This week I booked a session with Lawrence to talk about my thesis subject and ask if there are any places that would be good to do research on this theme. Hopefully suggest artists and movies to look in to.
I came back to london about a month ago and just got a way to finance myself, for the first time I am studying and working, and finally I understand how hard it is. Of course, studying is my first priority always so I will do everything to make it work. I will take Lukes advice and take a week or two off all the work and come back fresh. Not really a holiday, just a focus on something else for a while.
My meeting with Lawrence was to guide me a little, take a break, and get some energy to start my research with what I got from this meeting.
Lawrence gave me a lot to look in to, books, movies, artists, directors and activists that would back up what I want to talk about, it is a sensitive subject for a lot of people and I want everyone to understand what I want to say, not just women, we know what is going on, the awareness is for everyone, including the industry in question.
My aims and goals with this research would be to understand why there is such a difference in the development of female and male characters: there is nothing wrong with male characters, the female characters should just have the same freedom in creation as the male, say no to some of the rules.
A good place to look in to is disney publications website, but as much as it is extremelly useful it is too technical for what I am searching for, it does not mention that much about character or story development.
Starting point of the research
So, what made me want to start this research was an article I saw where there was a quote from the head of animation of frozen saying “women are harder to animate than man because they always have to look pretty”
I disagree with that sentence, not judging or anything just, I do not believe that is true and maybe that is why I never really identified with any female character when growing up, ever! For me, Tarzan, Mowgly and some more male characters were much more interesting as their personality made much more sense with mine. While all the girls where about beauty, how they look and who they want to marry, how will they get help from a male character and THEY ALL WEAR PINK AND SHINY STUFF!
Is that how women are percieved?
Fairy tales are a very important part of storytelling and the fantasy world, they are needed. We all need a princess fairy tale, but not only princess fairy tales which is the only time women are the main character. Okay, not anymore, but when I was a kid that was the case, and indeed things are changing, but at what pace? is it going the right direction? Is it being done by the right people?
Animation teaches some things to the audience, it usually carries out a message. Are we sending the right message, how can we improve it.
Meeting with Lawrence
In the beggining of the meeting I did introduce my theme and what were my main questions and goals and Lawrence gave me some suggestions on where and how to look for information.
Books:
- “Dreamworks Animation Into Textuality And Asthetics In Sheck And Beyond”, by Sam Summers
- “Women And Animation”, this book was issued by The British Film Institute in 1992 and is a compilation of work from women in animation.
- “Dykes To Watch Out For”, by Alison Bechdel (1985)
Movies:
- Luca (2021), by Enrico Casarosa
- Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi and Winsluss
- Mitchels vs the machines (2021), by Michael Rianda
- Pink Flamingos (1972), by John Waters
- Egg (2019), by Martina Scorteli
Artists:
- Andreas Deja
- Sam Summers
- Roger waters
Characters:
- Ursula – The Little Mermaid
- Mufasa – The Lion King
- Izma – Kuzko
- Divine – Pink Flamingos