by far the funniest children's cartoon to have Discourse has to be 2017 Ducktales. I used to seek it out on purpose to harm my friends with. The discourse wasn't much different from other cartoons-- incredibly heated, deeply self-serious discussions of trauma and abuse and toxic relationships and other things that are decidedly not explored on "Ducktales"-- but everyone observing it gets a persistent recurring blast of psychic damage every time they remember the character being discussed in those terms is named Webbigail Vanderquack
I remember seeing posts about Lin Manuel Miranda's character-- also an anthropomorphic cartoon duck-- was being labor-exploited in a hostile work environment by an abusive boss, and they had to always kinda vaguely describe his boss as "his employer" or "his supervisor" or something, because it becomes deeply impossible to continue pretending that's a real conversation worth having when you have to admit that his boss' name is "Gyro Gearloose"
#i think my favorite part of new ducktales #is that lmm's character is of cuban heritage #so is there a cuba in duckberg universe? #is there a duck version of castro?? via @pearwaldorf
i think you know the answer to that and his name is feedwell quackstro
Im gonna say this as a certified DuckTales2017 veteran, I completely understand that people misunderstand the some of the conflicts and tone of the show.
BUT to pretend like duck media hasn't been discussed seriously for decades, ESPECIALLY on the front of class divide, capitalism and power dynamics is ignorant to a really interesting perspective of consuming duck media.
A core part of Donald and Scrooge's dynamic for decades was defined by a power struggle. DuckTales2017 was essentially a PR campaign for Scrooge McDuck, given how much they underplayed this part of his character. It had always been true that Scrooge represented high society while Donald represented the working man in these stories. From the very beginning, there was a narrative interpretation of exploitation and class divide.
DuckTales is established to take place in a world identical to ours. They live in America where all the same historical events and injustices occurred, only really different from our world in that they have ducks, pigs, and dogs in place of humans. In this story Scrooge McDuck faces discrimination as a Scottish immigrant coming to America as a child laborer. The climax of the story has Scrooge McDuck burn down an entire African village because they didn't give him land rights. A story about how money, power and greed corrupts. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck really isn't any different from any other piece of historical non-fiction. When this story is established to take place in the same continuity as DuckTales2017, it's really no surprise that people take a more serious reading of some aspects of the show when the comics beforehand already establish that tone.
It's a different discussion altogether on if DT17 handled these themes well but nonetheless, it is still explicitly a part of Fenton's story that he struggles with discrimination and his identity as a hispanic superhero, even having his Gizmoduck identity compared to "code switching" by one of the directors. The show actively makes it a point to point out that Fenton's labor is unpaid, working for a boss who belittles him. Between Mark Beaks, Gyro, and Scrooge, there's definitely something to be said about Fenton and his relationship with his superiors, who only ever take him seriously when its under the Gizmoduck identity. Its not far-fetched at all to take a classist, or even racial reading of these dynamics. Again, there's been a precedent since the Carl Barks days that classism and abuse of power have been an ongoing theme in these duck stories. its not crazy at all to apply that reading to the modern reboot.
Even then, when the reboot has a much sillier tone than the comics, it's not like serious themes have been completely absent either. At the top of my head, I can think of Lena's arc dealing with parental abuse, or ableism and neglect of disabled children in Astro Boyd. Though it's true that it's a uniquely DT17 problem in that it struggles on what themes it wants to take seriously or not (like committing to mark beaks racism for example) but that could be its whole own post. I digress.
I understand that some kids shows can get read into too much by their fans because they want a deeper story that isn't there, but honestly, DuckTales is a really bad example of that. Besides, I think if fans are taking these things seriously, it only speaks to their dedication and willingness to engage with the source material, and I'd say that's hardly a crime.
