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John Dillermand ("John Penisman",[1] "John Willieman" or "John Dongman") is a Danish stop motion animated children's television series about a man and his very long penis. It premiered on 3 January 2021 on DR Ramasjang.
| John Dillermand | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Children's Adventure Comedy |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Production | |
| Running time | Five minutes per episode |
| Original release | |
| Network | DR Ramasjang |
| Release | 3 January 2021 – present |
Premise
editJohn Dillermand is a middle-aged man who wears a red-and-white striped bathing costume.[2] He has a penis that can extend to a length of dozens of meters. John uses his prehensile penis (which stretches within his clothes) as a tool, such as to tame lions or to fly about like a helicopter. But it also often acts independently of John, getting him into trouble.[3]
Episodes
editThe series premiered on DRTV on 2 January 2021, a day ahead of the broadcast on DR Ramasjang.
| Episode | Danish title | Literal translation | Plot[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John lufter hunde | John Walks Dogs | John uses the diller as a dog leash, and suddenly walking the dog is the easiest and fastest thing in the whole world. |
| 2 | John Dillermand | John Penisman | Imagine if you had the world's longest diller! John has. |
| 3 | John tjener penge | John Earns Money | John accidentally knocks over Grandma's fine vase with his sledgehammer, and therefore has to go out and find a job. |
| 4 | John vil vinde | John Will Win | John gets into a fight with his diller, and so Grandma sends him out to play with the others. |
| 5 | John tager på jagt | John Goes Hunting | John is given a rifle by Grandma, and is asked to go out and shoot their dinner. |
| 6 | John ordner have | John Fixes the Garden | John promises Grandma that he will fix the garden, but the diller gets him into trouble. |
| 7 | John i Zoologisk have | John at the Zoo | In the Zoo, John accidentally steals an ice cream with the diller. |
| 8 | John i skovskole | John at the Forest School | John would like to be good at carving wood. But his craziness comes across. |
| 9 | John på fisketur | John Goes on a Fishing Trip | John is going on a fishing trip, but he has no fishing rod. Then, in return, he can fish with the diller. |
| 10 | John fejrer Oldemors fødselsdag | John Celebrates Grandma's Birthday | John has forgotten the one thing he must not forget – Grandma's birthday. |
| 11 | John redder Julen | John Saves Christmas | It's Christmas Eve and John just has to buy a Christmas tree, but on the way he meets Santa Claus himself. |
| 12 | John er postbud | John the Postman | John accidentally knocks over the postman, who falls off the bike, and then John has to step in and ensure that the mail arrives. |
| 13 | John tager skraldet | John Takes the Trash | John has to take out the garbage, but sees his cut to win over the garbage truck. |
Development and broadcast
editThe series is aimed at four- to eight-year-olds and was developed by the Danish public broadcaster DR, in association with the sex education association Sex & Samfund.[5] It premiered on 3 January 2021 on DR's children's channel DR Ramasjang.[3] The first season, consisting of 13 five-minute episodes, was made available on the internet on 2 January 2021.[3]
Reception
editWhether John Dillermand is funny or flat is a matter of taste, but it is exactly this kind of free thinking that DR must stick to. The children's universes on Netflix, Disney+, Viaplay and all the other streaming services are so scrubbed and gender stereotyped that half of them could be enough.
John Dillermand was popular in Denmark upon release, with 250,000 children viewing the first episode in five days,[7] and went viral.[1] The series has found fans among Danish TV personalities and children;[7] according to a DR executive, children were making snowmen, drawings, dolls and songs about John Dillermand.[7] At the 2021 Fastelavn festivities, John Dillermand was a popular choice of costume.[8]
Catherine Bennett of The Guardian praised the series as something that British leaders could learn from. But the series' unusual premise was also criticized as pandering to pedophiles,[3] or as making light of the #MeToo movement against sexual violence against women.[3] A gender studies professor of Roskilde University, Christian Groes, criticized the series for "perpetuating the standard idea of a patriarchal society and normalising ‘locker room culture’" which has been used to "excuse a lot of bad behaviour from men."[9][10]
The DR executive said that the series was part of DR's ambition to make "children's content that dares to tackle embarrassing, difficult, quirky and funny topics", that it was about being true to oneself and one's flaws, and that it acknowledged children's curiosity about human bodies.[7] He said that the series was "as desexualized as it can possibly get", and that it was developed together with a child psychologist and other professionals who reviewed the scripts to ensure that children would not misinterpret what they saw.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b Russell, Helen (6 January 2021). "Denmark launches children's TV show about man with giant penis". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (8 January 2021). "Danish Broadcaster Defends Kids Show About Man With Superhuman Penis: 'It's as Desexualized as It Can Possibly Get'". Variety. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d e W, Christian (5 January 2021). "John's long schlong: new DR kid show under fire". The Copenhagen Post. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ^ John Dillermand, sæson 1, DRTV
- ^ Brown, Nancy (6 January 2021). "Kids' TV show accused of 'normalising rape culture' over character with giant unruly penis". Entertainment Daily. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ^ sign. mr: Frisindets triumf, Politiken editorial, January 6, 2021
- ^ a b c d e Keslassy, Elsa (8 January 2021). "Danish Broadcaster Defends Kids Show About Man With Superhuman Penis: 'It's as Desexualized as It Can Possibly Get'". Variety. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "John Dillermand hitter ved årets fastelavn - TV 2". livsstil.tv2.dk (in Danish). 12 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ Bennett, Catherine (10 January 2021). "A cartoon fantasy about a man who can't control his penis? Sounds like reality TV". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
- ^ Russell, Helen (6 January 2021). "Denmark launches children's TV show about man with giant penis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.