who immerses herself in it, to compare to Louise, who barely even interacts with it.

The reason I enjoy this is because it’s such a simple way to easily ignore gender norms by having two characters, siblings mind you, be on completely different sides of the idea (And Gene is just Gene, he is his own norm).

I’d pull out episode specific examples but what I’m doing right now doesn’t allow me that kind of time but I assure you dear reader that if you just read this cause you were bored and don’t know a lick of this show that just watching a Louise-centric and then Tina-centric episode you will see my point (hell even when they aren’t the focus you could probably see it).

Also even though Tina does fit into the more feminine side she isn’t completely locked to it either. Her love for boys would be seen as kinda obsessive (which let’s be honest if gender swapped would not be nearly as loved from the internet), and she’s willing to help her siblings in their own things of interest (though not without giving her own concerns).

Anyway please watch Bob’s Burgers it’s a great series ok BYEEEE

Ok so definitely this type of thing regarding the show has been talked about before I don’t doubt BUT I still wanna put in my two cents regarding it so let’s get this going.

So Bob’s Burgers. Great show, adult cartoons done right (once they got their footing since I believe their early seasons felt more Family Guy/Simpsons which considering it was coming out a little late to the game so I assume it believed it needed to be like them but thankfully they’ve grown more confident not saying early seasons are bad their still hilarious ANYWAY OFF TRACK-)

And I really love their character cast. Bob, Linda, Teddy, and of course the Belcher kids (Gene is my favorite but not the topic of discussion).

The two I wanted to point out were Tina and Louise and an interesting thing I noticed regarding the two.

Not so much their relationship (though that itself is would be fun to dissect) but the way they seem to be on complete opposite sides of femininity.

Now to be clear I don’t think anyone, fictional or real, should need to abide by gender norms, but with how engrained it is societally, it’s hard to ignore, especially in television.

Regarding the two girls, Tina seems to be what I think most people would assume a thirteen year old girl would be into at that age. Horses, boys, writing, boys, girlscouts, did I mention boys? (though I feel her level for boys kinda goes a step further which we will get into).

I’m no historical expert in regards to feminine normalities, being a male myself, but I wouldn’t be pressed to see advertising primarily push horses, dolls, and boy crushing onto girls at a young age, which Tina seems to enjoy, and that itself is fine of course, no harm done.

Now all of that?

Throw it out the window for Louise because this girl is here to bring gender norms to the back ally and murder it with a bat.

Louise LOVES fire, knives, basically anything remotely adventurous, risky, or dangerous. Literally she wanted to go out in a hurricane storm in hopes to have some fun (and did! But it was boring so they went home). When she got a crush on a Boy band member? She went through a ton of effort to meet them, all to just fucking bitch slap the guy.

She also knows how to lock pick and is a creature of chaos.

She technically does have dolls, but all of them are alien like creatures and her favorite, Kuchi Kopi, is a Japanese figure (which would be less weird if it weren’t for her being in America).

All of these things, plus more, make her very not feminine and I love her for it. Literally her gender in this case doesn’t define her, it’s her personality.

This isn’t to say she can’t or doesn’t like predominantly female things, but the ratio def leans toward more neutral or masculine things throughout the shows time on air.

And it stands out even more when we have Tina, who immerses herself in it, to compare to Louise, who barely even interacts with it.

The reason I enjoy this is because it’s such a simple way to easily ignore gender norms by having two characters, siblings mind you, be on completely different sides of the idea (And Gene is just Gene, he is his own norm).

I’d pull out episode specific examples but what I’m doing right now doesn’t allow me that kind of time but I assure you dear reader that if you just read this cause you were bored and don’t know a lick of this show that just watching a Louise-centric and then Tina-centric episode you will see my point (hell even when they aren’t the focus you could probably see it).

Also even though Tina does fit into the more feminine side she isn’t completely locked to it either. Her love for boys would be seen as kinda obsessive (which let’s be honest if gender swapped would not be nearly as loved from the internet), and she’s willing to help her siblings in their own things of interest (though not without giving her own concerns).

Anyway please watch Bob’s Burgers it’s a great series ok BYEEEE