It's funny. I don't like talking about the new series of The Powerpuff Girls. I feel like it should best be ignored and forgotten. But then it went and pushed my personal button. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a world where everyone says "No Girls Allowed!"
In case you've been living under a rock, and please tell me where I can find it so we can be roommates, the PPG reboot seems to attract controversy like a supermagnet. And what makes it all the worse is its seeming double standards despite it being a "feminist" story, when it doesn't even fall into the modern definition of feminism.
After all, Ms. Bellum was removed because the producers thought she didn't "mesh well with the image they were trying to create". This, combined with the flattening of Miss Keane's chest tells me that the producers didn't see Bellum for her brain, that which makes part of her name, how she runs Townsville basically on her own, how she's a positive role model for the Girls. They only saw her for her body, exactly the kind of sexism women face on a daily basis for being seen not for their skills, but their bodies. Or maybe they just didn't like seeing a woman be strong, since the primary focus is given to the masculine Powerpuff Girl, and plenty of time the strong superheroes need to be saved by a man.
Then they went and did an episode on transgenderism... and hit all the wrong buttons on the list, including portraying the person having his body changed as literally turning into a monster because something "went wrong". Oh, and the unicorn had a horn the entire time. After all the sheer backlash from the trans community, they backtracked and said "it wasn't really a transgenderism episode!" when, of course, it was.
But what I'm here to talk about is their sexualization of children, since, of course, sexualizing children is awful and shameful under any circumstance. For instance, twice in episodes involving Allegro, the girls end up twerking, a sexual dance in all senses. Need I remind you the Girls are not even teenagers. They even dressed them up with adult clothing and with heavy makeup. But the crown jewel of all of their apparent pedophilia is when one of the writers had the gall to self-insert their own character as Blossom's love interest, a kindergartner, need I remind you. They were practically roasted on the internet by all sides, and justifiably so; this is quite blatant pedophilia and everyone knows it.
But then... but then they had to go and censor a bath scene in the episode "Toy Ploy." Out of all the mines they decided not to step on in that minefield they gleefully aimed for almost each explosive... they picked the one which the original series had no problem with. The one that was of no issue to anyone. And the wort part is? Even as I was removing the bathing suits, the soap bubbles still censor everything objectionable. The bathing suits were not necessary at all.
The only thing worse than a hypocrite... is a cowardly hypocrite.
As of now, the Reboot is floundering. The Powerpuff Girls is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and good things are happening. The original show is coming to Boomerang, and Ace is being made a member of the latest Gorillaz album, with WB's blessing. Years from now, the Reboot will simply be forgotten, while the original show will be remembered for years to come.
May the next reboot be a lot better than this.