ABSTRACT
Doc McStuffins (2012–) debuted on Disney Jr. in 2012 as the first preschool cartoon to center on an African American main character since Little Bill (1999–2004) (Peck, 2012). Targeting children ages two to seven (Ayot, 2013), six-year-old Dottie “Doc” McStuffins emulates her mother, a medical doctor, by tending to injured toys and stuffed animals with her magical stethoscope. According to Disney (n.d.), “Doc’s backyard playhouse becomes her clinic where she uses her special ability to communicate with toy friends to help them when they have physical or emotional bangs and bruises” (para. 1). Via cheerful sing-along lyrics, Doc also offers valuable lessons on health, hygiene, and happiness. As a biracial (Black and White) Black female critical scholar who teaches a course entitled “Walt Disney: The Man, The Empire, and The Politics of Popular Culture,” I am drawn to deconstruct Dottie “Doc” McStuffins as a representation of Black femininity. My interest in doing so is rooted in the rarity of Black female protagonists in Disney productions (Barnes, 2009; Lester, 2010), and Disney’s longstanding reproduction of problematic raced and gendered stereotypes (Buescher & Ono, 1996; Lester, 2010; Moffitt & Harris, 2014). Moreover, the considerable absence of representations of Black girlhood in contemporary popular culture necessitates being attentive to how Black girlhood is portrayed on the rare occasion that Black girls are centered.
