Gender Swapping of Drake & Josh

Coming home from elementary school had to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. Getting home and my mother making me and my sisters food while we watched some of our favorite TV shows. Our go-to show had to be Drake and Josh featured on Nickelodeon. The show stars two stepbrothers Drake Parker and Josh Nichols who have completely different personalities both living their teenage lifestyle in the same household. Two characters that would be ideal for this gender swap would the little sister Megan, and Josh Nichols himself.

The first character Megan Parker, who is the younger sister of Drake Parker is seen as this perfect little angel in the eyes of both her mother and step-father. But while the parents aren’t looking, Megan thrives off of finding ways to prank her older brothers. Her brothers often portray her as troublesome and mischievous to the point where if they sense any sort of trouble, they conclude that it is most likely Megan. Now looking at a gender-swapping to instead make Megan the younger brother, would change things in a whole different perspective. If Megan were to have been a boy in the show, she would not have much leeway in the efforts to pranking her older brothers. Being a mischievous young boy, the parents would then be forced to scold and punish Megan like they do with Drake and Josh. Also, being a younger older could also lead to the older brothers getting their revenge and asserting their dominance as the older brothers. Being the little sister that she is, Drake and Josh are forced to be submissive because they know that they can’t lay a finger on Megan or else they would have been punished for it.

The second character Josh Nichols, often seen as the more caring and responsible one of the two brothers. He is also intelligent and fun when it comes to his personality. Josh is usually not the one getting into trouble, as opposed to his brother Drake who always drags him into these situations. Swapping Josh from a male to a female would not be much of a change for him because Josh could be seen in the show as having some feministic qualities already. One scenario in the show where Josh could be seen as a female is how much he idolizes Oprah. If Josh were to have been a girl on the show, he could also prove to drake how to be more responsible and also how to treat women. Also, if Josh became a girl in the show, he could then be on better terms with his step-sister Megan.

Gender swapping may have a counter effect on how we perceive the show and how the character’s actions. It would also not be ideal to have three brothers if Megan were to become a boy because it would be too male dominant for the show. However, knowing the characteristics of both Josh and Megan, they could easily swap genders and the audience would still enjoy the show.