In the beloved Nickelodeon series,
Hey Arnold, there are several examples of gender norm concepts. There are also some
great examples how Hey Arnold breaks those gender norms. Hey Arnold shows the
stereotypical idea of an elementary mind set of how girls should act and how
boys should act, but also shows there can be some exceptions.
Arnold, Gerald, Harold, and Stinky
always go out to the empty lot and play baseball. Which is the typical gender
norm of being a boy and playing sports and being competitive. But the example
of how Hey Arnold writers broke that norm was through Helga, who is the bully
in the neighborhood. Which the stereotypical idea of a bully is a boy, but
Helga is represented as the tough
shell and no one is welcome in; except Arnold but she still picks on him. The boys let her play because she has that "mind set of a boy."
Also with the other characters we
have on Hey Arnold is Phoebe who breaks the gender norms because she is the
smartest in the neighborhood. In today’s generation it is becoming more normal for women to show off their intelligences,
but in the 90’s that was still a hot topic on women can actually have beauty and brains!
Hey Arnold writer’s also had a character named Harold, who was tough on the outside, but on the
inside he was soft and would cry to his “mommy.” Since Harold was a boy, him
crying to his mommy should that he was weak. But if Harold was a girl then it would be more acceptable.
Another norm which is more cognitive
is how the artists idea on creating the characters. This idea is something we
discussed in class. Arnold’s outfit is dominantly blue, which is associated with
boys and masculine. And even
though Helga is mean, and a bully she still wears a pink dress to seem more “feminine.”
