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type_wildAre the rest of you watching the reboot yet?
I'm European and the Disney Duck comics are a pillar of my culture. And like all beloved children's literature from the mid-twentieth century, you don't really question that we're looking at a splendid sausage fest. We don't question that female characters only exist as girly mirrors of the already established male ones (to the point where Daisy and Minnie both share the last names of their boyfriends-to-whom-they-aren't-married, and Daisy happens to have a trio of nieces to mirror Donald's nephews). Or that the few exceptions exist to fill token story holes (it tellingly took until Don Rosa for me to learn that "Grandma" was in fact not her given name).
As far as I can tell about the version of Disney Ducks that made up childhood memories across the pond, Ducktales pretty much followed the pattern: Webby was there to give the girl viewers something, Mrs. Beakley was necessary so that Scrooge didn't have to either be a full-time homemaker, or reported for child neglect [note: I've seen like one episode of it, so this assumption is based on second-hand reports].
The 2017 reboot, however, is a child of 2017, and Webby Vanderquack is no longer just The Girl. She's a sheltered child who grew up surrounded by ~adventurers~, and obviously became one herself - or as close you can get to it while being essentially locked up in a mansion full of mystical treasure from around the world. She'll be the "funny girl" to adults, but to other children, she's awkward. Unskilled at social interaction and somewhat slow on picking up social cues, and it's adorabe to watch but it unquestionably makes her life harder than it needed be.
(her grandmother, on the other hand, was a minute away from going into a fistfight with the Beagle Boys and might or might not be a spy)
That said, the really fascinating part is how much of the plot they're setting up that is absolutely absent from the intro. Like, the pilot ends with bringing up Della Duck (the clip's not up on youtube, but between entering the library and entering the secret shrine, they need to bargain with Ms. Quackfaster reborn as a battle librarian).
SO THAT IS AWESOME and there's a lot to be said about their inclusion of Della at all when the closest the comics got to that was by bringing about a reunion between Scrooge and Matilda (the sister who didn't give him nephews), but since Della is as good as non-existent in the comics, all theories will be pure speculation. Equally intersting is the introduction of further characters in the following episodes.
The Beagle Boys are no longer lead by Grandpa, but by "Ma". And Webby gets to exhibit her social awkwardness on making a new friend - a new friend who make frequent asides about how she doesn't believe in "family", and maybe we shouldn't be blaming her, since auntie there is well-established to be Not Getting Along with her family in the Euro comics.
In short, the Ducktales reboot has spent its first few episodes introducing a number of female characaters that are either vastly improved upon compared to their presence in the original or the comics (Webby, Beakley, Della, Quackfaster), or new female characters who, in contrast to the ladies in the comics, exist primarily because of their own goals rather than as extensions to male relatives or love interests (Ma Beagle, Lena). With the knowledge that Magica is going to be a part of the plot after all, I'm... very happy about the direction this is going in, even if haaaa ha ha wow this tone shift between this and the comics is something, that's for sure.
I'm European and the Disney Duck comics are a pillar of my culture. And like all beloved children's literature from the mid-twentieth century, you don't really question that we're looking at a splendid sausage fest. We don't question that female characters only exist as girly mirrors of the already established male ones (to the point where Daisy and Minnie both share the last names of their boyfriends-to-whom-they-aren't-married, and Daisy happens to have a trio of nieces to mirror Donald's nephews). Or that the few exceptions exist to fill token story holes (it tellingly took until Don Rosa for me to learn that "Grandma" was in fact not her given name).
As far as I can tell about the version of Disney Ducks that made up childhood memories across the pond, Ducktales pretty much followed the pattern: Webby was there to give the girl viewers something, Mrs. Beakley was necessary so that Scrooge didn't have to either be a full-time homemaker, or reported for child neglect [note: I've seen like one episode of it, so this assumption is based on second-hand reports].
The 2017 reboot, however, is a child of 2017, and Webby Vanderquack is no longer just The Girl. She's a sheltered child who grew up surrounded by ~adventurers~, and obviously became one herself - or as close you can get to it while being essentially locked up in a mansion full of mystical treasure from around the world. She'll be the "funny girl" to adults, but to other children, she's awkward. Unskilled at social interaction and somewhat slow on picking up social cues, and it's adorabe to watch but it unquestionably makes her life harder than it needed be.
(her grandmother, on the other hand, was a minute away from going into a fistfight with the Beagle Boys and might or might not be a spy)
That said, the really fascinating part is how much of the plot they're setting up that is absolutely absent from the intro. Like, the pilot ends with bringing up Della Duck (the clip's not up on youtube, but between entering the library and entering the secret shrine, they need to bargain with Ms. Quackfaster reborn as a battle librarian).
SO THAT IS AWESOME and there's a lot to be said about their inclusion of Della at all when the closest the comics got to that was by bringing about a reunion between Scrooge and Matilda (the sister who didn't give him nephews), but since Della is as good as non-existent in the comics, all theories will be pure speculation. Equally intersting is the introduction of further characters in the following episodes.
The Beagle Boys are no longer lead by Grandpa, but by "Ma". And Webby gets to exhibit her social awkwardness on making a new friend - a new friend who make frequent asides about how she doesn't believe in "family", and maybe we shouldn't be blaming her, since auntie there is well-established to be Not Getting Along with her family in the Euro comics.
In short, the Ducktales reboot has spent its first few episodes introducing a number of female characaters that are either vastly improved upon compared to their presence in the original or the comics (Webby, Beakley, Della, Quackfaster), or new female characters who, in contrast to the ladies in the comics, exist primarily because of their own goals rather than as extensions to male relatives or love interests (Ma Beagle, Lena). With the knowledge that Magica is going to be a part of the plot after all, I'm... very happy about the direction this is going in, even if haaaa ha ha wow this tone shift between this and the comics is something, that's for sure.
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