The Sordid Truth Behind the Powerpuff Girls
How Townsville’s protectors were thinly-veiled apparatus of the state.
It’s time we started a dialogue. It’s true that over the last few years, as a society, we have re-examined what we enjoy, and who we gave time to. We live in an age that some claim are suffocating us in respectability politics, a time where even our most treasured memories can be uncovered and seen to be what they truly are, blemishes and all. It’s like every day we wake up, someone else gets cancelled, another production gets lambasted for its portrayal of a particular group or situation.
I recently have been peering back at my past, peeling back my picks, repealing my support in retrospect.. As the world becomes more and more “correct” and less and less “offensive”, I realise that more and more of the content we consumed as kids created who we are. Films, literature, books, are all being retrospectively torn apart as I realise what can be considered offensive. Is it too late to reclaim our youth from ignorance? Does cancelling things actually have an effect on the overall climate of media? I don’t know, but I do know that Professor X and his gang of girls are definitely agents of austerity.
The reality of the situation is that The Powerpuff Girls are classist. I know it makes uncomfortable to uncover the truth about beloved childhood heroes, but here we are. I came to this conclusion over careful examination, and I wanted to keep it to myself, but everyday carrying this burden just dragged me down.
“But Scully” you scowl, a frown hanging heavy on your jaw side “how can fictional characters be classist tools of capitalist society, much less primary school aged princesses who haven’t yet developed a political identity, much less an allegiance?”
I’ll tell you how. Closely examine the Powerpuff Girls’ enemies. Each one of them represents a faction of the working class, often simple people, with simple pleasures, wanting no more than to be themselves.
Let us start with the Ganggreen Gang. What have the Ganggreen Gang actually done wrong? Do they actually even warrant the term gang to be used in reference to them? To me, it looks like a group of friends, cruelly afflicted by environmental classism, forced to be raised in the heaviest polluted parts of town, and mutated beyond reform. And when I watch episodes back, I don’t see them doing anything more than loitering with intent. I genuinely need to see a list of major crimes they committed that warranted the major trauma they received. I don’t think they did anything that couldn’t have been pinned on a lack of opportunity and societal neglect. In fact, beyond that, several members of their supposed ‘gang’ might have really been…well…slow.
Then there was Fuzzy Lumpkins. A simple man with simple pleasures. Ok, so he might have been a little grumpy, and somewhat anti-social, but I’m pretty sure those things are NOT crimes. He’s literally described as a hillbilly/farmer who resides OUTSIDE of Townsville, and mainly has a problem with people trespassing on his property. Yet for some reason, this gaggle of girls always found a reason to beat him to a pulp. One day, he was once even tortured by Buttercup to the point he was left temporarily handicapped, seemingly for nothing more than being in the wrong place when she was in the wrong mood. Did they disagree with his aversion to mainstream society? Or was it his gruff country way of speaking they found uncomfortable? Either way, it feels like he was simply a victim of free thought.
And then, we turn to Mojo Jojo. Professor X’s beloved pet, who was cast aside when the Powerpuff Girls came into the picture. What is Mojo Jojo? Outside of a character. What IS Mojo Jojo? A chimp who was mutated, changed, without will or choice. Dragged out of Plato’s proverbial cave, into the blinding light, forced to see more. Ever heard the phrase ignorance is bliss? Well the second Mojo Jojo was granted a genius level IQ, his life was cursed. Destined to spend his life wanting more, to innovate, to invent. They often say when a government or state wants to control its people, it begins by silencing it’s scientists. Discrediting and denouncing intelligent thought is how it keeps it’s populous dumbed down. Maybe this is why they saw Mojo Jojo as such a threat. The only one who knew the truth about Professor X, his ego, and the way he used his creations, while pretending to see them as family. The only one who seemed to be bringing technology and thought process. The people of Townsville laughed at him the same way they laughed at Leonardo Da Vinci when he told them the earth was a sphere. Abused, admonished and alienated, first by his family, then by his intellectual peers, after being changed beyond recognition to the point he couldn’t be around his species…is it any wonder he grew hate for those that spent half their televised existence beating him to an unrecognisable pulp?
Finally, there was the conclusion of Powerpuff Girls…the disgusting state in which they left the city each and every episode. Destroyed, often beyond repair. Rarely with remorse. These so-called criminals left bruised or bleeding, the cityscape often altered to something much uglier. Looking back, it leaves a bitter aftertaste. Imagine if the ones that were said to protect you did nothing more than terrorise members of the public who had been cast aside by the Government, and cost literally millions in taxes, due to imaginary wars on drugs, or loitering with intent, or anti-social behaviour orders. In fact, it almost sounds familiar? Can’t quite put my finger on it. But again and again they returned, ready to save the city of Townsville once again.
I could have gone on. I could talk about how Sedusa represented independent women everywhere, who wanted to be seen for more than just their feminine aspects, like their hair, while retaining control of their sexuality. I could discuss how The Amoeba Boys were nothing more than white collar workers trying to make their way in the complex rat race. Even how Princess Warbucks signified new money, and the struggle to be accepted within the circles of higher class circles when they don’t accept your money or means. And don’t even get me started on Him. Or Her. Or however they choose to identify in 2018. But perhaps it would be best to let you reach your own conclusions.
Sometimes cartoons can hide nuggets of truth deep within them. Sometimes your lightest memories can hold the heaviest traumas. Sometimes that which you always thought was the “right” side turns out to be in the wrong. Sometimes the line between good and evil gets harder to see, and you can see different things from different things from different perspectives. Sometimes you can just feel like writing 1,000 words on a show that you didn’t even used to rush home to see, you just mildly enjoy. The point is The Powerpuff Girls are the feds.
I’ll be back with more irreverent takes on things that don’t really seem to matter, but maybe actually say loads about society when you deep it, whenever I feel like. Stay safe.