Steven Spielberg’s “Adventures of Tintin” may have the best animation style I’ve ever seen in a kids’ film. It’s almost as if you can’t tell if the characters are real people or art. It’s spectacular.
But I guess Spielberg was so focused on the animation, he forgot about half of the kid population. There are so many males and so few females in this movie that I– even me– was blown away. If a Martian came to Earth and saw this film, she would think our species was the type that clones itself to reproduce. The movie even has two twin mustachioed investigators that would seem to support that hypothesis.
Like most kids movies, this is a buddy movie (can I say “friendship” movie?) The three buddies, the main characters in the film– Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Snowy the dog– are male.
All the villains are also male, the gangs of them. The good guys are male as well, almost to caricature as mentioned with the clone investigators.
For female roles, there is a housekeeper, an old lady that hits someone with her bag, and a third who my daughter spotted when I went to the women’s room. My daughter said she was a singer.
I know, I know: Tintin was a book before it was a movie. What’s Spielberg supposed to do about that? He’s just one director trying to be faithful to his inspiration.
Tintin was actually many books, and “Adventures” ended with a teaser that practically announced the next film.
Reel Girl gives “The Adventures of Tintin” an SS rating. In spite of its almost total lack of females, Tintin escapes the dreaded Triple S. The females in the movie don’t do anything terribly, stereotypically offensive such as talk about their hair or their boyfriends, though they don’t interact with each other at all and one is a housekeeper.
The Journal Inquirer reports that brand new Legos are coming out in 2012: “The Lego Group has inked a deal with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to create building sets based on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movie trilogy and two new films based on ‘The Hobbit,’ scheduled for release in 2012.”
Lord of the Rings. Hmmm. How many females were in that high grossing, Academy Award winning series? How many males?
Check out the link from the Journal Inquirer that pictures Lego’s new toy. It won’t let me copy the photo, but the Legos pictured are so much cooler than the Friends for girls and guess what– all male.
Other best-selling Lego sets are based on the Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies.
Do you see the sexism chain reaction here? When girl characters are excluded from movies, they’re left out of toys and branding on all kinds of kids clothing and products as well. Please take a look at Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing from Kids’ Movies in 2011. These movies predominantly star males, feature multiple males in the cast, and have names of males in the movie titles. Whereas in 2010, Disney switched a movie title from “Rapunzel” to “Tangled” just to downplay the female. This kind of blatant sexism repeatedly teaches kids that boys are more important than girls, and that’s a horrible lesson for both genders to learn.
Of course The Hobbit was a book long before it was a movie. J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic came out in 1937. But it’s Hollywood’s appropriation of the story that makes it massively popular with a new generation, grounding it in pop culture and inciting the creation of a slew of toys timed to hit stores around the same time the movie hits theaters.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released beginning December 14, 2012. The second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year, beginning December 13, 2013.
Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins. Also reprising their roles from “The Lord of the Rings” movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; and Andy Serkis as Gollum. The ensemble cast also includes (in alphabetical order) Richard Armitage, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Evangeline Lilly, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.
Do you think the 2 females listed above will make it into the Lego set?
As long as Hollywood keeps girl characters out of its films, it’s going to be challenging to convince toy companies to represent heroic females in their toys. It’s asking them to use a lot more imagination. Of course, toy companies should be imaginative. Isn’t that the point of a toy? Especially a toy company like Lego that claims to be a learning toy “fostering creative play?” But instead, Lego prefers to spend its time and money “researching” the best way to copy Disney.
On its Facebook page, Lego keeps responding to hundreds of people upset about the “for girls” sets, that there are many other Legos out there to choose from. But Lego isn’t aggressively marketing those sets to girls. On its own FB welcome page, Lego has two boys pictured flying a Lego airplane. Will Lego be marketing the new “Lord of the Rings” set to girls? How?
If you go into any mega chain like Target or Walmart or Pottery Barn, all of them have “boy aisles” and “girl aisles.” The “Lord of the Rings” sets and the other building sets mostly show boys pictured on the boxes and contain multiple male figs inside of those boxes. Where do you think the “Lord of the Rings” set will be? Where will the Kim Kardashian wannabe Friends Lego set be found? How’s a girl going to feel being dragged by her mother into the “boy aisle” where all the photos are telling her she’s in the wrong place? If a highly paid researcher was studying this girl’s behavior, what do you think he would record?
Maybe Target should stop with the boy and girl aisles. (The London toy store Hamley’s has done just that, giving up gender segregation for sections on arts and crafts, outdoor toys, building toys, soft toys etc.) Maybe Hollywood should make more movies with multiple girl roles and put females front and center. Maybe parents should demand more of those movies and get upset when girls remain invisible.
Hollywood shows our kids animals who talk, rats who cook, toys who come to life, and singing lions who befriend warthogs. Is it too much to ask to see imaginary worlds where girls and boys are treated equally? How long do we have to wait?
This is a list of girl centered movies with strong girls. That sentence may seem redundant but sadly, it’s not. Many girl centered movies feature a girl who is a princess in distress or a cheerleader trying to keep a boyfriend or Barbie worrying about how to dress for the prom.
Or, if Hollywood allows a strong girl to appear in a movie that is not about a typical, cookie cutter “feminine” dilemma, her screen time is limited; her role is supporting: she is there to help the boy on his quest.
To clarify: the following is a list of movies with strong female main characters where the narrative is based on her brave quest.
This is not a list of HHH (triple Heroine) movies. Some movies may be included on this list such as a Barbie adventure or Kim Possible that would not get a HHH because of the main character’s plastic looks or typical princessy dilemma, but the movie is listed here because, in spite of that stereotype, it is still centered on a brave female hero who has cool adventures.
A few movies are not included on this list even though they are centered on a girl and her brave quest because the movie is simply too awful, meaning boring. “Judy Moody,” unfortunately, fits that category.
Wow, this is why it has been so hard for Reel Girl to recommend, but here we go.
These movies are for young kids. My three daughters are ages 2 – 8.
Remember, these are movies to take your sons to as well as your daughters.
This is a list in progress. Please send in your suggestions.
These are questions considered in Reel Girl’s rating system when deciding how appropriate a movie is for kids. Reel Girl rates kids media with 1 – 3 S’s for Stereotyping and 1 – 3 G’s for Girlpower. Obviously the male dominated MPAA has different standards.
Is the movie titled for a male star?
Is the movie centered around the quest of a male?
Are the females in the movie helping the male achieve his goal?
Which character goes through a transition?
What is the ratio of males to females? Main roles? Crowd scenes?
What are the females wearing? Does their clothing expose belly buttons and other body parts?
How many lines do the female characters have?
How many of the females’ lines have to do with what they’re wearing, what they look like, romantic relationships, or shopping?
How many of the males refer to the females only in reference to romance and how they look?
How do the females in the movie interact with each other? Do they interact at all?
How are female friendships depicted in the movie? Are there any?
Is a female character rescued by a male character?
Does a female character make a rescue?
What heroic acts or acts of bravery do the female characters perform?
Last year, Disney execs switched the title of “Rapunzel” to “Tangled” because they didn’t want to highlight the female star. They did this with no shame at all, to practically no protest, giving interviews to media outlets about their decision. So female stars are practically banned from kids’ movie titles but males are featured in them again and again and again? And this is OK? What message does this blatant sexism send to kids?
Here’s a list of 2011 movie titles that refer to the male star:
Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Hugo
Rango
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Puss In Boots
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
The Zookeeper
Kung Fu Panda 2
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Winnie the Pooh
Kids’ movies of 2011 that feature a girl in the title? One: Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.
When girls are continuously, relentlessly relegated to supporting roles, both genders learn that girls are less important than boys. Is this really the message we want our young kids to learn when they go to the movies?
I have three daughters ages 2 – 8. We pay our $10 like everyone else. My kids want to know where the girls are. Hollywood, what should I tell them?
You can see Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Kids’ Movies in 2011 here. The Gallery features 20 movie posters from 2011.
When girls in children’s movies are continuously relegated to supporting roles, both genders learn early on that girls are less important than boys. Is this the message we want to send to our kids when they turn on the TV, go to a movie, see a commercial, or buy a toy?
I’ve updated the Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Kids Films in 2011 to include posters of movies not yet released when I originally put up the Gallery in July. The Gallery includes movies ‘appropriate’ for young kids. My three daughters are ages 2 – 8.
The last time I blogged about “Happy Feet,” in its first incarnation, I wrote about how the movie was yet another about a male and titled for a male. A commenter responded that Happy Feet is not, in fact, the male character star’s name. His name is Mumble. The commenter wrote that I was wrong to assume the title referred to he, that many penguins in this movie dance, thus they can all be Happy Feet. This is true. Feet, after all, is plural. We all have feet. So with this open frame of mind, I went to see “Happy Feet Two.”
Even I was seriously disappointed with this movie. Not only is “Happy Feet 2” a father-son story, which I expected, but there are no less than three subplots and guess what? All three are about male relationships with other males. Wow. And everyone says girls are the ones who care about relationships.
Subplot #1 is about an elephant seal trying to impress his 2 sons– did you get that part about two sons? Perhaps the seal could have had a daughter? Perhaps the seal with the big role could’ve been a mom? Impossible, I know, because in real life, male seals lead the pack. Never mind that this is a movie about penguins who sing and dance and talk to each other, it’s important that we all be realistic about gender roles in the seal world.
The elephant seal’s dilemma is that he refuses to “back up” to let the penguins pass. The dad seal does not want to back up because if he does, the lady seals will no longer be impressed by him. I kid you not. The dad seal ends up falling and Mumble saves his life. Later, the dad seal returns the favor for Mumble so the male buddy motif is expertly woven in to the father-son motif.
Subplot #2 Matt Damon and Brad Pitt steal the show playing krills. The animation here is absolutely beautiful and the imagination of picturing life from the krill perspective is impressive. But I honestly cannot figure out why the animators couldn’t push their imaginations just a little further and make the krills female. Even the real life krill world would be OK with the switch. Hardly a line of dialogue would have to be changed. The homoerotic subtext would work fine as lesbianism. I can’t think of a think of a single reason why the krills must be males except to give Brad Pitt and Matt Damon parts.
Subplot #3 The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria) is a penguin who can fly. His talents are celebrated by all, especially Lovelace (Robin Williams) Lovelace tells the long story of how he met Sven and the adventures they shared, shown in flashbacks. Turns out Sven is actually a bird pretending to a penguin. Sven is another father figure to little Erik, as by the way is the other character voiced by Robin Williams– Ramon.
There is one intrepid girl penguin in the movie. I think her name is Bo. I really tried to listen for her name. Three kids go off together– Erik, Atticus, and Bo. It took me a long time to figure out that she was a girl because her name is hardly spoken while Atticus’s and Erik’s names are said many times. I would love to see this movie again just to actually count the times her name is mentioned as compared with Erik’s and Atticus’s. I won’t do this because there is no way I can sit through this movie again, but if you, against my advice, go see it, please listen for her name and let me know what you think. And when her name is said, it’s the androgynous Bo that makes me think Dukes of Hazard. Bo’s part is pretty small but not really small, and she does act bravely. It is for her, and only for her, that I am going to include one G for Girlpower in Reel Girl’s rating of this movie.
Bo’s mother, Miss Viola, has a small part. Erik’s mother, Gloria (Pink) also has a small part and the largest of the smalls for females. There is one more female penguin small part, Carmen (Sofia Veraga) who plays the curvaceous, sexualized love interest of Ramon. Gross.
“Happy Feet Two” is an obscene depiction of a world where girls hardly matter. Not only that, it’s boring. Do not take your kids to this movie. Reel Girl gives “Happy Feet Two” an SSS/ G rating (three S’s for Stereotyping, one G for Girlpower)
Therefore, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the spectacular animation in “The Lorax” trailer (featuring a main character male and of course the Lorax himself is male) ends with a sexist joke. You can watch it here.
Why show girls that they’re going to be laughed at if they’re “ugly” or fat? Do they need to start getting trained to worry about this at age 4? Why teach boys it’s OK to laugh at girls (people) for the way they look?
And can you imagine the reverse: a female character snickering “That’s a man?” about the guy pictured above? Would that even be funny?
I guess I’m just another feminist with no sense of humor.
Just picked my daughters up from school and we saw this poster huge and high above us by the Walgreens. Do you see Mrs. Claus tucked behind Santa? Do you think that reindeer is a girl? And can you imagine a poster for a kid’s movie titled with a girl’s name showing twelve female characters and one male? This gender imbalance isn’t petty. It’s everywhere and it’s shocking. For more invisible girls, see Reel Girl’s gallery of kids films in 2011.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Miss Representation— a documentary about how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America– aired on OWN last week. TV viewers learned the following stats, listed below. Makes you think twice about taking your kid to a movie.
Only 16% of protagonists in film are female. Only 7% of film directors and 10% of writers are female.
Between 1937 and 2005 there were only 13 female protagonists in animated movies. The female characters in G rated movies are just as likely to wear revealing clothing as in R rated movies.
Women and girls are the subject of less than 20% of news stories. “When a group is not featured in the media… it is called symbolic annhilation.” Martha Lauzen, Center for the Study of Women in TV and Film
“All of Hollywood is run on one assumption: That women will watch stories about men, but men won’t watch stories about women. It is a horrible indictment of our society of we assume that one half of our population is just not interested in the other half.”
– Geena Davis
