Ideology in Thomas and Friends

What's behind the cheeky smile?

My three year old nephew is absolutely obsessed with the anthropomorphic trains of Thomas and Friends. He can’t get enough of the TV show, the songs, and the, rather pricey, range of toys.  I have seen more than my fair share of the children’s show for a man of my age, and this has led to me questioning some of the values the show perpetuates. It seems evident that the series is threaded with a conservative ideology of imperialism, rigid class structures and racial overtones.

The way in which Sodor functions is very much a hierarchical class system. At the top of the pyramid is fat cat boss, Sir Topham Hatt, also known as The Fat Controller. He embodies the values his name implies: aristocratic wealth, exuberance and importance. Below him are the lower-middle class steam engines. They take orders directly from Hatt and have far greater authority over the diesel engines, trucks and carriages of the bottom class.  The steam engines must constantly compete and jockey for Sir Topham Hatt’s favour, and are rewarded with special privileges if they do so. 

The Fat Controller
Sir Topham Hatt

The island uses a strict system of punishment for disobedience to reinforce the class order. These relations are easily comparable with the relations of production between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. Among the bottom of the pecking order are the “troublesome trucks”. These trucks are voiced with distinctive working class accents which distinguishes them from the voices of the steam trains. The troublesome trucks can often be mischievous, and make life hard for the steam trains attempting to pull them along. The steam trains are then required to discipline the trucks, including physically bumping them, to return them to order. 

The other subordinate characters in Thomas and Friends are the diesel engines. The diesel engines play the role of villain on the isle of Sodor, and again have working class accents. They are frequently looked down upon and the subject of ridicule by the steam engines. This is not a case of promoting environmental values as Tracy Van Slyke points out in her Guardian article, 

“I’d like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump out black smoke – and they are all pumping out smoke it's not hard to make the leap into the race territory” 

The only differences between the engines are first their working class accents, and secondly the fact that they puff black smoke. Two of these engines Diesel and Diesel 10, much like the “troublesome trucks”, are merely defined by their function as their caste does not warrant the need for a proper name. In fact, it’s often the steam engines that will act in a derogatory fashion towards the diesels, and they receive no reprimand from Topham Hatt for doing so.

Diesel

Another example of this occurs in the feature length Misty Island Rescue. Thomas tells Diesel (the worst behaved of the diesels, who is also black) that he would not be suitable for the honour of pulling the special cargo of jobi logs. "I'm sure [Hatt] means a really useful steamy; you'll never be that!" Thomas taunts. Diesel then decides to steal the jobi wood and pull them himself. He speeds dangerously out of control, loses the wood and is left dangling over a cliff. Thomas only expresses concern for the cargo, and after pulling Diesel to safety, only bemoans the loss of the wood. Sir Topham Hatt also only has concern for the commodity of the lost wood, and humiliates Diesel before sending him back to work in the dark tunnel.  Diesel has not only been reminded of his place, but any attempt to transcend this order is punished severely.

Hiro

We also see the promotion of imperialistic attitudes in the series. Hiro is a Japanese engine who was found broken down on a faraway island. Hiro was in fear that, should he be discovered, he would be scrapped by Topham Hatt. Hatt decides not to scrap Hiro, but to repair him, and put him to work on Sodor. In the episode ‘Hiro Helps Out’, Hiro is informed that The Fat Controller is extremely busy and not to be disturbed. Faced with problems, Hiro uses his initiative to designate orders to the other engines so as not to disturb Hatt. When he discovers that Hiro has been giving orders, The Fat Controller scorns him. “I am controller of the railways”, He fumes.  Stepping out of line is treated as a serious offence on Sodor, and Hiro is humiliated; sent to apologise to every train to which he gave orders. After completing this task he is then praised by Hatt for his “usefulness”. This is reminiscent of British imperialistic attitudes during the empire. Hiro in fear of the colonial oppressor is rescued from ruins, and is allowed to work on Sodor, but must never step out of his place.

Women also play a predominantly subservient role on Sodor, that is, where they have a role at all. For a long time the only female characters were Annie and Clarabel, passenger coaches with no autonomy, whose role is to be pulled by the male Thomas. In fairness to the series, they have attempted to introduce more female characters in recent times including the female rescue engine Belle. Despite this, it remains the case that the male engines outnumber the females by a considerable number, and the appearances of female engines are largely cameo appearances rather than the protagonist of the parable. There is also, to my recollection, not a single female railway worker or driver on the island.

Clarabel or is it Annie?

Finally, the series continues to reinforce traditional gender roles among children. An example of this is the rather ridiculous ‘tickled pink’ episode. The red engine, James, is given a new coat of paint. James is given a bright pink waterproof undercoat when the job is interrupted by Hatt who requires his granddaughter to be collected from a station. James is concerned that he hasn’t had his red paintjob completed. “Pink is a silly colour. I don’t want anyone to see me looking silly” he cries. On the course of the journey, James attempts to hide from the other trains, but is repeatedly found and ridiculed by the other engines. He eventually makes it to the station, and is greeted by Hatt’s granddaughter who is pleasantly surprised, because, she tells us, “pink is my favourite colour!” and by chance, it is also the favourite colour of all her friends. Not only does this episode suggest men in pink is a subject of ridicule, but it also directly links it to the feminine with all four girls, dressed in pink dresses, stating pink as their favourite colour. The message it sends children is that pink is a silly colour for boys, but all girls love pink.

The aim of this blog is not a crusade to ban Thomas and Friends, but to expose the conservative ideology which threads the entire series. The island of Sodor is an island not only isolated from the modernisation of Britain, but also, for Sodor, the rise of feminism, class struggle, civil rights movements and post-colonial struggles simply never happened. The Rev. Wilbert Awdry looks with nostalgic eyes on a time when Britain was simpler and everyone had their place, and his creation is yet to move on in 2014.