Specifically - female representation and women in animation theory and context.
Animation industry - rare presence early on -> operated under pseudonym circa 1930s- 1940s.
Lotte Reiniger, May Ellen Bute
Begins to pick up in the 90s - managerial level
-cartoon network
-TNT international
-CBS daytime children
-Fox kids network
-Disney channel
Animate context - problematic in terms of sexuality within animation.
A lot of women in animation theory - Maureen Furniss, Suzanne Buchanne, Jayne Pilling
1941 - Disney worker's strike - made animators worried that female workers were being trained to take their jobs
Sam Griffin - 'The Illusion of Identity: Gender and Racial Representation in Aladdin' in Maureen Furniss' animation art and industry
Reproduction of gender roles within animated content ->
-shapeshifting for animated/comic effect
- transforming at whim of animator
- These 2 tendencies mirror philosophical/sociological approaches to identity
- 1930s turn towards 'realistic' human forms -> Disney 'believable' 'natural' movement.
Illusion of life
social constructionist perspective - (performative paradigm)
Gender created through social institutions/situations - not biologically inevitable - also applies to - racial/ethnic identity, masculinity, heterosexuality
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began in feminist writing - case studies of Aladdin 1992
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Snow White - typical rotoscoping form vs seven dwarves form.
- distortions in rotoscoping
-standard form in Disney
Animator's brief: create 'appealing' yet 'realistic' characters -> Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson (principle of animation)
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. context of appeal - 'your idea is drawn to the figure' - 'it is held there whilst you appreciate what you are seeing' -> rotoscoping snow white, Belle, Jasmine, Cinderella, Alice, Ariel
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- overly gendered drawing emphasise the process
* Laura Mulvey -> feminist theory -> films from straight male perspective - male subjectivity - way in which camera explores a scene - female figure objectified -> large head, small torso.
rotoscope not straightforward representation at all
rotoscoping make characters:
- prince charming - wooden, lacking in appeal - animators worked endlessly on the creation of snow white's appeal - Disney prince typically only has a few minutes of screen time
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Pinocchio and Peter Pan are exceptions to the rule but their masculinity is problematised : wooden toy - 'I'm a real boy'
- Peter Pan - sexual ambiguity of persona - Neverland - traditionally played by a woman in stage productions
- Merida in Brave - resists female socialisation - presented much more real - interesting thing in merchandise -> Merida dolls originally showed her in traditional princess gown and features slimmed down -> transformed
Considerations of representation (Paul Wells)
Who made the product?
For whom was it made - in what year and in what historical context?
What political forces came between creator and audience?
What is the spectatorship in general? How do people derive pleasure from it?
How is the researcher qualified to speak to the group they claim to represent?
Who's standards are being employed in the analysis?
