Kids’ TV Programming in India: A Comparison of Gender Representation in Imports versus Locally Produced Programmes

Gender-sensitive Portrayal in Cartoon Shows for Preschoolers: A Critical Analysis of Masha and the Bear

“…The content for this study was purposively selected from the universe of all the cartoon shows in the English language having a presence in Indian cartoon television channels targeting preschool children like Nick Junior and Disney Junior (Das & Kini, 2018;Rozario et al, 2017Rozario et al, , 2018. The show 'M&TB' was selected from Nick Junior due to the continuous top ranking of Nick Junior in the Television Rating Point chart of BARC (2021, April) and also keeping in mind that no such study had been conducted on 'M&TB'.…”

“…Rozario et al (2018) argued that male characters (74.94%) outnumbered female characters (25.06%) across all channels. Other studies (Gauravam & Deb, 2020;Rozario et al, 2017;Thompson & Zebrinos, 1995) identified the representation of more male characters than females in Indian and American cartoon shows for older children. While the above studies were based on the cartoon shows for older children, Walsh and Leaper (2020) argued that gender-stereotyped portrayals and under-representation of female characters are present in cartoon shows for preschoolers too.…”

“…Television has earned a favoured position in terms of viewing and receiving children's programmes, especially animated shows. In India too, it has remained the favourite option for kids' recreation (Rozario et al, 2017). Animation and cartoon shows in India, as well as other parts of the world, enchant children, both preschoolers as well as older kids.…”

“…Hence, the portrayal of stereotyped gender roles in preschooler's television is found to be lesser in comparison to ones for the older kids in India as well as western societies. While animation shows like Chota Bheem, Motu Patlu and Doraemon (Fujio, 1979) depict rigid stereotypical gender roles and power relations between male and female characters (Rozario et al, 2017;Signorielli, 1990), the animation shows broadcast for preschoolers are flexible (Walsh & Leaper, 2020). In their research work, Walsh and Leaper (2020) posit that although preschool television programmes perpetuate many gender-role stereotypes, they are lesser in comparison to the content aimed at older kids.…”

“…Rather, Masha turns the lives of the wolves upside down who are then forced to return her to the Bear. In a bid to attract the young audience, Indian animated shows like 'Chota Bheem' and 'Mighty Raju' portray violence in the form of a physical duel between the protagonist and the antagonist (Magotra & Kaur, 2018;Rozario et al, 2017). M&TB deliberately avoids it in a majority of its episodes, barring the episode on 'Home Grown Ninjas' where Masha and the panda use violence to scare away the black bear and in 'Little Cousin' when Masha meets the panda for the first time.…”