Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but I didn’t see a thread on this. I came acrossthis article yesterday about the ladies in Pixar films, or rather lack, thereof. It’s from a blog post from last summer so that’s why I’m not sure if this was discussed way back before I joined but I thought it was interesting but crazy! They basically say Pixar does not include any strong female characters in their movies. But I would think EVE was pretty feisty and the Incredibles girls held their own. Or is someone just looking for an argument for argument’s sake. What say you?
I think Pixar has included strong females in their movies. Like you said, the Incredible girls and Eve definitely hold their own. The thing is, we’ve never seen the main character be female. Bob was more or less the main character in The Incredibles and Wall E was in… well Wall E. So I can see where they are coming from about Pixar not having strong females.
This has never bothered me though. I trust Pixar and their story telling abilities. If they want a central female protagonist, they’ll have one.
The way I see it there is no point writing a major female protagonist into a story purely for the sake of equality. Don’t get me wrong I greatly appreciate female protaganists but can you think of any Pixar films where a female main character would have improved the story beyond what it is now?
If a female lead would aid the telling of the story than I have no doubt that Pixar would write one in, they are very sensitive to the nuances of story and emotion and none of their films have failed to hit the mark yet.
For the record I always considered EVE to be the main character in Wall•e anyway, she is the one who undergoes the greatest development whereas Wall•e just bumbles around lovestruck.
Personally, I don’t think there is much of a problem to begin with. Let’s not forget that Pixar is a still a very early company, even though their output is extraordinary compared to other studios they’re like a baby!
I think that Pixar have created many decent strong female characters, who have never really seemed one dimensional. It could just be because not every female character is shown to be flawless, but many of them seem like strong characters to me. I think it’s easy to dismiss characters in a movie because you don’t personally care for the film. But Cars for instance has what i would call quite a strong female character, not to mention that it’s lightning McQueen who falls in love with her more than she does for him. Which could be seen as one of the main problems with most movies, females tend to be these vessels of desire for the main character. Apart from when they’re the lead character, of course.
After all, in theory Disney could be accused of the same thing with male characters. For a long time there really wasn’t a whole lot of strong male characters in those. If anything, I would argue that back in the day Disney seemed to focus more on female characters than men, and for a good ten years they were pretty much always the focus to the point of where male characters seemed one dimensional (With exception to a few, of course)
I don’t think it’s possible to truly create equality with movies and story when you balance it with people’s perception of a film. Because we as individuals will think of something that wasn’t meant to be offensive as exactly that. It’s just our own personal opinions ultimately.
Does a female being the lead character make her any stronger as a character? Or is it how the character is written that makes her strong.
I think what makes Pixar great, and it’s a point that i’ve brought up before is how they seem to writer characters. They always seem very human and are capable of having flaws and will make mistakes, I think that’s one of their strengths.
Personally, I steel feel that in most movies today there is a huge lack of strong female characters that could be used as positive role models for those who watch. So to limit the problem to just Pixar seems a bit strange to me. But, I suppose in order to get a point across you have to make examples of the best.
This is a good topic though! It will be interesting to see how others feel.
I think we did have a discussion about this at some point, but definitely a very long time ago.
I’m not sure what I think. On the one hand, the fact that there have been no female leads as of yet in a Pixar film does seem obvious to me, but on the other hand, does it really matter, since Pixar do include other very strong female characters. I guess it would be nice for there to be a female lead, but only if the story suits it and not just for the sake of it.
Anyway, by the sounds of things, The Bear and the Bow will have a central female antagonist. I’m quite curious as to how Pixar will deal with that, though I’m sure it’ll be as good as any of their previous films.
Lizardgirl With Bear and the Bow do you not think that Lasseter will through his role as Chief of both Walt Disney and Pixar try to bring in some of the Disney Princess Essence to the role?
His attempt to revive Hand Drawn animation and Develop 3D the Walt Disney Animaiton Staff with the The Princess and The Frog and Rapunzel, might mean he’ll take the tips from the Staff who know what Female led movies are to those who know how to create a good story.
Personally, I think Pixar’s strongest character females include Violet, Helen, EVE, and possibly Atta. But I would like to see Pixar tackle a mvie where a female plays a lead role. To me, it doesn’t matter who is the star, just as long as the acting is believable and the story is good.
TSS-You are absolutely correct. Pixar doesn’t need to worry about problems with a leading female character because all of their stories have enough storyline to allow the audience to enjoy them and “know” them. We found that out through Dory, Sally, Collette, and Now EVE. They all work perfectly at their designed places. Now the hurdle will be letting them adapt to the lead.
The Bear and the Bow-This movie should be the starting point for any Female Major role…a good place to start. I love Archery…
Captain Pan- Considering the synopsis of the film as we know it so far, I have a feeling that this Princess is not going to be much of a typical Princess at all. There might be that Disney Princess essence, but it seems like if it is included in the film, it’s only going to be something that the Princess will try and resist, which would make a nice change.
I’ve posted about this a couple times before. My Psychology of Gender class used Pixar as example of all movie studios, in that the professor said there is very rarely a strong female lead, and the male characters more than outnumber the female characters. She actually picked Cars as the example. I got her point, but I didnt agree with it. I never would cross my mind that Pixar would be all “We have to put in a token female” or whatever. The stories call for whatever characters there may be. And I’ve never sat through a Pixar movie thinking “I wish there were more strong females in this”
A Pixar Princess trying not to be a Disney Princess? EPIC WIN 