Okay, this post could have been far more relevant back in 1998, when I was one of the cultist (I'll admit, me and hundreds of others from the ages of two to twenty-two) of Ragdoll Productions hit show, Teletubbies, but at the same time, it could be perfectly relevant with regard to the issues that remain in the media to this very day. For the record, Teletubbies was a British program set in the fictional Teletubbyland, which is so happy, beautiful, always sunny, grassy, and covered with flowers and bunny rabbits. There lived four Teletubbies named Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa, and Po, and a Noo Noo vacuum cleaner. They danced and engaged in plenty of their little adventures.
That's how someone who is simple-minded will look at the show. This is how a young one will look at the show. When you look deeper into the meaning of the show, you will realize that the show offers plenty of diversity. Dipsy is black (as is his actor, John Simmit), Po is of Asian descent (as is her actress, Pui Fan Lee), Laa Laa is energetic and somewhat of a tomboy (Nikki Smedley seems the same) and Tinky Winky is possibly gay... or at least he is flamboyant. In 1999, late Reverend Jerry Falwell mentioned that because Tinky Winky was a gay role model, due to the fact he's purple, has a triangular symbol on his head, and carries a red purse (deemed a "bag," but it looks like a red pocket book), and that nobody should watch the Teletubbies for this very reason. Even the original actor who played him, Dave Thompson, was dropped from the program because he made such as accusation of Tinky Winky being gay. Simon Shelton would eventually take over and he was the third to do such. I do not know too much about Shelton's background.
Another piece of evidence that could be offered is an episode where a tutu appeared out of nowhere like plenty of things (seems like symptoms of being on LSD). Tinky Winky, without hesitation, puts on the tutu and dances. Dipsy, the only other male that inhabits the land, is chased by Laa Laa before she forces him to wear it. Isn't this evidence of something???
Ragdoll Productions is known for covering diversity on their programs. On Tots TV, which I remember appearing on PBS on Saturday mornings, featured Tilly, who spoke a foreign language (on the American version, it was Spanish) and Tom was a black ragdoll, while Tiny was the exception to the rule as Laa Laa is on Teletubbies. Homosexuality seems to be more hush-hush, even in the nineties it was one of those things that wasn't fully accepted just yet (evidence: the Defense of Marriage Act signed by Bill Clinton). However, diversity is a good thing and that's what this show is trying to get across.
What cannot be confirmed is Tinky Winky is in fact a homosexual. The reason being that there were only two males on the program and one of which was definitely heterosexual and boyish in a way. There was no interest in expanding the program further than it was and that's a television show for toddlers. What can be confirmed is that Tinky Winky has feminine interests and can be described as flamboyant. The evidence is in the fact he has a bag that looks like a purse and the feminine interest, such as with the tutu, but doesn't that, being purple, having a triangular symbol on your head, and speaking more femininely come off as being difficult to call coincidence? Barney the Dinosaur may be purple, but aside from a bag he carries arts and crafts with, not as many examples exist. Barney does, however, have other personal issues that would be appropriate in a separate post. Ultimately, it's Ragdoll that holds the key to the final judgment.
Ultimately, who really calls??? Teletubbies has a male character with flamboyant interests, which is something that television shows don't cover very often. We usually someone who's black (like Gerald in Hey Arnold, Susie in Rugrats, and Clementine in Cailou), someone who's Jewish (like Harold in Hey Arnold, Tommy's maternal side of the family in Rugrats, and Leo in Cailou), among others that share diversity and that someone could relate to. This may be a nudge at the fact that, even if you're a boy, you can still do things that girls usually do more often. The moral to the story is that boys and girls can do anything they want to do, as long as they enjoy it and nobody gets hurt by these decisions, which should actually be the moral in how we all live.
In essence, unless you believe symbolism is your ticket to this particular judgment, there is no enough concrete evidence to provide ANY of the Teletubbies, let alone Tinky Winky, with a preference label (maybe Dipsy, but that's about that). I would say Tinky Winky holds more of a "dolls and dress-up" kind of mindset as oppose to a "trucks and action figures" disposition, but that's all dependent on psychological evaluation and I am not a therapist. There isn't anything wrong with it. It's just a topic starter that has several answers and that I would surely commend Teletubbies for possibly pondering such an area at such a young age. However, I would highly doubt that toddlers would be thinking of the diversity element. It's just that adults are individuals that have very complicated minds.
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