The amazing shrinking women...roles
Thanks for all your thoughtful comments on the last post. Many of you commented on the need for "strong female characters." Hey, I'm all for it, but what I hope for more than anything is real female characters, which would be a nice mix of all kinds of types and personalities, alongside real male characters. But, lamentably, all I'm gunning for at this point is any female characters. Kids notice gender. They notice that most of the characters on the screen are male. They absorb this and make decisions about the world and about themselves. I know I did.
Jessica notes that most animators are men and they naturally gravitate toward characters who are male. I can understand that with regards to the main character. I'm a girl, I've written 10 books, and 8 of them have female main characters. But my books also have a lot of male characters. This isn't an effort for me. It would feel unnatural to only write girls. Boys are a part of this world. I like boys. I find them as interesting and worth writing about as girls. I have to believe that the men making movies feel the same way about those creatures of the opposite gender. So I don't understand the lack of female supporting characters. I'm honestly confused. Whatever the reason, and I think it's pointless to speculate on motives, the lack of cartoony girls is undeniable.
Now, having female-led movies for kids is always going to be a battle. We've been told that if Rapunzel's Revenge becomes a movie, we'd have to change the name and make Jack the main character. It costs a lot of money to make a movie, especially an animated movie that takes years, hundreds of people, and tens of millions of dollars. Investors can't afford to take a chance on that. They usually go with what's proven to sell - male-led family movies.
Heather pointed out that the Japanese don't have this hang-up. The recent Ponyo is a great example of a cast that is rich in both male and female characters. But we poor Americans don't seem to get behind this. Recent movies that had multiple female characters didn't do well, like the fabulous Coraline and Princess and the Frog. There are plenty of male-led animated movies that haven't done well too, but there are far fewer female-led ones, and when those don't make money, Hollywood accountants blame the girls. And who knows, maybe they're right? (Oh, I hope they're not.)
But they examine the evidence. Here are a few of the highest grossing animated movies of all time:
Ice Age
Toy Story
Madagascar
Shrek
Finding Nemo
Up
Kung Fu Panda
Monsters, Inc.
Cars
Ratatouille
I have nothing against these movies. I adore many of them. But look at their male:female ratios. It's kind of shocking what we just accept as normal. Can you imagine a reverse? An Ice Age-type movie where every character (except one who dies at the beginning) is female? The same goes for Up. There's one female (a hippo) on the entire island of Madagascar. Kung Fu Panda (awesome movie) has two female warriors in it. Great! (neither, by the way, gets to be funny) But look at the ratio overall of named characters - I count it 10:2. Imagine a movie with 10 girls and 2 boys! And Ratatouille...I love you, Brad Bird, and everything you do with a passionate love, but there was one named female in the entire movie. Couldn't there have been a single female rat? I think in part this goes back to the "girls aren't funny" belief. Minor characters in animated movies are usually there for comic relief, and until girls are seen as having humor potential, they don't get to make up the supporting cast.
Some commenters mentioned Barbie movies as a resource for girl characters. Amen. And notice that they are all straight to video. (Side note: Mattel once expressed interest in making Princess Academy into a Barbie movie.)
I can't change the fact that most animators and Hollywood movie execs are men and naturally write and make stories about boys and men. But it's that supporting cast that really bothers me. It feels unnatural, forced, to have 10 males per 1 or 2 females. I don't believe it. I don't like what it says to both my son and my daughter. I wish it would change.
And what changes things is money. Even more specifically: the Opening Weekend. That's all that really matters. If women and girls flood movie theaters the opening weekend in support of movies that are led by or even have a realistic ratio of female characters, those accountants will notice and things will change.
Also, ladies, any of you pining for a career in movie making or animation? You go, girls. You go.