Gender in Media: Females Don't Rule
The Industry Speaks "Jade, of Jackie Chan Adventures, was the only female in the main cast of characters and she was really a breakout star of the show," says Sorensen. "While developing the show, there was a bit of resistance to including this little girl in the core group, but we believed in her as a character and stuck with her. I think she really became the star of the show. There is no doubt that little girls looked up to her, but boys too, I think, found themselves looking up to her. She was definitely a tomboy, so I think that's one reason."
Mike Young, CEO of Mike Young Productions, LLC and partner in Taffy Entertainment, has brought many female characters to the screen in recent years, including the girls of Bratz, Creepie from Growing Up Creepie and his all-time favorite, Dannon, the duck from Jakers: The Adventures of Piggley Winks.
"On the surface the Bratz were all makeup and clothes, but once you got past that they were independent leaders who epitomized self-empowered females," says Young. "Creepie was supposed to be the fish out of water, but firmly believed that everyone else was out of step, not her. Dannon was straight-talking, no nonsense, you got what you saw. She was more intelligent and insightful than her two male pals and was totally loveable."
Tara Sorensen, VP, Development & Current Series for National Geographic Kids Entertainment and one of the panelists at the GDIGM conference, recalls how she had to fight for a female character.
"Animation is much fairer than our [live-action] TV and big-screen brethren," says Young. Mike Young Productions is also producing female-lead shows Chloe's Closet, Hero 108, which has Mystic Sonia as one of the leads, and bits of Strawberry Shortcake. Young also boasts of having a majority of women running the shop, including his wife, partner and the executive in charge of production, Liz Young.
"What I really like about female characters today, is that they don't all fit the same stereotypic mold of being either babes or ugly/spinsters," says Kathleen Helppie, an independent producer who formerly served as VP of Classic Animation at Warner Bros. and Head of Studio/Production for Starz Animation/Toronto. "We see so many different aspects of the female characterization: body shapes, beauty, race, depth of personality, strength and style. These females are much more dimensional and more reflective of our society at large."
Helppie, who started her career as a voice actress and whose first leading role was Sweets in the Hanna-Barbera series The Biskitts, also believes that caricature cuts both ways. "Women are not alone -- stereotypes of both men and women exist in animation. Audiences laugh because we recognize the exaggerated stereotypes of these characters -- both positive and negative. Stereotypes are often considered to be fully negative, but many stereotypes can help us to realize how ridiculous the characters may be.
"Years ago, I had a lively discussion with animation legend Friz Freleng about the need to create a new female character for Looney Tunes," she continues. "At the time, Friz, who it must be noted was a true gentleman with utmost respect for women, told me in no uncertain terms that female comic characters just wouldn't be funny. He further explained you couldn't have a female character [endure] the same kind of cartoon calamities that would happen to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, or Wile E. Coyote. He felt audiences would not accept, nor find any humor in, this sort of slapstick and physical treatment of female characters."
Helppie points out that female characters today have been greatly empowered physically (e.g., Fiona from Shrek) and that the roles of women in society have evolved significantly. Audience reaction to comedy and slapstick has also shifted dramatically over the decades in terms of what is considered humorous and acceptable to an audience.
"Women don't hold the market on being stereotyped. Our men can be impacted as well. After all, I don't know any men who act [like] or aspire to be Elmer Fudd, or, for that matter, can leap a building in a single bound. To be heroic and muscle-bound all the time has got to be tiring and a tad stereotypic to our men, as well."
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by terming it a non issue you have finally proved that men really feel inferior and are extremely scared.
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