Good-bye Gilbert Blythe

His death didn't make a huge splash in the media, not like bigger actors. But for many of us born in the 70s and 80s, the passing of Jonathan Crombie felt like the death of our first love. He will forever be Gilbert Blythe in my mind, and despite the downright horrible screenplay (in my opinion) for the final Anne of Green Gables series, I can't help but be sad that he will never be given a chance to reprise the role.

From the very first chapter of Anne of Green Gables, I was obsessed. I went on to read just about everything Lucy Maud Montgomery ever published and getting to visit Prince Edward Island in the midst of reading the Anne of Green Gables trilogy was one of the biggest highlights of my young life. I wanted to be Anne Shirley, to be at the top of my class, to marry my childhood sweetheart, to live in the beautiful gardens and houses she always seemed to inhabit, to have that one bosom friend. In Anne I recognized my own drive for perfection, that same deep seeded certainty of right and wrong that drove our loved ones crazy. But she also had an imagination and confidence I could only envy, especially since those were some of the traits Gilbert loved best about her.

As I look back now, I am glad Gilbert was my first crush and can only hope my own daughter finds, if not Gilbert, someone as safe as Gilbert to invest her heart in for the first time. Besides being a only a character in a book, Gilbert was safe. Smart, funny, loyal, and forgiving, Gilbert accepted Anne for who she was and never tried to change her. He supported her dreams and waited patiently for her even when she rejected him. He can't be blamed if he wasn't perfect (who is?), but he came pretty close.

If you consider that Anne of Green Gables was first published in 1908, Gilbert is pretty remarkable in his feminist tendencies. After all, he encouraged Anne's education and both her teaching and her writing careers in a time when women were expected to stay home and take care of their homes unless they didn't have a man to provide for them. This more equal relationship is one of the many ways the series has remained relevant through the years.

Jonathan Crombie, I will miss you. You brought Gilbert off the page and into the flesh, and for that, I will forever be grateful.

The Sexism of Sesame Street

My daughter is finally getting to the age where she is starting to watch television. I am convinced that until recently, when I thought it was time to introduce her to some children's programming to her, she thought the only thing the television showed was sports, my husband's passion. The first thing I pulled up to show my daughter was Sesame Street on Netflix.


Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I love Sesame Street. As a mom, it's one of the few toddler friendly shows that doesn't either grate on my nerves or bore me. And yet, I have a bone to pick with the show. Less than a quarter of its muppets are female, and certainly none of the most beloved ones are. 
Last week my toddler daughter recently decided she wanted to pick out the diaper she wanted to wear. We looked at all the characters they featured: Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Ernie. It then dawned on me that every single muppet featured on them was male. I couldn't help but recall the furor over the lack of Black Widow marketing from Marvel and wondered why is no one upset about Sesame Street? This is a show geared toward children as they first become consumers of media, heralded as the gold standard of children's programming, and it's basically sidelining 50% of of its viewers. Is it a case of the age-old thinking that girls are willing to consume male-centric media, but not the reverse? The same thinking that leads movie studios to pour money into male-centric big-box office movies and "chick flicks" have to fight to be produced?

I stewed on it and then thought, I can't be the only one who has noticed this. Sure enough, Bitch Magazine featured an article about it . . . way back in 2009 and PopMatters brought it up even farther back in 2006. For the most part though, I found very little evidence of fury I myself have begun to feel. 

Sesame Street seems to be trying to rectify their failings, introducing three female muppets since 2006, starting with Abby Cadabby. But I couldn't name any of these characters before my search and they certainly haven't established themselves in America's hearts like their classic male counterparts. They aren't exactly Miss Piggy, who was recently honored with a Sackler Center First Award from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. Miss Piggy, it seems, is an anomaly in the muppet world, where even on her own franchise, The Muppets, she is all alone in a sea of male muppets.

Seseme Street, if by some miracle you are reading this, help a mommy out and give my daughter some better female muppets to watch!