In my opinion, “Kim Possible” and “American Dragon: Jake Long” were two of Disney’s best Television shows, at least of their respective era at any rate. But how do they fair when you compare them together? I want to believe that American Dragon would be better, since it had so much potential, but that potential was never really realized and that really held the series back. Anyway, I think that these two shows rival each other and really should be compared, so I did—
Main Characters-
Kim is an admirable role model who rarely, if ever, makes any mistakes or does anything wrong. She’s always prepared for everything, she’s is respected and beloved by nearly everyone she meets and she’s never once experience that much pain or defeat.
Jake, on the other hand, is shown to frequently make mistakes and does many things wrong. He’s not a very role model worthy character, since he usually is responsible for the crisis’ he deals with and is known for going against instruction and orders from his authority figures. He’s also not very popular among the people he protects and he suffers a great deal of pain and defeat. Yeah, I guess you could say that it’s because Jake suffers that he gains experience and becomes a better person, but I think he’s not portrayed as a very admirable character.
Another thing that bothers me is the way the families and friends are presented in both shows
Kim had parents who supported her every step of the way and rarely, if ever, made her life more difficult. They were also far more lenient about what she did, i can't even remember any times when Kim parents said no to her about anything. Plus Kim's "annoying siblings" were always called out on what they did and hardly ever got away with what they did to Kim. As far as her friends go, Kim was surrounded by loyal friends who rarely, if ever, spoke out against her decisions and basically agreed with her every step of the way.
Jake, on the other hand, was quite different. It really felt like his parents were against everything he liked and were far more stricter and overbearing with him. They were always against him going somewhere on a school night (which is a little odd, since Trixie, Spud and Rose were all around the same age as him and were allowed to do so frequently), they expected nothing less than perfection from him and they were constantly trying to drag him along on every family themed venture they could think of. The only reason that i can fathom for them doing all of this is that Jonathan and Susan are just overbearing and overprotective parents (which, again, is a little odd, since Susan finds it too dangerous for him to attend a comic convention on a school night, yet doesn't seem the least bit fazed by the fact that her son frequently goes up against villains who would not hesitate to kill him). Also, in their eyes, Haley is a little angel and they praise her for everything she does, and not only do they expect Jake to love her without question, they also willfully ignore the insults that Haley gives him and frequently use him as her own private babysitter (heaven forbid that they should actually call a professional and stop using Jake as their ace in the hole). And his friends are another matter to consider, Trixie and Spud frequently disagree with Jake's decisions, they argue with him at almost every turn and it's gotten to the point where they even believe that they can decide who he should have a relationship with (they were against him pursuing Rose since day one and when he turned his sights towards Danika Honeycutt, they convinced that she was bad news and that Vicky Fickling was the better choice). It really feels like nobody is on Jake's side in his show
What do you think?
Depending on your replies to this, I’ll add more as I think of them
Main Characters-
Kim is an admirable role model who rarely, if ever, makes any mistakes or does anything wrong. She’s always prepared for everything, she’s is respected and beloved by nearly everyone she meets and she’s never once experience that much pain or defeat.
Jake, on the other hand, is shown to frequently make mistakes and does many things wrong. He’s not a very role model worthy character, since he usually is responsible for the crisis’ he deals with and is known for going against instruction and orders from his authority figures. He’s also not very popular among the people he protects and he suffers a great deal of pain and defeat. Yeah, I guess you could say that it’s because Jake suffers that he gains experience and becomes a better person, but I think he’s not portrayed as a very admirable character.
Another thing that bothers me is the way the families and friends are presented in both shows
Kim had parents who supported her every step of the way and rarely, if ever, made her life more difficult. They were also far more lenient about what she did, i can't even remember any times when Kim parents said no to her about anything. Plus Kim's "annoying siblings" were always called out on what they did and hardly ever got away with what they did to Kim. As far as her friends go, Kim was surrounded by loyal friends who rarely, if ever, spoke out against her decisions and basically agreed with her every step of the way.
Jake, on the other hand, was quite different. It really felt like his parents were against everything he liked and were far more stricter and overbearing with him. They were always against him going somewhere on a school night (which is a little odd, since Trixie, Spud and Rose were all around the same age as him and were allowed to do so frequently), they expected nothing less than perfection from him and they were constantly trying to drag him along on every family themed venture they could think of. The only reason that i can fathom for them doing all of this is that Jonathan and Susan are just overbearing and overprotective parents (which, again, is a little odd, since Susan finds it too dangerous for him to attend a comic convention on a school night, yet doesn't seem the least bit fazed by the fact that her son frequently goes up against villains who would not hesitate to kill him). Also, in their eyes, Haley is a little angel and they praise her for everything she does, and not only do they expect Jake to love her without question, they also willfully ignore the insults that Haley gives him and frequently use him as her own private babysitter (heaven forbid that they should actually call a professional and stop using Jake as their ace in the hole). And his friends are another matter to consider, Trixie and Spud frequently disagree with Jake's decisions, they argue with him at almost every turn and it's gotten to the point where they even believe that they can decide who he should have a relationship with (they were against him pursuing Rose since day one and when he turned his sights towards Danika Honeycutt, they convinced that she was bad news and that Vicky Fickling was the better choice). It really feels like nobody is on Jake's side in his show
What do you think?
Depending on your replies to this, I’ll add more as I think of them