tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272366109359495863.post1660148740754656245..comments2024-02-06T22:44:54.017-04:00Comments on Textual Relations: Exhibit A: Pixar and Studio GhibliSarah Gramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00326070732340772408noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272366109359495863.post-68166693659511889242011-04-11T22:20:57.347-03:002011-04-11T22:20:57.347-03:00That you tend to identify in a cross-gender way wi...That you tend to identify in a cross-gender way with most characters in films/media doesn't mean that that's the way studios think when it comes to choosing the stories they produce. The assumption that boys will only identify with boys, but girls will identify with either gender is a motivating factor in the production of children's films (and with more adult fare, for that matter).<br /><br />And the point is not that they have unvarying protagonist in species, etc -- Pixar is extraordinarily imaginative in their story lines and character development. The point is that their movies star male toys, male seniors, male rats and chefs, male robots (why does a robot without a voice have to be gendered at all?), male monsters, male cars, male bugs, and male superheros. That Studio Ghibli's women all look the same is a different sort of problem. The consistent lack of female main characters in some of the most lauded films to come out in any year requires that girls develop that ability for cross-gender identification that you describe yourself as having. It doesn't require boys to do the same.Sarah Gramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00326070732340772408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272366109359495863.post-19924885636768043592011-04-11T20:40:18.831-03:002011-04-11T20:40:18.831-03:00I tend to identify asexually, if you will, with ch...I tend to identify asexually, if you will, with characters in most all forms of media. Whether they be male or female--a well crafted story leads me to pine for their triumph or relate to their tribulations. <br /><br />The substance and nature of the character, rather than gender, is my primary connection to a protagonist.<br /><br />And so it seems somewhat sophomoric, in my mind, to chide Pixar for their purportedly unvarying choice of protagonists: toys, an old person, a fish, a rat, a robot, monsters, cars, bugs, and super heroes; when Studio Ghibli presents us with a parade of relatively indistinguishable, prepubescent youths.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04457294082313406442noreply@blogger.com