Great essay! My only previous knowledge of TaleSpin comes from it being in the same 'style' as the Ducktales adventures era, but after reading through your essay, it sounds pretty fun, and I enjoyed how you were able to connect it to its themes and also show what it didn't do. It is so astonishingly rare to find good parental male role models in any children's media.
I should probably have mentioned this in the introduction, but I'm not coming to this unbiased, since I did watch the show around age 8 or 9 when it aired in reruns here. As a kid I liked it, but it was some ways down my list of favorites, under the likes of Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop (and outside Disney, Pirates of Dark Water, which was probably my overall favorite cartoon).
When I rewatched it this year after three full decades, I was surprised how well it held up. And especially at how nuanced and thoughtfully Baloo was written, hence this essay. By the good writers, at least. IMO it's a better DuckTales than DuckTales, to put it that way. Much more interesting setting, and the relationship between Baloo and Kit is miles better than anything they do with Scrooge and the nephews.
And yes, depressing as it is, you're right about the lack of good fictional dads. We still seem to be mostly stuck with the jerks, the hardasses, the workaholics and the bumbling sitcom losers.
Honestly, your mentioning that it was set in the 1930s piqued my interest before I read on and learned anything else about the show. That's such an interesting time period to base a kids cartoon around - though Indiana Jones takes place around then, too, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were some overlap. I'm glad it held up for you! Especially the relationships.
Great essay! My only previous knowledge of TaleSpin comes from it being in the same 'style' as the Ducktales adventures era, but after reading through your essay, it sounds pretty fun, and I enjoyed how you were able to connect it to its themes and also show what it didn't do. It is so astonishingly rare to find good parental male role models in any children's media.
Enjoyed reading through this one a lot!
Thank you for the read and the kind words!
I should probably have mentioned this in the introduction, but I'm not coming to this unbiased, since I did watch the show around age 8 or 9 when it aired in reruns here. As a kid I liked it, but it was some ways down my list of favorites, under the likes of Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop (and outside Disney, Pirates of Dark Water, which was probably my overall favorite cartoon).
When I rewatched it this year after three full decades, I was surprised how well it held up. And especially at how nuanced and thoughtfully Baloo was written, hence this essay. By the good writers, at least. IMO it's a better DuckTales than DuckTales, to put it that way. Much more interesting setting, and the relationship between Baloo and Kit is miles better than anything they do with Scrooge and the nephews.
And yes, depressing as it is, you're right about the lack of good fictional dads. We still seem to be mostly stuck with the jerks, the hardasses, the workaholics and the bumbling sitcom losers.
Honestly, your mentioning that it was set in the 1930s piqued my interest before I read on and learned anything else about the show. That's such an interesting time period to base a kids cartoon around - though Indiana Jones takes place around then, too, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were some overlap. I'm glad it held up for you! Especially the relationships.
Thanks for the reply!