[this is a cc of something I posted in my LJ in December]

Regular conversation at film school:

“Girls have plenty of protagonists! Look at Belle! Look at Mulan!”



“Those were 20 and 12 years ago, respectively.”



“But-!”



“No. Stop. Name Five animated movies in the last ten years that had a female protagonist.”



They never could. And some people still protested, but in the two classes where this ended up happening, I saw lights go on behind people’s eyes. Oh my God. She’s right. Those girl heroes I love were from my childhood. What about the kids today?



And since then, I’ve been thinking about it. And so I made a list.



I grabbed lists of all the animated Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks films from 2000 to today. This, of course, does not encompass all animated movies (Hi, Japan!) or even all western animated movies (hello, Coraline and Monster House), but they were the easiest to track down and list, and the easiest to organise. So let’s look at some graphs and see the results!

GRAPHS TAKEN FROM THEATRICALLY RELEASED ANIMATED MOVIES FROM DREAMWORKS, PIXAR AND DISNEY.



TOTAL PERCENTAGE OF ANIMATED FILM PROTAGONISTS FROM 2000-2010 ORGANISED BY GENDER



(15% girls, 85% boys)





NUMBER OF FILMS BY YEAR, ORGANISED BY GENDER OF PROTAGONIST













Girls were the lead of, in total, 6 movies. Boy were the lead of 32.



In the years 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 there were exactly zero new animated movies from any of these studios with a female protagonist.



There was not a year from 2000 to 2010 where a boy didn’t feature in a leading role in a theatrically released animated film.



For those who are curious, announced movies from these three studios to potentially be released in the years 2011 to 2013 include 13 films with a male protagonist, and 1 film with a female protagonist.



This is what that looks like as a chart.





In case you’re wondering about next year, in 2011 there are no planned animated films with female protagonists from any of these companies (but there will be four more movies about boys).



It gets even worse if you try to look at films that go beyond 2013. From all three of these companies, Pixar’s upcoming Brave was the only planned animated movie I could find with a female protagonist.



I feel a need to remind everyone at this point that half or slightly more of our children are little girls.



I used to be a little girl. My niece is a little girl. And this is what she has to look forward to. One more movie.



This is why, despite believing that we can do way better for our kids than princess movies, I was gutted to hear that Disney isn’t going to make any more of them. Because, princess movies can be awful and anti-feminist dreck, but look at those charts; They’re also all we’ve got. I would be more than fine with Disney giving up on princesses if I saw any sign at all that they had come up with new stories with girls in the lead to replace them. But that’s not what I’m seeing. And in light of that, I feel inclined to take “We’re giving up on princesses” to mean “We’re giving up on girls”.









And the complete lists of movies that I used.





Theatrically Releases Western Animated Movies Since the Year 2000



GIRL PROTAGONIST

Chicken Run – June 2000

Lilo and Stitch – June 2002

Home on the Range – April 2004

Monsters vs. Aliens – March 2009

Princess and the Frog – December 2009

Tangled – November 2010

BOY PROTAGONIST

The Road to El Dorado – March 2000

Dinosaur – May 2000

The Emperor’s New Groove – December 2000

Shrek – May 2001

Atlantis: The Lost Empire – June 2001

Monster’s Inc. – November 2001

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron - May 2002

Finding Nemo – May 2003

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas – June 2003

Brother Bear – November 2003

Shrek 2 – May 2004

Shark Tale – October 2004

The Incredibles – November 2004

Madagascar – May 2005

Wallace and Gromit – October 2005

Chicken Little – November 2005

Over the Hedge – May 2006

Cars – June 2006

Flushed Away – November 2006

Meet the Robinsons – March 2007

Shrek the Third – May 2007

Ratatouille – June 2007

Bee Movie – November 2007

King Fu Panda – June 2008

WALL-E – June 2008

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa – November 2008

Bolt – November 2008

Up – May 2009

How To Train Your Dragon – March 2010

Shrek Forever After – May 2010

Toy Story 3 – June 2010

Megamind – November 2010



UPCOMING MOVIES



GIRL PROTAGONISTS

Brave – 2012



BOY PROTAGONISTS

Kung Fu Panda 2 – 2011

Winnie the Pooh – 2011

Puss in Boots – 2011

Cars 2 – 2011

The Croods – 2012

Madagascar 3 – 2012

The Guardians of Childhood – 2012

Monsters Inc 2 – 2012

King of the Elves – 2012

Reboot Ralph – 2013

Me and My Shadow – 2013

How to Train Your Dragon 2 – 2013

Pig Scrolls – 2013