Maybe we are wasting too many brain cycles on this. My kids watched this (and Peppa pig) when they were in the 3-4 yr range. They quickly tire of the monotony of where the end result is being "useful" or "well-behaved & happy" all the time and move off to other things.
So, yeah, they're kind of repressive & authoritarian. OTOH, I don't think the kids are affected as much unless the parents emulate Sir Topham Hat.
The author seems to focus on one story out of dozens (with the important moral of ‘don’t be a snowflake, it might backfire’) and calls it a “death sentence”.
They ignore that in the very next story Henry is given the chance to redeem himself by coming out of the tunnel and being useful again. This happens when Gordon, making fun of Henry, causes himself to break down and is forced to accept help from Henry to pull his train.
It's still incredibly creepy and disturbing for a kids show. I couldn't believe the episode ended that way. Even my ultra conservative parents found it to be disturbing.
Kids aren't gonna spiral into some navel gazing introspective ivory tower circle jerk, the vast majority are just going to take the show at face value.
Ultimately this is because steam engines are charismatic in a way diesel and electric trains are not (perhaps until you get to something as impressive as the Shinkansen or TGV). So the apparent technological "progress" is emotionally unsatisfying, and we wish to return to the older thing -- to "regress".
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 42.9 ms ] threadSo, yeah, they're kind of repressive & authoritarian. OTOH, I don't think the kids are affected as much unless the parents emulate Sir Topham Hat.
Feels like something from 19th century imperialist Europe.
Naa, now we have Facebook, Twitter etc. todo that.
They ignore that in the very next story Henry is given the chance to redeem himself by coming out of the tunnel and being useful again. This happens when Gordon, making fun of Henry, causes himself to break down and is forced to accept help from Henry to pull his train.