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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be sick of anthropomorphism in children's TV

111 replies

BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 14:41

It seems every time I stick CBeebies on it's "The Large Family." Which is an utterly tedious, unfunny cartoon about a boring family in a boring town doing boring things. But they are all elephants. Why? Why are they elephants and not people?

"Arthur" is bad enough. I don't even know what sort of animal Arthur is supposed to be. He looks like nothing on God's earth. But at least all the families look different.

In "The Large Family" all the elephants look exactly the same except the three hairs on top of their heads are arranged in different ways. Even I have better things to do with my day than scrutinise elephants' haircuts FGS.

I appreciate that Beatrix Potter started all this with Peter Rabbit and his blue jacket and camomile tea. But at least he had some real rabbit issues in his life, like risking being put in a pie by Mr McGregor.

Why can't The Large Family face some real elephantine issues, instead of just the trials of babysitting or having the bath overflow?

Why not:

  • drama as ivory poachers are spotted in town
  • Mrs Large faces antenatal depression as her pregnancy enters its second year
  • a plague of mice terrorise the family
  • Mr Large goes to a clinic, worried that his penis is only two feet long
OP posts:
Rockbird · 06/03/2010 14:43

Do you think maybe you need to switch of the tv and go for a nice walk?

Or if you want to rant about the crappness of Lazytown I'm happy to join you...

mumofaboy · 06/03/2010 14:43

A member of the family being admitted to the Priory for peanut addiction......

YANBU btw - and I hate Arthur too. Why is his sister called DW??

nickschick · 06/03/2010 14:45

This is almost as sad as me ringing up the bbc to ask what the relationship was between Max and Judy in the tweenies...and if she is the childminder then surely he too needed to be inspected and his car would need extra insurance as he frequently takes the tweenies out in it and I dont believe he ever did a risk assesment,likewise should there be 2 dogs roaming freely with in the house which i was informed wasnt a home but a childcare establishment.

nancy75 · 06/03/2010 14:48

arthur is an aardvark and his sister is called dora winifred!

BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 14:49

I thought the tweenies were a playgroup, nickschick.

And you're right, I wouldn't send my DCs to a playgroup with two dogs.

OP posts:
BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 14:50

How can he be an aarvark? They have a whatyacallit . . . proboscis.

Or do you know this, Nancy?

OP posts:
nickschick · 06/03/2010 14:51

Balloon noooo the bbc told me judy is a childminder and Max is her Dad he doesnt live at the tweenies house it is an extension of judys .....those dogs did worry me u know.

nancy75 · 06/03/2010 14:54

well, arthur is actually at the centre of some controvosy, some believe him to be a capybara while most other people think he is an aardvark!

nickschick · 06/03/2010 14:56

Is Arthurs sister a rabbit??

nancy75 · 06/03/2010 14:56

there is even a what is arthur facebook page www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=2340669442 maybe you could join?

nickschick · 06/03/2010 14:56

The dog in family guy bothers me - I worry hes cleverer than the children.

BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 14:57

The bbc told you?

You really rang them?

Fantabulosa!

OP posts:
BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 14:59

Okay

this and this

Do you think by any chance they are related?

OP posts:
nickschick · 06/03/2010 15:00

I did ring them

At first they said they couldnt help but after I insisted they said they would find out and so they rang me back.

BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 15:02

Good for you nickschick. The BBC needs to be accountable.

OP posts:
TrinityIsFuckingTrying · 06/03/2010 15:04

I love Timmy Time and Chugginton
but I agree with you about the large family

thats pants

hocuspontas · 06/03/2010 15:08

No way is Arthur an aardvark!

I was ill in bed one day and spent hours trying to figure Arthur out. I think in the end I plumped for bear or hamster

BertieBotts · 06/03/2010 15:09

I have a fondness for the Large Family because I used to read the books. And then one day I noticed that Lester is voiced by the older boy from Outnumbered and now I can't help picturing him doing the voiceover.

Don't really like Chuggington - it's just trying to be Thomas the Tank Engine. Why don't they show Fireman Sam any more anyway?

BalloonSlayer · 06/03/2010 15:10

Actually I did smile the other day at it but only because there was a baby elephant called Lucian and I noticed it was pronounced both Lucy-an and Looshan and I thought of Mumsnet.

OP posts:
nancy75 · 06/03/2010 15:10

arthur is an aardvark

waitingforbedtime · 06/03/2010 15:11

The Large family is crappy but ds (3y2m)LOVES it but has started saying 'elephants cant talk mummy' in a questioning voice!

hocuspontas · 06/03/2010 15:12

This is an aardvark! Definitely not Arthur!

nancy75 · 06/03/2010 15:13

i didnt bloody draw it!!!

nickelbabe · 06/03/2010 15:13

BalloonSlayer: watch it, that could be construed as a thread about a thread.....

i always thought max was the tweenies' grandpa.
never thought about Judy, but maybe i thought she was the auntie. never even crossed my mind they weren't related.

MoChan · 06/03/2010 15:13

YANBU, I am also completely fed up of all the anthropomorphism. They do it because children love animals, but in my (limited) experience, they don't have to be talking/wearing clothes, etc, to be appealing. I like it when they appear just as animals, like Hairy MacLary and his mates.

I also think it's a bit mad to encourage children to think of animals on the one hand as having human traits, and on the other, as food. But then I'm a vegetarian and possibly over-think stuff like that.