The cheeky little train and his friends live in a world blighted by a “conservative political ideology” and a rigid class system that stifles self-expression, according to startling new Canadian academic research.
Professor Shauna Wilton also found that women are under-represented in the stories and what few female characters there are tend to have “secondary” roles or be bossy.
What’s more, she has warned that such negative messages about society subconsciously gleaned from the show may drive its young fans off the rails in later life.
Professor Wilton concluded that the themes are not “constructive” after analysing the characters and plots of 23 different episodes of the television show.
Reminds me of what happened a few years back when Australian media of various persuasions actually gave airtime to people condemning Bob the Builder for unsafe work practices by hanging out of a tractor.
Or the academic that accused Santa of promoting obesity.
Too much time on their hands. Get a life people.
Yet this academic grew up with Thomas the Tank Engine and she grew up fine, so fine that she can write an article like this one.