gordonzola (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gordonzola) wrote2003-01-21 04:50 pm
gordonzola) wrote2003-01-21 04:50 pm
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Thomas, the tank engine that runs on false consciousness
I spent a lot of time in Seattle playing with my friends’ 2 year old kid.* I love it when taking care of a child is part of The Cause. Me staying home with A helped enable my friends to organize their neighborhood anti-war protest.
In the hours of day care I did, A only had one meltdown. Not bad considering I hadn’t seen him in a year and a half. The instructions I had were that if A got really upset and nothing worked to calm him, I should turn on the VCR and let him watch his train video. After the third viewing, I realized that I had some real ideological issues with "Thomas the Tank Engine".
I don’t know the technical term for the style that "Thomas" is made. I mean except for "cheap" and "bad". It’s kind of old-school, filming models of trains and people that just stand there expressionless while a voice over, which seem to all be done by the same person** says something. ("Oh my Thomas, I think we’re running late.") But it’s also partially animated, Thomas and all his engine friends have faces and moving lips.
What jumped out at me first was the sexism. All the engines are men, doing manly engine things. All the humans were men too, because, after all, who else would work on a railroad? It was so blatant that I, in my ‘90s way, was trying to see if their was a bigger irony that I was missing. There wasn’t.
Nor was there even a nod to multi-culturalism, as the engines all seemed English and white, mostly with proper English names.*** It is set in England, but you’d think they’d add one or two which acknowledged their colonial roots like "Mahatma, The Peaceful Train" or even modernized themselves with "Marley, The Rasta Engine". Their was however, one faggy train which kept asking to be polished over and over again when he found out his special friend train was returning from a long trip.
But overall "Thomas" is very invested in an "honor of work" ideology. By the third viewing I really couldn’t view Thomas in any way other than as a scab or company spy. The other trains complain about the workload, how they never get any rest, and how the company’s demands of them are unreasonable, but Thomas always comes to the boss’s defense. While the boss, Sir Toppumhattum (sp?) who looks exactly like the Monopoly board robber baron, must talk crossly with the other engines at times, Thomas is obviously his favorite, constantly brown-nosing him with a "Yes Sir" or "No Sir" while cajoling and scolding the other trains for their laxness. That’s right Thomas, work yourself into an early grave while Sir ToppHatt gets rich off your labor. Sucker. I, of course, explained to A that the whole video was a propaganda piece and warned him not to be fooled..
Most annoyingly though, I still don’t know what a fucking "Tank Engine" is or how it differs from other engines. I thought this was supposed to be educational.
*I was mocked at the food show yesterday for using the word "kid" for a human. Oh, those goat farmers. . .
**George Carlin actually. Can’t we set up a donation fund so such an established comedian doesn’t have to do work like this to feed his family?
***There was even a Gordon, though he had no speaking role.
In the hours of day care I did, A only had one meltdown. Not bad considering I hadn’t seen him in a year and a half. The instructions I had were that if A got really upset and nothing worked to calm him, I should turn on the VCR and let him watch his train video. After the third viewing, I realized that I had some real ideological issues with "Thomas the Tank Engine".
I don’t know the technical term for the style that "Thomas" is made. I mean except for "cheap" and "bad". It’s kind of old-school, filming models of trains and people that just stand there expressionless while a voice over, which seem to all be done by the same person** says something. ("Oh my Thomas, I think we’re running late.") But it’s also partially animated, Thomas and all his engine friends have faces and moving lips.
What jumped out at me first was the sexism. All the engines are men, doing manly engine things. All the humans were men too, because, after all, who else would work on a railroad? It was so blatant that I, in my ‘90s way, was trying to see if their was a bigger irony that I was missing. There wasn’t.
Nor was there even a nod to multi-culturalism, as the engines all seemed English and white, mostly with proper English names.*** It is set in England, but you’d think they’d add one or two which acknowledged their colonial roots like "Mahatma, The Peaceful Train" or even modernized themselves with "Marley, The Rasta Engine". Their was however, one faggy train which kept asking to be polished over and over again when he found out his special friend train was returning from a long trip.
But overall "Thomas" is very invested in an "honor of work" ideology. By the third viewing I really couldn’t view Thomas in any way other than as a scab or company spy. The other trains complain about the workload, how they never get any rest, and how the company’s demands of them are unreasonable, but Thomas always comes to the boss’s defense. While the boss, Sir Toppumhattum (sp?) who looks exactly like the Monopoly board robber baron, must talk crossly with the other engines at times, Thomas is obviously his favorite, constantly brown-nosing him with a "Yes Sir" or "No Sir" while cajoling and scolding the other trains for their laxness. That’s right Thomas, work yourself into an early grave while Sir ToppHatt gets rich off your labor. Sucker. I, of course, explained to A that the whole video was a propaganda piece and warned him not to be fooled..
Most annoyingly though, I still don’t know what a fucking "Tank Engine" is or how it differs from other engines. I thought this was supposed to be educational.
*I was mocked at the food show yesterday for using the word "kid" for a human. Oh, those goat farmers. . .
**George Carlin actually. Can’t we set up a donation fund so such an established comedian doesn’t have to do work like this to feed his family?
***There was even a Gordon, though he had no speaking role.
no subject
and fyi, from here:
The square tanks beside the boiler are what make Thomas a "tank engine." In real life, the tanks might hold between 1,000 and 2,000 gallons (4,000 to 8,000 liters) of water, depending on the engine. On the other engines in the series, the coal car shown is simplified. In a real steam engine, the coal car carries both coal and thousands of gallons of water (up to 20,000 gallons or 80,000 liters on the biggest engines). This water is needed because most steam engines vent their used steam through the smoke stack rather than condensing and reusing it. All engines except tank engines need to carry these coal/water cars right behind the engine.
Tank engines evolved as a way to handle short lines and switching duties in a train yard. The engine carried a small amount of coal behind the cab and perhaps 1,500 gallons (5,700 liters) of water in its tanks. A tank engine is therefore self-contained and does not need the coal/water car. This makes it lighter, smaller and less expensive, but gives it a pretty limited range before it must be re-coaled and re-watered. Tank engines were not very common in the United States, but were very common in England.
So, Thomas the Tank Engine is a fairly authentic depiction of a form of short-haul steam engine! The other engines in the series are "normal" steam engines pulling separate coal/water cars.
So, that explains why Thomas is always so eager to please... he was pretty much designed to serve the other trains.
Also, aside from George Carlin, the other narrator for Thomas was Ringo Starr.
no subject
So, that explains why Thomas is always so eager to please... he was pretty much designed to serve the other trains.
Thomas is very clear in his desire/function to serve the railroad and Toppumhattum as opposed to the other trains. In this way, TTTE redefines the historic role of the tank engine from a kind of inter-train support and soldidarity one to that of just another lap dog of the locomotive ruling class. It is precisely his role, working with all the other engines in the yard as opposed to taking long solitary journeys, that gives Thomas the ability to choose whether he will help organize them towards their common interests or betray his fellow engines by giving information to their masters.
With every showing of TTTE, it is clear which side Thomas has chosen. Let us not forget.
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hee hee.
Maybe we can ask the IWW to picket at the video store. "Kids should have scabs on their knees! Not strike-breaking trains on TV!" oh yeah.
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Yes, otherwise, I'm sure you would not have been so quick to render invisible TTTE's care-taking labors. ;)
Thanks for 'lap dog'.
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Well, it just Outraged me so much . . .
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