Skip to main content

Thomas the Tank Engine will have international friends



Thomas the Tank Engine will have 14 new friends in an effort to globalise his social network. Reverend Wilbert Awdry (1911-1997) created Thomas the Tank Engine in 1945 in a series of British children’s books called The Railway Series for his son Christopher. He wrote 26 books in the series, which were made into a television program in 1984. In 2003 the title Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends was shortened to Thomas and Friends.

Mattel, a toy company, bought the enterprise in 2012. Mattel is introducing 14 new foreign characters from India, Brazil, China, and Mexico.

While some see this move as important for Thomas to have a range of friendships, some worry about cultural stereotyping. Raul the Tank Engine from Brazil is a male engine described as ‘feisty, strong, and agile’ while Yong Bao the Tank Engine from China, a male engine, is ‘driven to achieve.’ Ashima the Tank Engine, a female engine, is ‘happy to help out’ while Carlos of Mexico, a male engine is ‘proud’ and ‘always wearing a smile.’ Four of the 14 new engines are female.

Tracey Van Slyke, a researcher in social justice and pop culture at the Citizen Engagement Lab, says she ‘applauds the idea’ but is concerned about its implementation. Psychologist Dr. Aric Signman, is concerned that there may be too many characters, and said that children do not benefit from a lot of variety because they may become disconnected from the story: ‘One of the great things about Thomas the Tank Engine is it has a fairly slow narrative and slow editing speed, which is much better for children.’

Mattel is keeping to the original intentions of the books by introducing the new characters based on real train engines. Thomas was based on the E2 Class engine designed by Lawson Billinton in 1913. Gordon was based on the Gresley A3 Pacific engine and Percy was based on an old Avonside locomotive. The Scottish twin engines, Donald and Douglas, are made from the 812 Caledonian 1899 Class. Mattel says Thomas’s new friends will be based on engines from the country they represent.

The new locomotives will be introduced in the next film to be released in May 2016 called The Great Race.








http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/12205849/Carlos-the-Tank-Engine-Thomas-to-make-foreign-friends-in-bid-for-global-success.html

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou
8 comments
Read more