Where do Girls fit in an Animated World?

This summer, I have spent plenty of time with all of my nieces and nephews, filling up our souls with countless hours of animated feature films. Pixar has truly raised the bar. Wall-E, Incredibles and Ratatouille. I’ve also watched all Shreks again, Madagascar, Happy Feet, Bee Movie…And it was the last film that reminded me of a very astute Op Ed piece I read in the New York Times, “The Real Life of Bees”. Besides all of the inaccuracies regarding bee/insect life as portrayed in animated films, I also wondered why do American animated films shy away from a female protagonist who is not a princess? (note: female love interests, even when all characters are animals, are usually the daughters of the king of the hive, tribe, flock etc thus making them the princess)  Couldn’t Bee Movie be about the Queen Bee? What about Antz? What if the main toy in Toy Story was a girls favorite doll and her adventures? What if the mouse of Haute Cuisine was a female rat? It bugs me (pun not intended).

Above is the first 10 minutes from one of my favorite movies of all time (animated or live action). Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. The illustration is flawless and lyrical. The story is captivating and refreshing, as it is a little girl who is not a Princess, her father or mother does not die, she saves the world and saves the male mythical creature. Yet it still hits all of those archetypes and plot points you feel necessary in quality children’s stories/fairytales. (If you haven’t yet, please pick up a copy of Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim. It’s a must read for any filmmaker and explains, when done correctly, how fairytales (yes even Cinderella) are useful for both boys and girls and their psychological and emotional development.)

Let me further digress. Recently, I taught a class on Cinematography and Lighting at The Ghetto Film School (more about that trip later) and the first question one of my students asked me was “is it harder to get work as a black female cinematographer?” My response was probably yes, but I have the choice to focus on that struggle until that is all that I see or to focus on the work I do have and how to be a better DP. It comes down to choice.

So I find it an interesting choice of major US animators to limit the roles for their animated female characters. What are they afraid of? It feels awfully similar to the argument of why there are/should be less black films or black models on magazines. The reasoning is black folks will pay for and enjoy white film/images but the reverse will scare white people off. This, I assume, was the reason for white-washing the real life characters and inspiration for the film 21.

Even Disney’s film The Princess and the Frog, an effort to silence “racist” labeling (anyone who can get me a copy of the original Song of the South WILL be my best friend. Seriously.) still is very much in my cross hairs. It comes back to choice. Every choice we make as film-makers has an impact, from the stories we tell to the crews we hire. I don’t have any answers. Much less a real point. But when I hear 1% of all feature films shot last year were by female DPs and I mull over all of the cartoons I have seen over the year, I feel there are dots to be connected.