To think that Angelina Ballerina is really quite unpleasant?

[padboz]

My girls love it. I hate it. It appears to represent a 'look at me' attitude that I find unpleasant. The way females treat each other in it is dreadful - the twins represent the most awful 'other women are bitches' attitude. I'm not keen on Angelina being white, better at everything and having an upper middle class accent whereas her friend is brown, northern, subservient and generally not important.

It appears to be about demanding attention, being the star all the time and not thinking about anything other than yourself and how great you are (or should be). Angelina's birthday is particularly awful if you have read it - Alice gets crapped on from a great height in it and we are all meant to cheer.

You are now

Angelina's mother is no more downtrodden than Mrs Large. A bit off topic i know but with the exception of Mummy Pig i can't think of any bolshy / strong / eccentric / INTERESTING mums out there.

MI!!
I take it you went to the Angelina ballet?
I took dd. I didn't think it was too bad, except I had to pay a large amount of money for a programme just so I could explain the story to dd!

I don't find it unpleasant - I don't really think about it that much tbh.

I dont think Angelina's mother is downtrodden at all - but she is the image of 'woman as mother'.

Shes not a woman who happens to be a mother.

the only character I can say I particularly like in it is Henry, though.
Prefer Peppa Pig, really

YANBU Padboz.
I had been wondering the same, the episodes just make me go I just havent realized why till now. I always found that Angelina must be modelled on the most uppity snobbish arrogant girl in class, there is nothing sympathetic about her, a typical spoilt brat bereft of any compassion. I dont think it is outright racism though, just "upper-classism".

DS1 is at pre-school, he is 4 in December. You are right aboyt girls being a different species.

DS1 has moved on from Angelina now, thankfully, because I can't STAND thw whiny voices used by the ac-tors

paddington - thats the thing - I dont know if I should be thinkng about it. My house is awash with the stuff and I have no idea if this is insideously pouring a Daily Mail thing down thier throats at an age when they are building thier ideas of the world. On the other hand they like reading, they are learning, its beautifully illustrated and its probably doing no harm. Probably.

the only character I can say I particularly like in it is Henry, though.
Prefer Peppa Pig, really

Yes, Peppa Pig MUCH better.

Both of mine love PP.

the only character I can say I particularly like in it is Henry, though.
Prefer Peppa Pig, really

Perhaps not Downtrodden then but there is alot of sighing, nagging whinging and pinnys.

It's been a while since i've seen an episode tbh but i remember Angelina stealing her mum's necklace and putting the baby on the bed where it fell off.

Dominion she is spoiled and expects to be treated differently from the other girls - half the things she accuses the twins of she did in another episode!

oops! not sure what happened there...

fiofio - I'll look out for the mouse orgasm!

I haven't seen any of the TV episodes, but we have some books including the original one where she starts ballet lessons and I've always found it intensely annoying that once Angelina's life was back on track and she was dancing at ballet, she "even let the boys catch her in the playground sometimes"? WTF? How is this possibly positive role modelling?!?

Whenever there is a scoundrel in an episode they sound like Del Boy.

YANBU if you are referring to the tv programmes/dvds - they are horrible and we noticed the same things about the treatment of Alice. i don't think its so bad in the books - there is a lot of stuff about friendship and the tone and characters are a lot gentler. On the dvd we have Alice is always scoffing food and being a bit rubbish and the twins are really bitchy. Its pretty bad in terms of ballet too - I may sound a bit uptight but lots of little girls turn up to my DD's ballet class in full on tutus and sparkles instead of the simple practice tunic they are supposed to wear, because they seem to think ballet is all about showing off and wearing pink, and it really irritates me.

I agree about Peppa Pig!

We saw 1 episode of the TV Angelina, and thought it was dire. I've got 2 of the books though and find them quite annoying. Lovely pictures, but the stories are not very interesting and lacking in humour. Just ballet, ballet and more ballet.

You can't expect story book characters to model perfect behaviour, it's often bad behaviour that makes stories interesting! But the stories aren't that interesting so what's the point!

My 4 year old used to love Angelina when she was about 2 but I think she has outgrown them now (thankfully!)

I agree about Peppa Pig!

We saw 1 episode of the TV Angelina, and thought it was dire. I've got 2 of the books though and find them quite annoying. Lovely pictures, but the stories are not very interesting and lacking in humour. Just ballet, ballet and more ballet.

You can't expect story book characters to model perfect behaviour, it's often bad behaviour that makes stories interesting! But the stories aren't that interesting so what's the point!

My 4 year old used to love Angelina when she was about 2 but I think she has outgrown them now (thankfully!)

I agree about Peppa Pig!

We saw 1 episode of the TV Angelina, and thought it was dire. I've got 2 of the books though and find them quite annoying. Lovely pictures, but the stories are not very interesting and lacking in humour. Just ballet, ballet and more ballet.

You can't expect story book characters to model perfect behaviour, it's often bad behaviour that makes stories interesting! But the stories aren't that interesting so what's the point!

My 4 year old used to love Angelina when she was about 2 but I think she has outgrown them now (thankfully!)