The year is 2011. You are a seven year old girl looking out the back seat car window. Unless you catch a glimpse of ‘Hoodwinked 2’ or ‘Judy Moody’ these are the pictures you see. In your world, boys are front and center. You are a sidekick or just not there at all.
Update: I’ve updated Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Kids Films in 2011 to include posters that had not been released over the summer when I initially posted the gallery.
I also, sadly, added Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter and love Hermione, but it is true, as commenters pointed out, the movie is clearly Harry’s quest, Harry is the star. The newly added “Hugo” also has a strong girl character, but token strong girls are not enough. Harry Potter and Hugo are also both titled for the male star, whereas Disney execs famously switched the title of Rapunzel to Tangled specifically not to highlight the female star. It’s amazing to me that this blatant sexism goes on in media marketed to little kids.
When kids see, again and again and again, that girls are relegated to supporting roles, both genders learn that girls are less important than boys. This is a terrible lesson for a new generation of children to be learning.
Movies included in the Gallery are ‘appropriate’ for little kids. My three daughters are ages 2 – 8.
do one on alice through the looking glass. it is about are girl who goes throug glass witch brings her to wonderland and she needs to help the hatter become and well watch the movie on netflix plz
hi do one on alice through the looking glass. It is about a girl who goes to wonderland anr the mad hatter is well he is dieing because he needs his family so alic goes and meets time the keeper of time he does not like her so he sent the gaurds after her she takes this thing and it causes time to beome broken so she used it to go in time watch the movie on netflix plx.
good point well made
You should write an article about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (that’s Friendship is Magic, NOT the generation 3 abominations!). It’s a very female-empowering show that not only provides positive female role models, but it’s very kid-appropriate, as well. 😀 All of the characters (ponies) are smart, are willing to stand up for themselves and for their friends, and are always trying new things and going on adventures. Yes, there’s a fashion-forward one, (Rarity) but she’s not a girly-girl fashionista. In fact, she runs her own business making clothes. Heck, in the first episode, she drop-kicks a manticore in the face! Plus there’s Applejack, the ranch-hand and apple farmer who’s a tough go-get-’em girl that’s proud of her work and her family. Twilight Sparkle, who loves books, science and astronomy, and Rainbow Dash, of course, the fastest pegasus in the sky who wants to fly professionally. Then there’s Fluttershy, who’s a lovable wallflower that takes care of animals, and Pinkie Pie, who always cheers up her friends and works in a cake shop. While the characters sound stereotypical, they’re just not. And it’s not just a “women is better than men show” either. The characters are real, complex, and have true personality. It’s very well-written! Check it out! It’s a great show, and it has great animation, as well. Please watch atleast the first season though, as it gets a lot better after the first few episodes. Plus, it was made by Lauren Faust, (a proud feminist) who created The Powerpuff Girls. 😀
Hi Leah,
I will check out this series, thanks
MM
I know that this is an old post, but I felt compelled to point this out: The especially bizarre thing about the poster for Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, is that the Chipmunks’ rival band (which is made up of their female counterparts, who were introduced in the second of the three movies), The Chipettes, are in the movie right alongside Alvin & Co., so why aren’t they on the poster?
Screw the movies, let them eat books! My daughter grew up on lot of ‘adventure-girl’ books (Crilly’s ‘Akiko’, Naifeh’s ‘Courtney Crumrin’, Zita the Space Girl, Meridian, Harriet the Spy) and cartoons (Powerpuff Girls, Jenny the Robot, Atomic Betty). Stuff WAY better than g’dawful kids movies is out there; go out and dig some up.
Tho there ARE some good kids movies with strong girls (Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Totoro, Spirited Away, Matilda)
Hi Patrick,
Added to my to read list.
Thanks!
There’s an animated series to look out for this summer on Nickalodeon for a strong female lead: Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
Hi Natalie,
Added to my list.
Thanks!
MM
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Snow White and the Henchman
Brave
I think that the tide is turning………slowly…….but it’s still turning.
Hi Bestlearningever,
I hope you’re right! Mirror, Mirror looks like it has a stronger Snow White but the Queen obsessed with beauty and all her jokes about it (Julia Roberts, is SO old and ugly) makes my stomach turn. Maybe Snow White and the Henchman is better?
MM
You missed Soul Surfer, based on a true story and safe if your running a PG house. Yes there is religion in it, but take into account the movie is based on the young lady’s life, and this was a part of her life. But you can safely watch it without feeling preached to, or an overwhelming urge to race into a church. Secretariat was from 2010, but streaming online now, also a very good movie that we enjoy.
Hi Rob,
I didn’t include “Soul Surfer” because the combination of the subject matter and that it’s not animated make it too old for my kids (young kids). It looks like a great movie though.
MM
You make a good point, but I really think you also miss the point. American and world society has totally bought into the notion that the normal way for human beings to act is in accordance with an over-masculinized male stereotype. As proof, all you have to do is look at the attitudes of the so-called feminist movement, which routinely dismisses “feminine” characteristics as irrelevant in the modern world; rather, woman should act more like men, because that is what is “normal”.
We really need to spend more time figuring out what it means to be a human being; only then will we be able to understand what it means to be a man or woman.
Way to willfully miss EVERY SINGLE POINT this article makes! Typical privileged d00d-BS…
…that was kind of mean, Julia. I think he’s totally right.
Your point is valid but I think you might be a little presumptuous of the feminist movement. For sure there are some involved that will portray “feminine” characteristics as negative but as I understand it most feminists value both feminine and masculine characteristics.
“We really need to spend more time figuring out what it means to be a human being; only then will we be able to understand what it means to be a man or woman.” Thumbs up to this!
Hi E. Scott,
We’re talking about kids here. Kids who see males characters everywhere and females limited to supporting roles or gone missing all together. Both genders learn that boys are more important than girls.
You’re implying that those who don’t lead aren’t important?
not AS important, lesser status in supporting role
Well that’s where you’re wrong. Some of the most important characters are minor ones. Ones you rarely see, but if they hadn’t existed, the plot wouldn’t either. If Lily Potter never existed (Harry wouldn’t to begin with, but ignoring that), Harry wouldn’t have gotten any help from Snape and Snape would probably be a loyal Death Eater. She’s important as she’s mentioned time and time again and was part of the huge secret J.K.Rowling was keeping. She was also immensely important to the main character; he even named his dauther after Lily. How could she not be important when SHE was THE ONLY REASON he survived?
Hi Victoria,
Please! Obviously characters with minor parts can be crucial to the narrative. To say Lily Potter is as important as Harry in the series because he wouldn’t exist without her is really ridiculous.
Margot
I love this site! I totally agree with the premise of the “invisible girl’ in movies. Moreover, women in movies are not represented enough either for that matter. Gena Davis has been a great activist in shining a light on the disparity of substantive roles for women in moves, aside from the side-kick, love interest types.
I also really appreciate Everett’s posts and his realization, as a father of 2 daughters, of just how rampant sexism really is in every fabric of society. I only wish there were more men like you, Everett, because things would change a lot more quickly and for the better, if there were!
Let’s not fool ourselves about boys not going to a movie where a girl is the central figure, because, for example, the WOMAN who wrote the brilliantly successful Harry Potter series was fearful that boys would not read her book if they knew it was written by a woman, so she put her initials “J.K.” rather than her given name as the author. What puzzles me is that, despite all of the so–called enlightenment men say they’ve achieved, the majority still don’t recognize the insanity of encouraging, promoting, or teaching young boys to view women in such a derogatory, demaning way and how, as a result, society has suffered terribly for it.
Just look around–civilization has been cheated immeasurably because of the continued oppression of women and their role as half the human race in governing how we live. Which leads me to believe that men would rather destroy the world than have a woman in charge of it. In the end, we ALL lose equally, which is probably the only time women and men will be equal if they continue with the pervasive misogyny that has gripped the world.
…and I will add that the fact that it’s silent makes it FAR more destructive, more insidious. If people stood on a platform and said, “girls, you’re no good,” they’d have the opportunity to say, “the hell we aren’t, we’re great.” But people don’t come equipped with filters to block these silent messages. They set in before you realize you’re seeing them. Even if you’re already sensitized to it. You may take notice of the sexism in movie posters, but in the time it takes you to notice a few dozen posters, a hundred other sexist messages you’ll never even remember already sneaked past your nonexistent filters.
Everett,
Totally agree about the silent, insidiousness. You are exactly right. It’s no fun attacking lovable cartoon characters, people get so pissed off at me. I understand why. In many ways, they are great movies. But the girls are more and more invisible and I find it so disheartening that more parents aren’t up in arms. I mean Arthur Christmas? Happy Feet 2? No reason to have practically all male casts. Its horrible.
Margot
Thanks for this. This silent, insidious sexism enrages me. I’m the father of two daughters, and although more recent books have begun to correct this problem, children’s literature is filled with mostly male characters, and especially animal characters are almost ALWAYS portrayed as male, including animals which in nature are NEVER male, such as in a book I read to my daughter in which a worker bee is called “he.”
Since my young girls can’t read yet, I regularly change the gender of male animal characters from male to female so that they can feel a bit more sense of identification with the characters in their favorite books. Later they’ll realize these characters are “actually” male, but that’s fine–they’ll have had several years of seeing plenty of female characters before they realize that, essentially, there are hardly any real female characters in fiction.
It took me about two years to retrain myself so that when, upon seeing a bird flying above or a squirrel running across a field, I would regularly say “there she goes!” (It was so ingrained in me by linguistic convention to see ALL animals as automatically male that for two years I’d say, “there he goes–er, unless it’s a girl!”–and I was thinking about this from the first week of my daughter’s life.)
It’s a disgusting situation that makes parenting girls much harder. The message that girls aren’t as important is insidious and as part of the cultural air we breathe, it’s guaranteed to seep in, outflanking our best efforts as parents, but we’re never going to give up the fight.
I used to scoff at my “feminist” friends’ complaints about the pervasiveness of sexism in the culture. Now as a father of two girls I see it, and holy cow, they were right. It’s everywhere, and it angers me.
Hi Everett,
Thanks for being aware of all this and being such a great dad to your daughters. Just shifting the gender as you are doing is huge.
Margot
Everett,
Have you read the graphic novel “Clan Apis”? Perhaps one of the best science graphic novels ever made. And yes, all the primary characters are female bees. One could argue the sole male drone is a bit stereotypical, but hell, drones in bee hives ARE lazy leeches with only one job. 🙂
Jay Hosler’s Sandwalk Adventures also has a female lead character, but is a bit more techincal and only a 4/5 star (IMO) versus the 5/5 star Clan Apis.
I make a note to myself whenever I hear about a good movie or book (or video game!) with a female protagonist, for my 9 year old son. Currently going through the Tiffany Aching series from Terry Pratchett.
Awesome–thanks for the recommendation, and I’ll look for those.
Mothers are Missing too!!
Margot, I haven’t followed your blog yet, but I’m assuming that you also noticed that there are no good mothers in Disney movies (or most traditional fairy tales). The mothers are either evil stepmothers (Lady Tremaine in Cinderella and stepmother in Hansel and Gretel who orders her husband to lose the kids in the woods), or evil queens (queen in Snow White, Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, Ursula in Little Mermaid), or they die like Bambi’s mother, or are imprisoned like Dumbo’s mother. There are plenty of wise and kind and gallant fathers, but good mother figures are missing. Go figure!
Good point. I’m kinda glad there’s so many father figures in kids movies because there’s so many missing or fair weathered father’s, advertisements and songs sending the message that moms do all the work
I’m sorry, but this male vs. female thing is a little absurd. Even if anybody cared besides adults, you would have to admit that of the 10 males, 3 are penguins, 1 is a cockatoo, 1 is a teddy bear, 1 is a chipmunk, 1 is a rabbit, 1 is a gnome, 1 is a cat, 1 is a car, 1 is a frog. That might make them males, but it hardly makes them boys or men. Neither my son nor my daughter liked or disliked any of these movies for anything but their lack of decent storyline.
Hi lehma,
Imposing gender stereotypes on penguins, cockatoos, teddy bears etc is exactly the issue. Look at Wall-E and Eve, they are ROBOTS yet Hollywood decides to make one act like a boy and one