Doc McStuffins: We're All a Little Scared and Hurt at this Point, Aren't We?

8:29 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "lambie: your dragon is gnc as fuck

doc: YOU'RE INSANE" 

Trigger Warning: In this blog post I talk a bit about my own medical trauma, particularly medical and psychiatric negligence. I also talk about self-doctoring. And there is a slight reference to fascism. Proceed at your own risk.

In February 2020, I was hospitalized. I won't go too into it, but during the hospitalization, some of my prescribed medication, Klonopin, was confiscated for about three days. I'd been taking Klonopin for a pretty long time, and I think it's safe to say that while I wasn't addicted or abusing the drug, I certainly had some physiological and psychological dependence on it. Klonopin is an anti-anxiety drug which is particularly used for seizures and panic attacks, and one of the risks of suddenly stopping Klonopin is, naturally, seizures and anxiety. Fortunately, I didn't end up having a seizure, but like, when the intense anxiety hits and you know how easy it is for someone to get blood on those hospital floors and walls, it essentially screws with your brain for some time to come.

I decided to quit Klonopin shortly after the incident, researching tapers, and to this day, I'm a bit floored by the amount of care I was able to show myself compared to... you know... actual doctors...

So with all that fear in mind, I may have been a bit hard on Doc McStuffins.

3:21 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "this girl has a magic stethoscope"

Like, obviously I'm not gonna clown on some seven year old with a magic stethoscope and an undiagnosed anxiety disorder (we'll get to that later), but I was annoying about doctors in 2021, to the point where I almost refused to see one for a broken leg due to the trauma of it all, so let's just get that out of the way right now.

6:32 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "doc mcstuffins is a character i want to see as an adult. she's clearly a doctor in the future, but has she changed much. are her values the same, has she become disillusioned with her field,"
7:04 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "for the record i am not anti diagnosis but doc mcstuffins and her diagnoses remind me of a greater problem in medicine (especially psych fields) of diagnoses only done by what is externally visible. many mental illnesses are also just. arbitrary as hell"
7:05 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "we're getting into an age where we can predict likelihood of mental illnesses, but we are still a ways off. and clinical fields don't really even look into the neuro of it all unless a neurodivergency is explicitly neurological (epilepsy, migraines, etc)"
7:05 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "doc mcstuffins gets away with this because she is 7. but what about society."

To my past self: You're stupid. Doc's arbitrary diagnoses exist because she's a second grader who repairs toys on a cartoon show made for babies. You needn't compare it to your stupid qualms about the DSM. That being said, the show is actually incredibly soft, and gets into why you should trust doctors. There's plenty of episodes about people being afraid of the doctor in some way, and Doc's once-an-episode song even tells her patients what to expect from a visit to the doctor.

There's also two minor characters who really stood out to me, both of which I really related to.

First, there was Stanley, the villain of the season 4 premiere.

7:13 PM · Apr 13, 2021 "anyway i am gravitating toward this freak."

 

 

 

 

 

 

7:13 PM · Apr 13, 2021 "he wants to be evil for the sake of his friends and he has trauma."

Stanley's whole thing is that he was broken and repaired the wrong way. This, alongside a coincidental abandonment from his owner made him distrustful of doctors and convinced no one would ever love him, unless they were broken like him. I really liked Stanley as a character and as a villain, it really showed how much someone's medical trauma can shape them, and even do screwed up things. Eventually Stanley learns his lesson at the end, and gets a lot of closure too, which is really nice to see!

Though I'm not sure how much I like the last episode, which implies he set up a fascist regime in the timeline where Doc was never born.

1:33 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "i watched the series finale and god it's something..... without doc mcstuffins there is fascism."

But Stanley, unfortunately, does not hold a candle to my girl Quackson.

 

Quackson doesn't necessarily have the trauma that Stanley has, but she is terrified of doctors, and as a result, has begun to doctor herself (and others!). She doesn't hold a medical degree by any means, but she does get by with her own doctoring. Except that screwy leg.

Seeing a character like Quackson, someone so extroverted and friendly, but also so scared and forcibly self sufficient, really made me feel seen, and the kindness she's treated with, because everyone knows she's scared is something I really adore about the show.

Honestly, the show is so kind, just in general.

2:14 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "doc mcstuffins is a good show because it goes over what a doctor should be. the kindness of it all"
8:23 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "the episode where doc gets sick is givng me a lot of feelings...."

Though I didn't grade this show that high, and honestly, a lot of it is due to the characters. Doc and her family are fine, but Doc's main cast of toys are forgettable at best and Stuffy at worst.

3:20 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "man just from the theme alone i can see the cheers comparisons.... i can't believe im saying this about doc fucking mcstuffins"
7:07 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "seriously tho as far as quality goes i think doc mcstuffins kind of has the same energy as handy manny but is like. better. it does things a little more subtly which i appreciate."
8:28 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "stuffy is like one of those characters everyone would see as gnc or something because there's a bunch of jokes about him in "feminine" accessories"
8:54 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "i think the toys in doc mcstuffins are kind of the opposite of the tools in handy manny. the tools i grew accustomed to but the toys are kind of grating on me. not all of them though. mostly stuffy"

I compared it a lot to Handy Manny, which I think is fitting because it was kind of opposite in a way. While Manny's tools started to grow on me, I started to dislike Doc's toys.

Or, most of them.

9:15 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "gaslight gatekeep girlboss vs manipulate mansplain malewar"

 

 

 

 

 

11:37 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "wicked king looks more like a drowned victorian child.... finally a man who understands my plight tbh"
11:47 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "me saying a cartoon toy from a baby show isn't cis...... is a bit cringe but... wicked king isn't cis"

If you'll forgive me for gushing about even more Doc McStuffins minor characters, The Wicked King and Queen Amina absolutely stole every scene they were in. The Wicked King in particular is a prototypical antagonist: not necessarily evil and does get some redemption, but selfish and antagonistic as hell.

Honestly, it makes me kind of sad how colorful the background characters in the show are, and that we have to deal with another Stuffy episode. I'm not saying I blame Stuffy for the lesbian doll moms only being in one episode, buuuuut...

5:19 PM · Apr 14, 2021 "THEY HAVE GAY PEOPLE IN DOC MCSTUFFINS????"
5:21 PM · Apr 14, 2021 "im just sitting here and suddenly i hear "where are your moms" these are the moms in question"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I'm being too mean though. Sometimes the main toys are pretty cute. The last season or two has them working essentially as med school students, which is always fun to see in a baby show. Maybe that's just me I love seeing higher education rep in my baby shows.

12:25 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "all the other toys are med students i think that's really funny and cute."

Also, Michelle Obama is in this show.

9:04 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "MICHELLE OBAMA I AM A HUGE FAN"

 

 

 

 

 

 

9:13 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "BARACK?"

 

 

 

"Doc McStuffins goes to Washington" is a really fun episode. We learn that Michelle Obama is basically Doc's hero, so she applies to this Kidspiration contest, where the winners are the kids who most inspire Michelle Obama. There's a bunch of kids who do typical inspiring stuff, such as improve school lunches. And Doc's whole thing is being a toy doctor. It honestly feels a little underwhelming when you remember that no one else is aware these toys can talk. But still, Doc's toy repair skills come in handy at the White House, which is nice to see, but it also gets into another part of Doc I think about constantly. Her massive fucking anxiety disorder.

9:21 AM · Jun 20, 2021 "it's kind of funny to see doc mcstuffins be such a collected doctor but when she isn't that she's like "i can't be a FREAK in front of MICHELLE OBAMA.""

I don't know if this was a trend started by Doc or what, but I've noticed a lot of the Disney Junior girl protagonists are absolute anxious wrecks. Doc is by far the worst of them all, jumping into immediate denial that her stethoscope isn't magic and that she doesn't talk to her toys, even when none of that is a point of conversation. She really wants to be seen as a normal girl. She doesn't want to weird anyone out, but her anxiety makes her kind of awkward. Honestly, I'd almost recommend Doc McStuffins with people dealing with social anxiety for that reason alone. The show is absolutely adorable and has great morals, even if I spent most of the time gushing about minor and recurring characters.

Overall Rating for Doc McStuffins: B Tier