Gender has always been somewhat a significant role in animation, both in animated works and the industry itself. The representation and treatment of women in media has always been a topic that people like to tackle and for good reason. Women have been treated quite differently in the industry, and how they are generally portrayed in animated works that is affected by society’s views at the time. Over time the image of an animated female and their character has changed, most of the time for good with how society’s views change and the demand for better representation.
This is also the contrast between eastern media, with how much of an influence it can have on its own culture, and almost how toxic the otaku culture can be because of the portrayal of female characters in some of Japans most popular anime. In the past, there had been segregation of sexes in some animation studios like Disney, much like most other places during those times in the 1940s. Women would have been given more of the lesser and least creative jobs to do, like tracing the characters and inking and colouring the frames.
Over time, the treatment of women in the industry would have improved due to a change in societies views, for example, at Dreamworks Studios, women are given much more significant roles in the studio and we have had women direct animated films such as Jennifer Lee who directed Disney’s Frozen (2013). Even with this, the significance of female roles in the industry is still somewhat lacking compared to males working in the industry, and this could be contributed to how in the past they haven’t been credited as much.
Like the animator Lillian Friedman, who has worked on at least eleven Popeye titles and has only been credited in about six of them. But women have been recorded to have made some sort of impact on the history of animation. For example, one of the very early pioneers of animation was in fact a woman by the name of Lotte Reinger. She was one of the earliest animators, having had a long illustration career and has made over 40 films. She created the works The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) and Papageno (1935), which were both done in a silhouette style with puppets.
She has also won awards like the Filmband in Gold Deutscher Filmpreis in 1972, and the Great Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1979. In conclusion to this, women have made some form of impact on the animation but they just aren’t as credited as much and in past have been given some of the lesser jobs to do in the studio. Again, this is most likely contributed to how women were treated socially in past, and overtime, women have been given much better jobs both in the industry and everywhere else due to social changes.
One of the main points that should be looked at, however, when it comes to gender in animation, is the significance of a female characters role in an animated work. In the earlier days of animation, much like most media, female characters were given the stereotypical role of always needing to be saved by the male hero of the story. Like how most early Micky Mouse cartoons that involve Minnie, usually involves her needing to be saved by Micky in some form. However, a very good example to look at when looking into the role of female characters, is Disney’s Princesses.
They tend to have a huge impact on the younger generation, mostly with how they are aimed towards that audience. One of the main jobs that a Disney Princesses can be considered to have is to act as a role model and someone that young girls can look up to and inspire to be. They are also very easy to market and is one the biggest marketing products out there when it comes to Disney’s merchandise. Despite the idea of a Disney Princess being role models, they have been accused of not being the best of role models with people claiming that they don’t really do anything. Which can be true in some cases, but at the same time isn’t.
An example of character not doing much is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (Walt Disney, 1959). Even though the story is all about her, she doesn’t actually do much in the film itself and only has roughly 18 minutes of screen time. There is the argument that each character is a product of its time, as the way the character looks and moves is influenced by society’s rules and views at the time. In the Nostalgia Critics video What’s with the Princess Hate? , he makes a point that even if a Disney Princess isn’t the best role model, they still have a lot of good qualities about the character that should be learnt. Snow Whites kindness and helpful nature, for example, serves as a second mother for the dwarves. And if anyone that says that being a mother doesn’t make a hard and working responsible women, clearly has never been one. ”(Nostaglia Critic, 2013) He also mentions about how characters like Snow White are criticised for not doing anything and letting someone save the day instead, and yet they are presented as hard-working people that are eventually rewarded for their kindness and labour.
In fact, one of Walt Disney’s favourite tales was in fact Cinderella, with he can relate to the character with her hard-working ature in hopes that they are rewarded one day for it. Despite the criticism these characters may get, it is usually due to how they are in fact limited to roles that they are given during those times. Which means that as time moves on, the role of a Disney Princess has changed, along with the role of women in animated works in general with much more variety of roles given to them. The later Princesses are a lot more active and take much bigger chances than earlier Princesses, are actually go out and contribute a lot more to plot other than just being there to be rescued.
For example, we gave Merida from Pixar’s Brave (2012). Her story is a focused a lot on her and the relationship she has with her mother, and we see how she grows as a character as well as watching her rebel against the typical treats of a Princess. She can be considered the new image of the Disney Princess, but she isn’t the only one or the first to do so. Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1990) is also a lot more curious about the world around her on land and she goes out and explores, and she even at one point makes effort to help and save the Prince of that story herself and it is a joint effort to take down the villain.
Another accept to contribute to the role of a female character is also the visual representation. “Disney artists sketched the flash and blood on these folktale templates with contemporaneous popular images of feminine beauty and youth, their sources ranging from the silent screen to glassy pin-ups. ” (Bell, 1995, 109) What Bell is saying here is that the character designs for the Princesses are based on the beauty expectations of women at the time. It could be said that this is so that they look more appealing and stylized with the curves and body proportions.
However, it is safe to say the way that women are represented in media is criticised. There is also the whole argument revolving around some of Disney’s most recent characters and the design of these characters. The main argument is how most of Disney’s female characters look almost the same, where their male characters all have different body and face shapes. Caroline Siede talks about this and a post on Tumblr that highlights this issue of lack of diversity in female character designs in recent Disney and Pixar movies.
She does make the point that while most female leads have the some round face and button nose, this isn’t necessarily said for all female characters, “for instance Colette from Ratatouille may share the round face shape of animated sisters, but she has a lager nose than the rest. ” (Seide, 2015) However, this is only usually the case for supporting characters, and she also notes how most of their supporting casts are populated with male characters, even with films that have female leads. This can be quite an issue, as these films are more geared towards kids.
It can almost seem like there is this negative message being sent out to young girls that you must only like this certain way, while male character are given variety in their body and face. “It’s ultimately not the lack of different faces that’s troubling, it’s the fact that this trend is so clearly applied to one gender and not the other, especially when one factors in the limiting beauty standards already imposed on women. ” (Seide, 2015) Another major issue of female representation is the over sexualisation.
Some may argue that it isn’t that bad of an issue that some may make it out to be, but it is still rather big topic to discuss. In animation, this isn’t much of a problem in western works, but can be quite a major issue in eastern animation. Some of Japans most popular anime involve female characters that can be seen to have a negative image. There is also a huge cultural lifestyle named ‘otaku’ that is heavily influenced by anime, manga and video games. This culture can be seen as almost damaging and almost toxic to the industry as all that is demanded is the whole ‘moe’ style of anime and the lack of demand for anything original.
A typical otaku would also tend to have obsessive tendencies with anime and girls which can be seen in a very negative light. One animated work that focuses on this is a music video called ME! ME! ME! , directed by Hibiki Yoshizaki. It focuses on the issue of the addictive otaku lifestyle, focusing on the character Shuu who is struggling with his addiction and the effects it has on his views on women and his relationships due to the sexualisation of women. It really does take a stab at the otaku culture and how women are portrayed in the media, noting the damaging effects it can have.
It has a lot of visual representation and symbolism that help to send out the message that it is trying to get across. Even the lyrics in the song may suggest that it holds the same meaning as the video itself. For example; “Extreme dissatisfaction, your real life was covered with distress. A direct blow divided my days into two. Return, love me. We’ve come so far. ” These lines are directed at Shuu from the perspective of his girlfriend, and how his addiction has damaged their relationship.
There is also a follow up to this animation called Girl (Hibiki Yoshizaki), which also makes a comment on the culture through the perspective of a girl who is coming to terms with just how sexualised women are. It doesn’t exactly comment on the same things as ME! ME! ME! , but it does cover how women are over sexualised and also the affects this can have on younger generations, also making small connections in the video itself to the first animation. But it does heavily focus more on the sexualisation of women more than ME! ME! ME! oes in media and society in general, and it also makes connections to both western and eastern cultures and mythology.
This animation really does highlight the issue of the effects of female representation and sexualisation in media that it can have on those of a younger generation who are impressionable still discovering themselves. This is an issue that can be seen as global, but in animation, it can be seen more problematic in eastern animation as most mainstream animations are always targeted at kids and are family friendly.
