Animated movies are a growing part of children’s lives. Whether they watch them with friends, with a babysitter, with their family, or in theatres; children are watching more and more animated films in modern day than ever before. The animated movie industry caters specifically to a child audience and creates good, whole-hearted family appropriate films that provide examplatory behavior and role models for children. Yet can this same industry, which seems so innocent, be installing sexist ideas in children’s heads that women have fought to abolish for so long? A recent article came out discussing Pixar’s films and the firing of Brenda Chapman, the first female Pixar director. The article, “Is Pixar Sexist? Anger as Studio Replaces Female Director on ‘Brave’” discusses the lack of women and their impact on the Pixar Company, and the lack of female lead roles in Pixar’s films. Pixar has yet to produce a film with a leading female role until now. Pixar’s new film, “Brave”, if untampered with, can be revolutionary in Pixar’s films because it stars a female lead and may in the long run help reduce sexism from a very young age.
Every Pixar film (Toy Story 1-3, Cars, Wall-e, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, Up and Ratatouille) has a male protagonist with females always in a supporting role. The female characters are never portrayed as role models and are simply additions into the films to make them more interesting. For example, in Wall-e the entire film is focused about Wall-e and his life on earth, and includes Eve as a side character who is only in the film because of Wall-e’s attraction to her. Eve may have respectable characteristics and be portrayed as kind and loving, but again is not the main character or meant to be a role model for young girls. This is also the same for Cars and Toy Story. In Toy Story 1, Little Bo Peep is seen as the typical damsel in distress and exemplifies the typical housewife Betty Friedan describes in her excerpt from The Feminine Mystique that so many women strived to be in the 50s and 60s. In Finding Nemo, Dori is portrayed as the mentally slower comical character that again has good characteristics, but is not meant for the leading role. The films focus on male characters and include females as less important characters. Since children learn from observation, this issue can greatly affect the way young females view themselves, the way they should act with other females and males, and lead to furthering male dominance in modern society.
But this article does not just focus on the lack of leading female characters in the films; it also focuses on the lack of leading female positions in the workplace. It seems almost as if Pixar makes an effort to keep women out of controlling positions in their films and workplace. The article states, “for one thing, the animation industry is not know as a warm and fuzzy place for women”, and only around 7 percent of directors were women in the entire Hollywood film industry (p.1). These facts show the increased difficulty there is for a woman rather than man seeking a job in the film industry, which many think of as to be a more modern and equal part of our society. It also shows how even though women have come such a far way to being completely equal with men, there is still hidden sexism in modern society. One of the main upsets with this issue was not only that Chapman had been the first female director for Pixar, but also that the movie she had written known as “Brave”, staring a female archer as the main character.
The film “Brave” is supposed to be about an archer-princess, who unlike all other Pixar films, plays the leading more masculine role in the film. The article quotes that the girl is the “impetuous, tangle-haired Merida, who despite being the daughter of a king and queen, would prefer to make her mark as a great archer”. This film will be enlightening and extremely important for children to see because it will hopefully start to break the male dominated animation world that children are so captivated by. It can also help decrease the stereotypes for girls and push women’s equality to the next level. Girls will now have an option of watching someone from their sex succeed and play the brave, courageous heroine role instead of just watching female characters be dependent on male characters. Some people fear that due to the director change, “Brave” may change and become more tailored to boys than girls. The final quote in the article perfectly describes not only the problems with gender in the film industry as well as in the films themselves. The article says,
“Gender matters,” wrote Kecky. "Yes, men and women are different. That’s precisely why it’s so important to have a balance between both perspectives, with equal respect given to each. Both movies and the movie industry are overrun with men. 'Brave' is also the first Pixar movie with a female main character, and personally, Chapman getting replaced by a man makes me worried that 'Brave' is going to get 'Tangled 'and made “more interesting to boys” as well."
Gender does matter. It matters in films and in the workplace. It is present in everyday life and makes up an enormous part of an individuals identity. So, when females are so blatantly ignored in the animation film industry it calls to question how progressive our society really is.
By creating this film “Brave”, Pixar is taking a step towards furthering women’s equality and reducing the sexism in society. “Brave” will hopefully allow young girls to think outside of societies image of a woman and her duties. Though Pixar may be sexist, by producing this film, Pixar can help breaking down sexism from a young age, enabling children to grow up in a less sexist environment, possibly leading to real equality for women.
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