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I found one line Sportacus said that was also the title of one of the episodes. He said it with more emotion than Stephanie did. It would've been cool if they did the titles together, like Sportacus the even episode numbers and Stephanie the uneven episodes. Here is the example:
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Magnús: - I have fans of all ages and I don't think it's weird when older people like LazyTown. LazyTown appeals to people for many different reasons: dancing, acrobatics, etc. -
Wow this feels weird
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I would have loved if episodes focusing on specific characters had those same characters doing the intro titles (Pixel in "Pixelspix", Stingy in "My Treehouse" etc). Would have made me think "I wonder who's gonna do the next title?" And look forward to next episode.
That's just my opinion thoughComment
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Magnús: - I have fans of all ages and I don't think it's weird when older people like LazyTown. LazyTown appeals to people for many different reasons: dancing, acrobatics, etc.Comment
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I thought about it too, and I didn't want to spoil the conversation with my feminism but now you started it... 😋 I don't know why but I see a clear policy in the less (prominent) presence of the female gender in all episodes. I don't know why. It's mainly caused by the writers of the episode stories and the choice of what story they will use.
First of all there are 6 males versus only 3 females. I'm glad we never got Jives or the Police officer Obtuse - more males!. The special characters were also mainly male. Also, Trixie got a leading role in only one episode and she never got to show her tricks- that's part of her character which we saw in the plays. Bessie never got a leading role. Stephanie's role became less prominent in the last two seasons. Girls simply have less choice when it comes to a LazyTown girl role model. That's unfair.Magnús: - I have fans of all ages and I don't think it's weird when older people like LazyTown. LazyTown appeals to people for many different reasons: dancing, acrobatics, etc.Comment
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I've thought about the male female ratio as well, it's pretty obvious when watching.
It's frustrating how they diluted Trixie and Bessie, too. Both, especially Trixie, were way more developed in the plays. Thats just two plays. There's well over 80 episodes, 20 or so minutes each and barely any time is given to the girls. At least Steph became a more prominent character for season 1 and 2 (even though I don't like it, the show should have treated the kids all the same, not favouring). Even though, like you said, that changed.
As for role models... I was lucky as a kid watching the show. Gender, age, status ect never changed who I saw as a role model. Although I can see most girls feeling left out by the lack of females in LT, especially when they come from places where they're seen as lesser then for being female.
Edit: a cause might be the lack of any women writing on the show. Valenti and Scheving don't have those experiences needed to write female characters appropriately. That's just a conspiracy though
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So the convo spiraled from FairyPossum talking about how Trixie doesn't have a specific episode (Secret friend day) then went to the male to female ratio in LazyTown
let's remember the guest characters..Comment
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Pooky did mention the guest/special characters.....
l i t t l e
s t e p h e r sComment
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If I had to guess, Stephanie in Season 1/2 (the only seasons I care about) had more lines, more songs, and more screen time than any other character - possibly more than all the other characters combined. But it's just a guess.
l i t t l es t e p h e r sComment
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Thanks for putting this together, Pooky. Interesting to hear what it could have been like. I like Julianna narrating the title cards (in S1 anyway, in S2 she doesn't give it the same energy). I usually skip the intro, but I always make sure to go far enough back to hear her read the title card.
The first time I watched the show I assumed individual characters would get their own episodes like in a lot of animes. For the most part they do, but I definitely noticed Trixie's was missing. Perhaps she was a victim of the rushed production schedule. Ziggy's my favorite puppet anyway (other than Milford). He reminds me of an old British man as a child, just something about his mannerisms. He's very good natured.Comment
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It's interesting that Lazytown was seen by some to have feminist qualities.
Here are some excerpts from an essay by Dagný Kristjánsdóttir, a professor a culture studies at the University of Iceland, published circa 2011:
"Characters' gender is usually very important in books for children and young adults, but not in the LazyTown books, in which boys are in the foreground and the girls are just like the boys. The genderlessness of the books may perhaps be due to the fact that the characters stand for moral traits which can be associated with both sexes"
"Solla the Stiff is a minor character in the LazyTown books, but here she is moved into the center of the narrative. She is eight years old, as mentioned earlier. She is a guest who comes from outside and has a sharp eye, is not as bad and lazy as the locals, and thus sets off a chain of events where there was none before. This is one of the most common starting scenes in plays and stories old and new; Alice in Wonderland and Pippi Longstockings are two examples. This is also in keeping with Nickelodeon's 'girl power' policy. At the same time, the focus on a child protagonist seems sensible and in accordance with opinion polls which show that children want to see other children being active and creative. Stephanie can also attract girls to the program, while the society of the LazyTown books was a boys' community. In contrast to the book, Solla the Stiff--Stephanie of the television program--is both pretty and in top form from the start, and Goggi Mega (Pixel) become infatuated with her at first sight. She is the leader of the children; it is she who calls on Sportacus to begin with, and it is primarily she who plays opposite him.
I read somewhere else that Stephanie is tomboyish and therefore strays away from traditional gender roles for young women. Obviously culture has changed a lot since the early 2000s and simply being tomboyish is no longer enough to stand out as feminist. There are also many things to find fault with from the point of view of feminism (as Kristjánsdóttir goes on to do concerning Stephanie and Sportacus's portrayal as very nearly a couple, etc... it's actually quite interesting.)
As far as role-models, well, I don't think the other kids are supposed to be. Although they're more fleshed out in the show than in the books, they're still closer to background characters.
"The protagonist of the books is unambiguously the adult 'man,' the athletic elf. There is, however, no main character among the children in the LazyTown books. In the children's books, a group of children often plays the role of a main character. Each child has one prominent characteristic, and together the children form a kind of composite group character with whom the child who reads or is read to can identify. The group of children in LazyTown, however, does not emerge as real characters. We seldom see them interact among themselves and almost never with their parents. The parents are absent in the books, so that most of the children appear to live alone. The athletic elf thus assumes the role of both mother and father in the lives of the children."
(Source: Kristjánsdóttir. "Sportacus Saves the Day!" Published in Crossing Textual Boundaries in International Children's Literature, 2011)
https://forums.lazytown.eu/articles/...s-sunshinetownComment
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Amazing find!Comment
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The Latibaer books are indeed worse than the TV episodes when it comes to gender equality.Magnús: - I have fans of all ages and I don't think it's weird when older people like LazyTown. LazyTown appeals to people for many different reasons: dancing, acrobatics, etc.Comment
10.lazytown.eu
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