For this assignment of analyzing a television show directed towards younger viewers, I chose a show that is still occasionally aired, but more significant to me, a show I grew up watching. My favorite part of taking psychology classes is being able to take the information taught and look back to see how certain concepts and psychology findings were put into my everyday life in a discrete way, which is what will be done during this paper. The show Rugrats is an animated series that focuses on a group of toddlers and is told through a baby’s point of view.
The main character Tommy, is the leader of the group who mainly comes up with the adventures the toddlers often embark on through their imagination. The rest of the group includes Dil, Tommy’s baby brother, Chuckie, Tommy’s best friend, Kira, Chuckie’s step sister, and Phil and Lil, who are twins who can be considered weird by some. Tommy’s has a bratty older cousin, Angelica, who is known for her token line “You stupid babies! ” Her friend, who looking back I would not actually consider a friend because of how horrible she treats her, Suzie appears in this episode as well.
Angelica and Suzie have polar opposite personalities which make for an interesting dynamic. Each episode of Rugrats is broken into mini episodes in themselves which I will refer to as chapters. In the first chapter, there is a talent show where Angelica competes against Suzie, which I thought would be good because competition often leads to conflict, especially when two friends are put against each other. It did not take long for Angelica to become very competitive in an unfair way.
She spied on Suzie and made alterations to her performance after seeing how great Suzie’s dance routine costume looked, bossing her mom around in the rocess, to which her mom complied and did everything she asked, no matter how nasty she behaved. Angelica also finds out Suzie’s mother was playing the piano, which Angelica then tried to upstage her by getting her mom to hire an orchestra to perform during her dance routine. The day of the show Suzie comes in with sparkling new tap shoes, which Angelica did not like, so she tries to sabotage Suzie by hiding her shoes, thinking it would ruin the performance. In the end Suzie wins the talent show, teaching a lesson that being nasty won’t benefit you.
The second chapter shows much more interaction between the children and adults, specifically Tommy, Dil, and their parents Didi and Stu. Majority of my findings on will be based on Angelica, because she is such a controversial character. Within the first three minutes of the episode, Angelica goes from extreme highs to lows regarding her mood and behavior. She has a difficult temperament due to being egocentric and extroverted. Angelica sees the world through her perspective only, and any ideas that are not hers are not worth listening to.
When finding out she was a finalist for the talent show she was ecstatic, until Suzie’s name was announced following hers which brought on a fit of rage. Immediately she became competitive which heightened when the girls decided to both perform dance routines. There is a scene when Angelica is in her room having a conversation aloud with herself, an example of private speech, where she says how horrible it would be for Suzie to win, since the winner gets a trip to her favorite theme park.
I noticed that she acts on impulse and there is little thought put into the consequences of her actions a good majority of the time, which Freud would describe as her Id. The first example of this was when Angelica went over Tommy’s house who is Suzie’s neighbor. She dug through the toy box to find binoculars which were used to spy on Suzie. While spying she sees how beautiful Suzie’s costume is coming along, and ultimately gets caught by Suzie. Another example of Angelica acting on her ld occurred the day of the talent show when Suzie came in with sparkly new tap shoes.
As soon as Suzie took them off, Angelica raced to hide them in attempt to sabotage Suzie’s performance. Instead, Suzie turns her performance into a comedy acts since she was wearing socks which caused her to slip around the stage. After winning the competition, Suzie thanks Angelica, who she says she could not have done it without. Anytime Angelica is unhappy she runs to her mother, Charlotte, who has a very permissive parenting style. She is aware of her daughter’s behavioral issues, but does nothing to correct them. Also, when she is barked at by Angelica, she gives in and does what she wants.
Angelica does not have rules, hence the reason she is so wild, partial blame based parents for never telling her no. For example, after seeing Suzie’s costume, she whines to her mom about it who calls a stylist that designs a one of a kind outfit for her. Her mother seems to enable the self-entitled attitude that Angelica has, along with her father. Angelica’s parent’s style of raising her may also contribute to the bully qualities she possesses. Because her parents are at her beck and call that is how she treats everyone around her.
Not only does she physically push Tommy and his friends around, but she gives them orders as if she is superior to them, using their age difference against them. In this episode in particular she takes Tommy’s hand and drags him with her to spy on Suzie, then orders him to hold the curtains so she can see. After getting caught she yells “out of my way Tommy,” dismissing him after she got what she wanted from him. The second chapter of the episode gives the viewer a look at the interaction between the toddlers and their parents.
The first scene includes Tommy’s father Stu, working on a robot, that looks self-made, while Didi, the mother walks in telling Stu that she is preparing to give the kids a bath. This sets an example of gender roles that young viewers would probably already be familiar with, since they are heavily represented in the media. The father is building while the mom is tending to the children. Didi discusses how confusing it is that Dil, the little brother does not enjoy taking baths. The bath scene though, explains baby Dil’s fear.
Animism is incorporated in explain his fear, which shows us his perspective during bath time. He sees the tub as an ocean, and his rubber duck comes to life and is after him. When seeing that Dil was not enjoying the bath, his mother tried her best to comfort him. Any interaction Didi has with her children there is a distinct change in the pitch of her voice as well as the elongation of her words, known as motherease. Since Dil cannot speak yet, the only response Didi gets is whines and babbling, which is his attempt to make sounds to explain his feelings.
Didi not understanding, took the time to figure out what was wrong with Dil, but the language barrier prevented that. Lastly, I will mention topics not specific to an individual chapter, but the episode overall, such as the opener to the show, or things I observed while watching. One of those being, throughout the day the kids are kept in the living room of a house, usually Didi and Stu’s house. There is a large round circular child safety gate around the area they play. In this area there is a toy box and seats with a television in the room as well.
This could be seen as a daycare, because the other children’s parents will drop them off, and go about their day. Where I had a bit of a problem is categorizing the type of daycare. After comparing I narrowed it down to either private family care or in home child care. Of the two, I believe private family care would be the best fit. I say this because there is no way of knowing whether Tommy’s parents are licensed or not, and in one scene the kids are with Didi and Stu, and in another they are being watching by Chuckie’s father and step mom.
Instead, I think because the adults are as close as a family, they take turns watching the children. Regarding Tommy and his friends, they seem to be portrayed as precocious little adults. They speak and move much more advanced than kids their age in real life. They are able to have full dialog with each other, such as opening conversation, taking turns speaking, and closing the conversation, and create extravagant adventures which require a lot of thought and planning.
One of the biggest pieces of this show would be the dynamics of Phil and Lil, along with their parents. Phil and Lil are twins, who wear matching green, pink, and blue outfits. They both love being dirty and are found eating bugs often but are still caring and loving. Their parents seem to have opposite personalities of what gender roles teach us. Their mother is more masculine and builds while their dad enjoys baking. It seems as though they are being raised gender neutral since when looking at their behavior alone they do not fit the stereotypical roles of their sex.
After seeing how closely related this animated show that targets children is related to psychology, it made me curious about the content of the shows my niece and younger cousins are watching as children. My favorite part about this analytical review of Rugrats would be that although they portray the typical gender roles, certain main characters of the show break the barrier. If a child who may be like Phil or Lil and does not necessarily like what their sex is primed to like, watching Rugrats and seeing how accepted Phil and Lil are may give them comfort to know that it is ok.
