” I like the idea of looking at how these two cartoons address diversity and cultural norms for a young audience, looking specifically at family dynamics, gender stereotypes, and ethnic diversity. As you continue working on the essay now, you want to focus on the following:

1. Clarify in your argument whether you think the gender stereotypes in Phineas and Ferb are portraying a positive or negative example for children. You write that the way stereotypes are portrayed on TV can affect a child’s upbringing, but it’s not clear whether you think the show has a positive or negative effect on children’s understanding of gender norms.
2. You also want to dig a bit deeper in your discussion to analyze/explain the significance of what you’re pointing to. For instance, when you write that Arnold always has his grandfather as a role-model, what values or norms is this modeling for children? What are the sorts of situations in which his grandfather serves as a role-model, what lessons does this teach Arnold, and what lessons are being communicated to children?
3. Thinking about the organization, if all of these themes (family dynamics, gender, ethnic diversity) are present in both shows, it would help to organize the body paragraphs around each criterion and analyze side by side in each paragraph how Hey Arnold and Phineas and Ferb deal with or portray these issues.