Gravity Falls Program Analysis

Social Programming The program I chose to watch was Gravity Falls. The show is about a brother and sister, Mable and Dipper, who are twins. They spend the summer living with their uncle Stan who runs a creepy tourist attraction, The Mystery Shack, in a town called Gravity Falls. It is animated, and each episode is about the kids getting into conflicts with the mysterious things in the town and the woods around The Mystery Shack. I watched the piolet episode of the show because the episode’s the main cast is introduced. I used the streaming service Hulu to watch the program, so I found commercials on YouTube. The commercials I viewed are a compilation of commercials from 2017. It was a mix of toys marketed for boys, some marketed for girls, and some marketed for both. When the show introduces Mable and Dipper immediately they make a distinction between their sexes. Mable is portrayed as seeing the bright side of things, her personality is cheery, and she loves anything that sparkles. She is always wearing pink or feminine colors and her hair is always accessorized with flowers or a headband. The children share a bedroom and Mabel’s side is …show more content…
The way Mabel is portrayed reaffirms that girls are supposed to be bright and cheery as well as obsessed with having a boyfriend. That part of the show was bothersome to me because the rest of the show I think broke some of those rules. The kids love solving mysteries and Mabel is incredibly smart and observant. I feel like making her obsessed with boys takes away from her being unique and witty. This show’s audience is boys and girls, but I felt like the character Dipper was one dimensional. He was a typical boy who was always trying to rein in his crazy sister. I also found that the one person of color on the show being comic relief to be problematic. While he is a sheriff, that does not excuse the fact that his character is a stereotype and a bit