COP Research - Articles

I decided to look more into articles created over the past view years that relfect on how women are designed within animated features. I found that articles are a great source of modern viewpoints from young writers.

The Daily Dot - How Sexist video games animators keep failing - Aja Romano

http://www.dailydot.com/via/assassins-creed-gaming-sexism-also-about-animation/

I found this article when researching sexist stereotypes in animated features. I found this one interesting because of how the author focused mainly on the presentation of the characters, and how the overall features of the females characters haven't changed for years. There's an explanation where the author mentions how even though all the characters have vastly different personalities and storylines, they are still subjected to the overly exaggerated sexual appearance their animators/designers create. Even though this article is mainly about character design within computer games, I still feel the points made throughout is relevant to my essay.

Gender Representation within animation - http://fourthreefilm.com/2015/09/looking-from-the-outside-in-gender-representation-in-animation/ 

“women existing as a separate, codified entity, with a limited, often sexualised design and relatively narrow narrative role.” Describing the way that female characters are depicted. – Looking from the Outside In – “Gender Representation In Animation” Article by Tansy Gardam, September 3, 2015, Fourthreefilm.com




I found this article interesting in how the author focused mainly on modern animation, and how the role of women in animated features are often weak in narrative but sexualized in appearance. I feel like this quote could be related to both Peter Pan as well as The Little Mermaid, purely because both features, and original novels, contain females characters that have little to no lines in the film and often depend on overly exaggerated and sometimes sexual gestures in order to communicate e.g Tinkerbell/Ariel.

Why Children’s Cartoons Have a Sexism Problem. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nikki-gloudeman/why-childrens-cartoons-have-a-sexism-problem_b_5924390.html  – 1-/06/2014, 05:30pm, Article by Nikki Gloundeman quoting Margot Magowan in 2012, Huffington Post. 

“Unfortunately, the reason that there’s no disclaimer and no introduction [about sexism] is because sexist stereotypes in kids’ cartoons are just as accepted in 2012 as they were sixty years ago. Sexist jokes in animation are, apparently, still hilarious.

I feel like this quote could support the argument that I want to make in my essay when I respond to how modern animation is still striving to create strong female character, but are failing due to the design aspect and also how the characters execute their actions in order to achieve goals. 

- “Researchers have found a major problem with “The Little Mermaid” and other Disney movies.”

Article written by Jeff Guo, The Washington Post, January 25  "The Little Mermaid” represented a backward step in the princess genre. For a film centered on a young woman, there’s an awful lot of talking by men. In fact, this was the first Disney princess movie in which the men significantly out spoke the women."

I feel like this quote would support the argument that even though animators and designers alike are constantly trying to create strong female roles within animations, it seems to be counteracted with the lack of progression in the balance between men and women roles throughout the animation process, as well as the feature itself. 

My Main focus with my essay is to focus on the body image as well as the representation of roles that woman are presented with having at that time, and also how the mind of children can be warped into thinking that certain ways to act from different stand points is acceptable.

Gender Representation

In my response, I have decided to create a storyboard/animatic of a concept based around a sexualised female character. This character will take on typical characteristics found in both the animated world and the real world. This combination will hopefully represent the standards that are set for women.

Betty Boop was created by Max Fliecher in 1930. She has been regarded as the first ever animated sex symbol. She was depicted as clumsy, ditsy and sexy. She was often animated working as a nurse or a dentist which often sexualised that specific practice. 

Jessica Rabbit is one of the main characters from the iconic animated feature Who's Framed Roger Rabbit. She is considered to be probably the most sexualised female cartoon character, and is extremely recognisable.

Over the course of this visual research, I have decided to base my main female character on these two iconic figures. 

In my essay I want to mainly focus on the female characters from Peter Pan as well as the main protagonist in The Little Mermaid. Wendy Darling, Tinkerbell and Ariel are perfect examples of female roles that are warped in a subliminal way, and clearly capture the sexism presented to the creators from that era. I also want to reference the original texts that the Animated Features are based off, purely because of how sexist and obscure the females are shown.