Masculinity In Disney's Pixar

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Media’s influence on society and perpetuation of different ideologies has been a highly debated issue especially in this time of accelerated technological advancement where media surrounds us. One of the most quickly popularized forms of media is the video game industry that provides audience an interactive option of entertainment. Disney’s Pixar realized how popular and powerful this industry was and integrated it into their 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph. This type of media cross over leaves itself open to interpretation from many different angles because it involves ideologies from both cultures. In the following extended analysis the focus will be placed of how the film portrays gender and sex. Three of the four main characters from Wreck-It …show more content…

Gillam and Wooden’s article “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar” discuss this transition in the presentation of leading male characters from traditionally masculine to flawed and emotional. The driving premise of Wreck-It Ralph is Ralph’s journey to gain a gold medal and finally be accepted by the citizens of the game “Fix-It Felix.” Instead, Ralph finds himself making an unlikely friendship and learns to accept himself as he is. This story arch is almost identical to the outline discussed by Gillam and Wooden, “(Male leads) all strive for an alpha-male identity; they face emasculating failures; they find themselves…a triangulation of this desire with a feminized (object/value) and, finally, they achieve and teach a kinder, gentler understanding of what it means to be a man” (3). This new type of leading man, including Ralph, trades his original quest for masculine glory for full realization of a more feminized objective in order to become a softer sort of