Context of Practice: Question 3

How is inclusive storytelling shaping the norms of representation amongst well-written characters in animation?

Inclusive storytelling: Includes everyone (LGBTQIA+, race, sex, age, personality, ability)

Gender:
  Disney:

• Unnamed prince, lack of identity, all similar, yet everyone loves them purely based on appearance and voice. (Asides Navine from Princess and the Frog. Unconventional. Dependant on Tiana at times. Spoilt, no responsibility, lacking money)  
• Princesses have always been role models for different values (eg. Common sense, kindness, adventure, hard work, bravery). But only Tiana, Merida and Mulan are role models that defy gender boundaries and appear as strong and capable.
• Middle aged women are never portrayed. Even in recent movies, the mother always looks the same age as the daughter. (Fight to have Heleanor from Brave looking slightly older). When women look old, they are always the evil wrinkled witch or a wise elder.
• Argue that Heleanors young appearance contrasts her change in to the big old bear.
• Carl and Anger both have a similar square shape, one of a kind. Main protagonist middle aged, older people. Only middle aged men. 

  Marvel: 

• Natasha Romanoff's death, a strong powerful moment for women as she saves all the male main cast and allows for the main battle.
• Contrasts the very forced scene with all of the female characters of marvel fighting. Unnecessary in terms of plot because Captain Marvel could have done it on her own easily. 
• Captain Marvel "Her"o trailers. Forced. Very active actor who gains hate from being outspoken.
• Female costumes not looking like comic ones but looking more appropriate and less revealing.
• Marvel has the gender issue of sticking to the comic books. Newer fans like all the inclusive story telling and costume changes. Fans from the comics want them to stop changing their childhoods for fake fans and newer fans. Audience's and actors influence on how characters change, because the actors liked not wearing the more revealing clothes (Johansson) and long hair wigs (Hemsworth).

Race:
  Whitewashing:

• The Anicent One (Male Tibetan man)
• Reversed white wash, Nick Fury
• Reversed, Alteans Voltron?

  Disturbing:

• "Jim Crow" Dumbo, Jim Crow was a dark coloured character in theatre who was racist, and a friend of slaves in America.
• "Happy Hearted Rustabouts" song in Dumbo, shows men of colour working.
• Mickey uses smoke to make his face black when dressing up in shaggy clothing to look like a poorer person.
• Who made the indian red, song.
• Stereotypes of Siamese cat playing piano with chopsticks in Aristocats.

Ability:
Every character in Nemo has something that effects their ability but allows them to overcome it. All except Gerald who never gets his moment of self approval. People were offended by his appearance and how drifted eyes and a unibrow equal someone being less capable. The soul purpose of Gerald was to be a gag like "Mine mine".
Nemo=Small fin - leads the group in Finding Dory.
Marlin=Anixety - travels across the ocean
Dory=short term memory loss - finds her family
Hank= PTSD - helps Dory escape
Whale Shark= eye sight - helps the beluga whale navigate his way through the ocean.
Beluga= Cant ecolocate and he does
Children are made aware of these by the plot but do not process how each character allows people to relate themselves to being able to overcome different struggles, like the characters.

Similarly, older teenagers and adults have come to notice or appreciate a theory that all of the Winnie the Pooh characters associate with different disorders. This theory has helped children understand different types of mental disorders and has helped them to find help and understand themselves.

As well as Roo showing Autism, these characters, memories of many peoples childhood in any generation, were never seen this way until recently. Audiences awareness in a growing society influences representation and inclusivity.

In character design, females always tend to have a round face with a small button nose and large round eyes, with the only exception being a slightly pointy chin. Where as the male characters have a diverse range of shapes in the face, nose and eyes. This is a Disney spread sheet, showing how they have not been inclusive towards women's appearances throughout their central female protagonists.
However, in Pixar's short Bao, though the mothers eyes are large and the nose is rounded, she is a very close step towards a more realistic idea of a woman.

Within Pixar, the characters from Inside Out are not supposed to be based on humans, and yet the emotions that are decided to seem more feminine have the same facial features, and the men have completely unrealistic extremes of facial shapes. The only exception is Sadness as a female character who is slightly plumper than the other skinny female characters. 

Cancel culture: Removing people from a production after they've done something wrong, such as James Gunn who was forgiven by the persuasion of fans and cast members alike. Jeremy Renner is currently under suspicion of being cut due to things hes said in the past and current obligations made between him and his wife in court, such as attempting his own suicide and being a drug addict. Emma Thompson quit a Skydance movie when John Lasseter joined the crew, once Pixar fired him.