Yes, it does sound like a scary title, but listen. There are lots of articles out there that discuss sexism in Pixar: the fact that there isn’t one female lead in any of the films released by Pixar yet.
Personally, I’m not ticked off by it… I will still watch Pixar films, and the fact that every Pixar film has a male lead (or predominantely male characters) does not stop me from enjoying them. Nevertheless, I would like to see at least ONE film that has a female lead, directed by either sex (EDIT: Eh? Oh, come on guys… I can’t replaced the s word with “gender” because that’s incorrect). Yes, I know I can just watch Disney films if I want female protagonists, but I’m not talking about Disney… I’m talking about Pixar. Disney hasn’t made a lot of great films lately.
I started thinking about this ever since the news about Up came out. I was so pumped and excited to hear what they had this time, and when I heard it was about an old man who travels with a ranger, my heart slightly sank.
Well, let me know what you think. Here are some articles that I found regarding the topic:
It’s very true that there does seem to be some sort of sexism when it comes to the leading roles in Pixar films, but even outside of Pixar, CGI films recently have been getting more and more male-dominated…Nothing immediately pops to mind concerning a female lead in a recent CGI film.
Even the majority of employees at Pixar seem to be male. It’s obviously not done purposefully, and it doesn’t change how great the Pixar films are, but there doesn’t seem to be an apparent reason behind it- it just seems like it’s just ‘the way it is’.
I’d love to see Pixar make a film with a true female lead. Sure, their previous films have had some strong female characters, but that’s still different from being a female lead. It won’t stop me enjoying future Pixar films, it would just be nice to have a change and for Pixar to prove that they can make great films regardless of the sex of the lead character.
Yah. Helen (Incredibles) and Dory (Finding Nemo) are proof that Pixar can not only come up with with a female lead, but a strong one. I don’t mind that we’ve seen a lot of male directors, but even they can come up with something like this.
And yes, it’s not just Pixar. Dreamworks has also not come up with a female lead in any of their CG films. Ice Age is an all-male cast (as in the three main characters are male). Open Season… Robots… the list goes on.
Pixar has had several main characters who are female. Helen, Dory, Atta, Collette, Sally, and Jessie can all be considered “leading” characters (particularly Helen and Dory). However, they are still mainly supporting lead characters. The main focus of those movies are the male characters. But it’s like everyone else said: this seems to be an issue with practically all CGI films, not just Pixar. And for that reason, I’m not worried. I’m sure the folks at Pixar have thought of this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a female lead in a Pixar film in the near future (providing they can find a good story to support it, because I’m more concerned with the quality of the story than the gender of the lead).
This is kind of like that whole “Pixar never shows any men in their movies” complaint that hung on until The Incredibles. In the same way, a female lead will come, I’m sure.
EDIT: I just thought of something. Didn’t John Lasseter say at one time that the focus of Toy Story 3 would be Jessie? When I first heard that I didn’t really like the idea, particularly because it’s a sequel, and by focusing on a different character it kind of felt like a spin-off movie that would push Woody and Buzz to the back burner. However, if done right it could turn out really well. I’m not sure if this is still happening (TS3’s been through a lot of drafts), but it’s an idea, anyway…
This is a good point, but were would Marlin be without Dory?, where would Lightening be without Sally? Where would Bob be without Helen?
The list goes on, yes there are no femail “lead roles” but if you ask me the femaile roles are just as important because without them the main male character would be lost or useless.
In my opinion, I would like to think of it this way. Just because you aren’t the main, main character, that doesn’t mean you can’t still be considered a lead. Helen, Atta, Dory, etc are the main girls, so I like to think that they are leads, just as important as the guys.
You actually make it sound as if Dory, Sally and Helen’s purposes are just for the male leads. I do think those female characters are important in the film, but they still aren’t leads I’m afraid.
I think it’s because most of Pixar consists of males, but they did mention they’re getting more female workers. I think they’ll need a female to direct, because the only reason I can think of why there is no strong female lead character is because guys can’t relate to her, more specifically they wouldn’t know much on how to make her believable. Same problem for me but the opposite- I always have to double-check with my brother to make sure I’m making a guy character do or say what they normally would. Of course I have a pretty good idea but it would be a whole lot easier if I were a guy, which I’m not. I guess the same could be said in Pixar, but the opposite. Hopefully if my story makes it to film it can be one of those films with a strong female lead.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I read somewhere (Upcoming Pixar, I’m supposing) that Brenda Chapman is directing a currently unnamed Pixar film. So that makes her the first female to direct a Pixar film.
We actually talked about this in my Psychology of Gender class last year. Not just Pixar, but the movie-making industry in general. Especially family films. The professor actually had a picture of Cars up as an example of a sexist film. That whole thing made me a little irritated because it was like she was insulting one of my favorite movies and favorite institutions just because the lead character was male. She also made the point that there are so many more male characters in these movies than female ones. Which I guess is true, but again, that made me irritated that she chose “to make an example” of Cars like that. If you define it by the number of males vs females then you could say sexism is everywhere, not just at Pixar. I never got the impression that they were trying for male dominance here. I never even thought about it. Pixar just comes up with good stories with interesting characters and if most of them are male, then so be it. That doesnt detract from me liking them.
I’m finding it only bugs me a bit when people bring it up. I’m sure this was not intentional, but if someone points it out to them I’m sure they’d realize that and probably would release a film with a strong female lead.
Let’s not forget they looked to the actresses to make strong female characters, like Ellen Degeneres and Joan Cusack. They brought a lot to their characters, and Pixar can’t be gender biased since they let them.
What strikes me as weirdest about that is that Cars is the one movie where gender is totally arbitrary. They’re automobiles. The only thing that even suggests they possess any awareness of gender is their voices and the pronouns that are used.
I mean their windshield wipers are eyes for pete’s sake. Talk about overthinking it (on your professor’s part).
