The Quest of the Golden Dragon (1995)

When I was in primary school, I read as many Banana Books as I could get my hands on. Earlier a boiled egg reminded me of the eggs in Scaredy-Cat, which reminded me of one of my favourite Banana Books, The Quest of the Golden Dragon. The book follows the adventures of a group of pirates and their cabin boy, Sharp, to find the golden dragon treasure. As I remember it, at the end of the book it's discovered that Sharp is, in fact, a girl: she'd run away from an orphanage, and passed herself off as a cabin boy to live a new life at sea. She begs the pirates to not return her to the orphanage. If I recall correctly, the story ends with the pirates relaxing in a tavern while Sharp, now with longer hair and wearing a dress, serves them drinks.

So. A girl dresses as a boy, fair enough. She has to pass herself off as a boy to be accepted on the pirate ship, sad but okay. When she's discovered, the pirates treat her as a girl - in a stereotypically female role. It no longer matters that she played a large part in helping the pirates both on board the ship and during their treasure-seeking quest, as a girl she must now take the role of serving drinks. Never mind that the pirates know that she's capable as a member of the crew - this is seemingly forgotten as soon as her gender is revealed. She must conform to the feminine image that society has placed on her: her change of hairstyle and dress to a more 'girly' style alludes to this. We don't know how she feels about this, perhaps she embraces the chance to show her femininity: it isn't discussed how comfortable she was when presenting as a boy. While she may embrace being able to show her girly side (if she has one) by wearing a dress and growing her hair, does she enjoy having the role of a waitress given to her? Or would she rather continue having adventures at sea, with nobody viewing her as unladylike?

Positive message: Through determination and involving every member of a team, any challenge can be overcome and rewards will be found.
Negative messages: Girls must be 'girly', gender is more important than capability, we must conform to gender roles, and learning something new about a person makes their previous actions irrelevant.

Snake joke

I'm cheating somewhat by using a joke rather than a TV programme, but here's my take on a joke that my mum read out to me last week:

A snake visits his doctor.
"Doctor, I could never see very well, but now things look fuzzier than ever." The doctor prescribes him some glasses, and the snake goes on his way.
A few weeks later, the snake returns.
"Doctor, please help, I feel depressed."
"Oh, but didn't the glasses help you?"
"They did, but now that I can see I've realised that I've been married to a hose for the past two years!"

After I'd finished laughing, I thought of a few things:
a) The snake only realised that his wife was a hose when his vision was clear.
b) This implies that before that, he didn't use any of his other senses to tell that she wasn't a snake, namely hearing.
c) This implies that he didn't think it odd that the his supposed wife had never spoken to him.

From this we wonder:
a) Did he get her consent to marry him?
b) If he'd asked her, did he take her lack of answer as a yes?
c) After they'd married, did he receive any consent for sex? (I'm assuming that they would sleep together as a married couple.)

Doesn't this make the snake seem like one who either doesn't care about women's responses, or who doesn't expect women to have responses? Did he feel that it was his right to claim any woman for himself, without asking for her feelings on the matter? Does he feel that as a married man, he could have sex with his wife without her consent? He doesn't think to ask her thoughts on anything in two years of marriage, yet doesn't seem to view this lack of communication as a problem with his relationship. When he receives his glasses, he sees that his wife is in fact an object - but has he not treated her as one for as long as he's known her? Has he taken the time to know her as anything more than what he sees her as? Given that there's no communication between the two, all he has in terms of feedback from his wife is her appearance - when his glasses show him what she really looks like, he feels depressed. Clearly all that matters to this snake is his wife's appearance, nothing more.

Positive message: This is a funny joke about a snake who'd unknowingly lived with a hose.
Negative messages: Women aren't expected to have opinions, women don't need to consent to marriage, husbands don't need their wives' consent for sex, no communication in marriage isn't negative, and all that matters when choosing a mate and keeping a relationship strong is what a woman looks like.