Halloween costumes are the ultimate form of childhood self-expression for kids. From career aspirations to movie and television characters and more, it’s always fun to learn more about what a child is passionate about. But when a child’s gender and the gender of their costume character don’t align, that’s when the confusion, gender stereotyping and hurtful comments start to roll in, which can be detrimental to a child and their confidence.
Digital media company Landwirth Legacy Productions, whose goal is to create socially conscious content to empower viewers with feelings of compassion, mindfulness and inner strength, created a PSA this Halloween season to remind everyone that it doesn’t matter if a child’s gender doesn’t match the gender stereotypically assigned to their costume.
“This 2-minute digital PSA was written by Alexander Day and Brian Carufe, directed by Almog Avidan Antonir, and produced by the team at Landwirth Legacy Productions, as means to challenge gender stereotypes when it comes to children’s Halloween costumes,” reads the YouTube video description.
The short video, titled “My Heroes,” follows a family having the stereotypical definition of Halloween night, from pumpkin carving to trick-or-treating. The unease in the father’s face is prevalent throughout the video after his children put on their costumes and head out for a night of fun. His wife continues to reassure him that it’s ok, and the children are met with compliments on their costumes. When the family returns home it becomes evident that the father’s uneasiness came from his daughter dressing as Batman and his son dressing as Wonder Woman. In the end, the father takes one step closer to acceptance by calling his children his heroes.
The video received over half a million views in first five days of being published.
