Thanks to One Million Moms being crazy and stupid, I am now aware of and have watched the first episode of Shezow. It is not a genre transcending masterpiece or anything, but I am over all quite pleased. It is about a boy and his sister (and other family members) who inherit a house from their deceased aunt. While cleaning the basement they stumble upon a secret panel hiding a ring. The sister immediately recognizes it as the Shezow power ring. Doubting his sister the brother, named Guy, takes the ring and puts it on to prove how silly she is being and of course immediately is transformed into Shezow, a super heroine that wears a pink skirt and heels.
Guy's personality is very stereotypical male, brash, impulsive, sporty. His sister is portrayed and more mature and knowledgeable. Shezow's power set and costume is VERY stereotypical "girly". A boomerang brush, high heels, light saber lipstick, and pink EVERYTHING.
I have already seen some comments deriding the show. Some saying that these stereotypes are harmful. I disagree though in the case of this show. While I agree that pegging fashion, and pink, and beauty products as definitively girly can be a very bad thing, here I feel it mostly shows that it is ok if you like those things and like being active and strong and heroic. The two are not mutually exclusive.
The main character, Guy, is not what most people think of when they think of a trans character. He has no initial desire to be or dress as a girl and initially he is put off by the unexpected transformation. Having only seen the pilot episode so far, it seems to me that Guy will be more of a gender fluid character. After the initial shock wears off Guy shows no strong aversion to being Shezow, even when teased by his male friend. At one point Guy says the line "Come to papa!" to which his friend teases, " Don't you mean 'come to mama'?" and Guy simply says, "Meh, depends on what I am wearing". Guys seems perfectly comfortable being being a rather overly typical boy and then excusing himself to go put on a bright pink skirt so SHE can go fight crime. The transformation is generally not used for cheap gags and over all it is very positive.
The writing probably wont pull in much of an older audience like can happen with some cartoons, but it is exceptionally well done for the target demographic. This show isn't going to revolutionize how gender roles are used in cartoons, but it sure is a step in that direction. I hope it does well when it comes to the HUB.
