Rastamouse, am I looking too deep into it

[Mrsknackered]

DS1 is watching Rastamouse right now and DP and I are talking about it. I find it racist and stereotypical (as does DP)

1. Why do they have to be Rastafarian/Jamaican. A culture that is already mocked across the board - think the shrunken head in Harry Potter, the mosquito in Bee Movie, I could go on if need be.
   
2. the huge gold chains on the male mice
   
3. the use of 'cheese' I know they are mice, but cheese is a strain of really strong cannabis and there is a lot of stereotyping about Jamaican's using cannabis.
   
4. there are no white/light grey mice (that I have seen) Jamaica has a lot of Asian and Caucasian
   
5. the dialect used is informal even for patois, it would be like Topsy and Tim saying 'ain't' and 'innit' at times.
   
6. I couldn't imagine a Jewish mouse/Islamic mouse.
   
   Prepared to be called a pearl clutcher, but thinking about it, I think I have a point. Do you think I'm over analysing?

[lookingforthecorkscrew]

It’s written and produced by people of West Indian heritage, so I’m pretty sure it’s ok to just enjoy it for what it is - a show about reggae-playing detective mice.

[icelollycraving]

Oh my, I think you are beyond over thinking it. I do have memories of someone equally pearl clutchy that did a aibu as their dc copied the accent.
Mice eating cheese is a fiction too but we all accept it. Seriously, you are being ridiculous.

[knowWhenToHoldEm]

what the fuck?

Assuming you're not joking, of course you're overanalysing it all.

Why does everything need to be torn apart?

I assume you're also concerned about the lack of disabled lesbian feminists on it!

[Dazedandconfuzzled]

It's kids tv. It's written by people of West Indian heritage. I think it should just be enjoyed for what it is. Although my dd had a stage of copying the speech which got a few looks as she is white, blonde and Welsh!!

[lookingforthecorkscrew]

DS’s key worker (who he LOVES) at nursery is a middle-aged Jamaican woman and sometimes speaks in patois, so he just thinks Rastamouse and his crew are all like her.

[SleepFreeZone]

I sort of know what you mean. When I first saw it I thought it seemed like they were taking the piss and it was horribly stereotyped. But then I think I read a thread on here where posters said it was produced authentically and now it just washes over me.

[Grilledaubergines]

That is all.

[Lovesagin]

Yes, you're looking too deep into it. Your comment about being no white mice is absolutely bonkers.

[DownWithThisSortaThing]

The author of the books it's based on is a Rastafarian Jamaican man IIRC. If the BBC decided to give them English accents and make them literally white mice, would that not be white washing it? Stripping the authors' culture from it?
You are over thinking it imo. It's kids TV. They are mice, they eat cheese.

[LanaKanesLeftNippleTassle]

I love Rastamouse.

One of my favourite bands are Toots and the Maytals, a reggae band from Jamaica.

In one episode they are all waiting for the release of an album by "Toots and the Mousetails"! It made my week that did.

It's made by people of West Indian heritage, voiced by actors of similar descent.

It also has grey/white/light mice, so you haven't been watching properly.

I am a card carrying anti fascist...and see 0 problem with it.

[PencilsInSpace]

Yes you are overthinking it. Also what you should be concerned about is that he is naked from the waist down.

[brainache78]

It may be problematic if it was Jamaica Mouse, because then it would be stereotyping all Jamaicans as Rastafarians, but it isn't. It's Rastamouse - and Rastamouse is a Rastafarian, so yes, he speaks in Patois and plays reggae.
I worked in a primary school with a large West Indian population and the children loved having a character on TV that was like people they knew and their own families.

And my Jamaican TA Loved It and always insisted we put it on during wet play.

Zero issues here.

[fastfrank]

Mice like cheese. Duh.

[Mrsknackered]

LanaKane I'll let DP know you love them, seeing as some them are relatives.

Funny how a black person liking it makes it okay. But a black person not liking it is ridiculous.

You are obviously entitled to think I'm barking mad. And I'm not saying all of my points are correct, but they are just things I was thinking.

[MissionItsPossible]

Get several, OP

[Amanduh]

Get a grip

[MissionItsPossible]

X post amanduh

[HolidayHelpPlease]

You are 100% overanalysing- I do the same with Ben and Holly! Makes me think of apartheid, all the fairies separating themselves and being horrid to the elves...

[Lucylululu]

Ohhhh I HATE that everyone in the UK does this now! There's a problem with everything! Literally everything is picked apart and criticised for the stupidest reasons, everything has to be racist or offensive in some way even if it isn't, everything offends someone. Its a funny, cute kids TV show. Calm down.

[PinkyBlunder]

1) Why do they have to be Rastafarian/Jamaican. A culture that is already mocked across the board - think the shrunken head in Harry Potter, the mosquito in Bee Movie, I could go on if need be
Because it’s a program produced by people from the West Indian culture about characters in the West’s Indian culture. The mosquito from the Bee Movie isn’t Jamaican, he’s African American, voiced by Chris Rock.

2) the huge gold chains on the male mice
An observation?
Not sure what’s offensive about a gold chain? Many people of different cultures wear gold chains.

3) the use of 'cheese' I know they are mice, but cheese is a strain of really strong cannabis and there is a lot of stereotyping about Jamaican's using cannabis.
No really, ITS BECAUSE THEYRE MICE. Which is pretty crucial to the narrative. If they were eating jerk chicken, rice and beans, okra and yams that would just be stupid because mice don’t eat those things.

4) there are no white/light grey mice (that I have seen) Jamaica has a lot of Asian and Caucasian
They’re mice. They don’t have a race and a lot of mice happen to be dark in colour.

5) the dialect used is informal even for patois, it would be like Topsy and Tim saying 'ain't' and 'innit' at times.
Children don’t talk like Topsy and Tim so this is a really bad comparison.

6) I couldn't imagine a Jewish mouse/Islamic mouse.
Really? I could. I can also imagine a mice with West Country accents, mice from Germany that wear ledahosen and mice from Holland that live in a windmill in old Amsterdam.... A LITTLE MOUSE WITH CLOGS ON!

You’ve been watching too much Cbeebies, time to step away.