Animate them all, please.

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January 26, 2010

Here is an interesting link:

http://vastpublicindifference.blogspot.com/2008/06/pixars-gender-problem.html

I’ve often wondered the same thing. Why does Pixar shy away from writing three- dimensional (no pun intended) female characters? Brad Bird’s “The Incredibles” is the exception; he’s never been intimidated by such things. For that matter, neither has John Cameron, whom we can now include among animation directors. (According to a recent article in The New Yorker, Cameron simply writes a role for a man then changes the sex. When it comes to egalitarian fantasy writing, this seems like a fair approach.)

In worlds where anything is possible, why should anyone’s possibilities be limited?

A while back I co-directed an animated feature whose central character happened to be female. No one on our crew seemed to have trouble bringing her to life. Eliza Thornberry was a kid on a mission, with hubris, immaturity, compassion and determination. Laika’s recent effort “Coraline” gave us another complex and interesting kid who happened to be female.
And Miyazaki proves time and time again that it’s not the sex of the characters, but the relationships between them that count.

Years ago I was a storyboard artist on an adult comedy. The writers happened to be white men. The designers happened to be white men. And almost every storyboard artist, with a few exceptions, happened to be a white man. Was it any wonder, then, that the characters and storylines in the show usually featured white men?

Sometimes we can’t see what lies outside our circle. And why should we? Things are comfortable where we are. Other times we lack the confidence to credibly portray someone outside our circle.

This may sound simple-minded, but as long as we make our characters deeply human, we’ll find them. We don’t always have to start with their physical attributes. We can begin instead with their spirits: all the dreams, flaws, strengths and weaknesses that make them unique. Then we can find a physical design. Then we can decide if a character’s sex is really that pivotal to the story.

If we don’t take this approach then a good portion of our audience will come away with an unsettling emptiness, a lack of inclusion in an otherwise masterful effort.