Thursday, March 10, 2016

Powerpuff Girls!

One of my all time favorite animated shows besides Sailor Moon is Powerpuff Girls. Everyone who has watched the show knows the opening sequence:
"Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction-Chemical X! Thus the Powerpuff Girls were born." 

The other day I learned that the "creation myth" of the powerpuff girls is actually from an English nursery rhyme called "What Little Boys Are Made Of". According to the poem, boys are made of "snips and snails, and puppy dog tails" (which sounds repulsive next to what girls are made of, no wonder boys are gross). Anyway I am so excited that the show is being rebooted because of the three female-empowering lead characters. 

On the topic of the Powerpuff Girls' creation story, I was reminded of the conversations we've been having in class about the scientist archetype and how Professor Utonium doesn't really fit into this mold of an unfeeling, narcissistic man of science. He is a very caring father to his girls and cares very much about their well-being. However, as shown in his spilling chemical X into his "experiment" in the opening sequence, Professor Utonium is not immune to failure, which always accompanies science. I also find it interesting that he is creating life for the purpose of creating a family, unlike the scientist in other stories who do it just to see if they can and what will happen. I wonder if there are any theories as to what the professor's motive was to creating children instead of just adopting. I guess I have some research to do...

A clip from the rebooted Powerpuff Girls coming out in April. 

 


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