Where shows aimed at little girls are concerned, there is an advantage in having more female characters than male, in terms of the sellability of the spin-off toys. It just makes more marketing sense. Ever noticed how the little girl ponies have very long manes and tails, and all sorts of glittery accessories ? It is because little girls enjoy brushing and styling the hair, and applying “make-up” on their ponies. There are far more accessories which can be made and sold for the female characters than for male characters. In fact, ever noticed that in the disney world, it is the disney princesses who rule the roost, and the male characters are merely accessories? Same reason – little girls just buy fewer male dolls than female ones (and long haired female characters sell out faster than short haired ones), because the female dolls are so much more fun to play with – prince charming just does not look good in a ball gown :D.
Smurfs do not reproduce sexually, and there are not naturally any female Smurfs. Smurfette was created by Gargamel as a spy/seductress/troublemaker, but she repented and was turned into a real Smurf by Papa Smurf. The original evil Smurfette was uglier, less feminine looking, and had black hair, but once she became good she transformed into a more attractive blonde. (No, really.)
I’m not familiar with the current My Little Pony show, but I have a difficult time believing that it’s worse than The Smurfs or plenty of other cartoons in terms of sexism.
My daughter watches the show, and it’s one of the shows she watches that I don’t mind watching myself. There are boys in it, and some have names, but the only boy who gets episodes focused on him is Spike, Twilight’s assistant. But then, it’s My Little Pony, and aimed at little girls.
The girls are friends with boys, though, and neither is subservient.
I’ve never seen an episode in which anyone’s parent has died (although neither have I seen one in which a parent of the main cast has shown up in the present* - all flashbacks, from what I remember, but I could be wrong). The reason the parents aren’t present is that the main characters all seem to be in the equivalent of their early 20s, and they all have jobs and houses and stuff.
Granny Smith may be Applejack’s mother, but I think it more likely she’s her gran.
Rarity’s folks show up at the start of the present-day episode where they’re heading out of town and want her to take care of her little sister until they get back.
Well, I’m just relying on my 4-year old’s reasoning and interpretations. All of her MLP toys have ages, and they range from 2 to 6. (And yes - they’re all girls - all 12 of them.) I think she just reasoned that the fathers must of died, because there aren’t any of them. I’m guessing there was no show where there was a mass-slaughter of all the dads :).
I haven’t seen any shows where any of the girl ponies were friends with any boys. Friendly, yes, but not friends. I’m not saying they don’t exist, of course.
As an aside, I used to play Rarity as bossy and stuck-up, just she looks that way. (And because it’s hard to have a good story without conflict.) But she corrected me, and I’m not allowed to play her that way anymore.
No, I never said there were no male characters. In fact I said there was a boy character in my first post. I’m asking whether they play any role other than minor supporting characters or plot devices. In other words, if there are any boy protagonists.
I’m now also curious whether there are any friendships between boys and girls, but that’s sort of side issue.
IIRC, there’s an episode where hard-working male Big McIntosh gets more time and lines than any of the Mane 6, but that was kind of a special case. “SCHMOOPIE-DOOO!”