Alright look we gotta know what the heck are you a boy or a girl
oh that I thought you knew I'm neither
Lloyd in space was a Disney cartoon that was so okay it was average there's like a handful
of things I remember off the top of my head but yeah that's about it today we're going
to talk about the episode that always comes to mind whenever someone mentions the show
directed by Howy Parkins and written by Eric Garcia and Richard Whitley we have Neither Boy
Nor Girl the episode that technically gave us Disney's very first Non-Binary character
Zoit you see Zoit comes from a species of aliens that choose their gender on their 13th birthday
before that though they identify as say it with me now Neither Boy Nor Girl get it got it good
let's lend some legitimacy to the lovely and largely laudable legend from Disney's
Lloyd in Space There's not enough people with originality, so here I am to save the day Jayniac
the episode opens with the boys trying to enjoy their boring lunch along comes Eddie to lighten
the mood with some rock music from his holographic boombox the rock session is interrupted by
Brittany who insists on them listening to more mature girl music her words not mine this goes on
for some time until an argument erupts between the boys and the girls about which music is better if
you boys think you're so totally right then let's ask someone else an impartial observer all right
how about the new kid over there Zoit the boys and girls ask the new kid Zoit if they prefer
the hard rock band total cosmic annihilation or the singer-songwriter aurora Zoit gives
an in-depth analysis on both of them and just leaves the girls insist that Zoit prefers their
music because Zoit's a girl while the boys insist that Zoit prefers their music because Zoit's a boy
confusion ensues let's ask him you can't go around asking a guy if he's a guy of course not all we
need to do is observe in class the boys tried to see if Zoit's notebook is covered in things
stereotypically associated with boys or things stereotypically associated with girls Zoit's
notebook has both outside the boys try to see if Zoit rides a boy bike or a girl bike I assume the
difference in this universe being the color or the cosmic exhaust pipe it's not made entirely
clear but it doesn't matter cause Zoit doesn't ride a bike they ride a jet-fueled unicycle
the boys figure the best way to tell is by seeing which bathroom Zoit goes into a nice
reminder that this episode aired in 2002 but it turns out the girls have been trying to figure
out Zoit's gender as well after drinking a large soda Zoit goes to the bathroom to get
a drink from outside of it because Eddie has no chill he says what the heck are you a boy
or a girl cause the fact is we just can't tell oh that I thought you knew I'm neither
Zoit explains to the boys and girls that their species the Padillakon don't have an assigned
gender until their 13th birthday where they decide their gender for themselves before leaving Zoit
tells the boys and girls that their 13th birthday is Monday which is three days from now prompting
the girls and boys to argue well she'll obviously choose to be a girl what you've gotta be kidding I
mean it's one thing if it's an accident at birth like with you guys 2002 baby the girls and boys
make a bet on what gender Zoit will choose and the loser has to buy the winner tickets to their
favorite music concert instead of letting Zoit figure it out on their own the girls invite them
to a girl's night out the next day in an attempt to make Zoit a girl the boys follow along in
secret to see what happens at the movies Zoit cries along with the girls to a romantic drama
the boys don't like it except Kurt he cries too well guess he's a girl now at the gym Zoit and
the girls are exercising because only girls do that right the boys don't like it except Douglas
is there no end to the madness at the malls Zoit and the girls go shopping Zoit tries on a bunch
of outfits and says they're having fun much to the boy's dismay Eddie says the boys should take
Zoit out for some guy time to undo all the girls girly girliness inflicted upon them all while
looking for an outfit for himself the next day the boys indulge Zoit with some fast food a burping
contest an action movie skipping stones and space football Zoit enjoys all of them on the way back
to their house the girls catch the boys and start an argument with them Eddie slips up and mentions
the bet they all had and Zoit gets understandably upset the girls leave to think about what they've
done and the boys accept that Zoit might want to be a girl as an apology and early birthday
present the boys buy Zoit some perfume and female symbol earrings the girls arrive to give Zoit a
dumb joke book and a manly rock they tell Zoit that they've accepted they might want to be a boy
once again the girls and boys argue about what Zoit's gender should be prompting Zoit to pipe
up Zoit tells them that their gender shouldn't be determined solely by what they enjoy but rather a
decision that they should make based on how they feel and that if the boys and the girls are truly
Zoit's friends then it shouldn't matter which gender they choose because at the end of the day
it's who they are the following day this being Zoit's 13th birthday the boys and
girls wait for Zoit to tell them their gender it's almost like they didn't listen at all
you did decide oh sure I decided and I've decided I'm not telling what
because it's none of your business Zoit tells the boys and girls that they'll know their gender once
they have a crush on one of them uh I guess in space no one can hear you geh closing the episode with
the boys and girls arguing over which one of them Zoit will have a crush on so yeah Zoit clearly
states that they've chosen a gender it's just that their gender is never revealed to the characters
and by extension the audience it's worth noting though that the character Zoit is voiced by
British-American actress Pamela Adlon who never reprises her role as Zoit on account of Zoit never
reappearing by today's standards this episode may not hold up so well but it's fascinating how it
ascribes gender to things like music movies and the kind of stickers you'd put on your notebook
watch for his notebook if it's covered with monster stickers and hot rods
he's a guy anything pink or cuddly and she's a girl
now it'd be easy to attribute this gendering of entertainment to Lloyd in Space being a product
of its time but a lot of these ideologies though not as extreme still persist to this very day
the best example of this being toys yes toys in 2013 Nerf who had been ruling the market
of plastic foam flinging machines for two whole decades decided to try their hand at a different
demographic girls enter Nerf Rebelle a series of pink purple white and baby blue repaints
of pre-existing Nerf blasters sure the shells and aesthetics may have been a tad different
but make no mistake internally these were the exact same toys from previous years how do i
know this and in its five-year shelf life the series never really caught on you know why cause
girls would play with the regular Nerf blasters yeah girls didn't get into the Rebelle line and
neither did boys cause like come on no one's gonna take us seriously if we use the pink glock now
sure the Rebelle line ended three years ago but you know what hasn't ended Lego friends Lego for
girls and unlike Nerf Rebelle it has always sold very well now what's the difference between girl
Lego and boy Lego well aside from the Minifigures nothing literally nothing what makes this for
girls and this for boys this episode came out in 2002 so treating things as frivolous as bike
colors as a means of identifying a person's gender was yeah pretty common back then and we can't act
like it doesn't still persist today but the part that really gets me is how the episode begins
the boys listen to hard rock and the girls listen to space folk pop rock it's the closest thing I
can think of the argument that puts this episode into motion is about boys music being brainless
and girl's music being boring though Zoit never directly answers which music is better the
analysis given for each makes it sound like girls only enjoy sparse and depressing music while boys
only enjoy chaotic and aggressive music relaying this idea of there being gender specific music I'd
like to ask you what is girl music today and what is boy music today what themes and topics are the
most prominent among female artists and how do they differ from their male counterparts genuine
question I'd like to hear your thoughts personally I've noticed an increase of male rappers and
producers but not a lot of male singers strange considering that on the flip side we have women
dominating as both singers and rappers but not as many producers can that be attributed to the
very same gender stereotypes being fed to people from the day they're born meaning that because one
group isn't exposed to the other group's interest they subconsciously create a divide causing them
to enjoy or aspire to be like what they're told is good for them do Brittany and her friends think
their clothing music and movies are what makes them girls because they're told to believe that
or do they genuinely think that the stereotypical girl things are actually just for girls and of
course the same question can be applied to the boys and their interests would Lloyd not allow
Zoit to hang out with them if Zoit chose to be a girl would Eddie suddenly think that Zoit was
less intelligent because of their personal choice we don't know because Zoit never reappears all we
know for sure is that despite coming out in 2002 some things in this episode still do hold up
surprisingly Lloyd in space isn't the only cartoon that decided to tackle the subject matter in the
2000s French Canadian TV series Fred's head actually had a very similar episode to this
following a character named Panook who everyone wonders about what color did your mother dress
you in when you were a baby yellow but why no reason and personally I think the show's
resolution was a bit better than this one either way neither boy nor girl is one of the most
memorable episodes of Lloyd in space not gonna lie this was a pretty weird video
if you're looking for a more comprehensive video about the entirety of Lloyd and space be sure
to check out my buddy Jordan Fringe's video on his channel I'll leave a link down below
fun fact through sheer coincidence both Jordan and I decided to make a Lloyd in space video for
this month weird eh again the link will be in the description down below and you know what else will
be there my social medias but especially twitch if you want to see me live stream
while you're at it be sure to follow the Jr. & Marcus Talk podcast where we talk about movies
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and discord so are there any other single episode characters you'd like me to analyze from
any TV show at all let me know in the comments down below until then I'll leave you with this
don't you think you've seen enough?