Why does kids’ TV love to portray men as idle, feckless idiots? Incompetence in the workplace is personified by Postman Pat, who, on a daily basis, manages to lose the post. Once, when he was looking the other way, a horse stole a parcel from the back of his van.
Daddy Pig is a complete buffoon who purports to be an expert at everything, yet whatever DIY job he’s tasked with, he manages to cock up every time. Even for grownups, Homer Simpson has a litany of failings, and is generally depicted as a dad with the brainpower of a gnat. He stuffs his face with doughnuts, drinks too many beers and is generally a bad influence on his kids. Dad characters in TV commercials are also portrayed as daft, bumbling and stupid. Why does it have to be like this?
But I have to say, when you see yourself so tragically reflected in the characters on screen, it’s hard not to get emotionally involved.