Gender Stereotypes In Animation

Extra curricular groups such as Women in Animation, Women in Gaming and colleges such as CalArts, are striving to change culture by increasing the amount of women working in the animation industry. Though animation has a history of being a male dominated field and portraying mainly male points of views, the industry still has a long way to go in terms of growth and changes. In more contemporary work, there is a growing need for positive female voices with realistic ideas by current American consumers and critics. For example, there are few animations from the early and mid-1900s that question forms of identity in a woman. This demand for change does not occur until the 1980s when the A.I.D.s movement takes place and the discussion of identity

Stereotypes, falsehoods and censorships have occurred too causing harsh criticisms of older modern animations. Therefore, all women in animation are changing culture through breaking stereotypes, gaining careers within the animation industry and stimulating cultural attitudes toward women in animated shorts, video games and movies.

In extensive research on Women in Animation in media and the career field, many traditions have been placed by historic animators. Such as: stereotyping, consistent cliches and modernly offensive material for today’s society. Displays that often are faulty, untrue or contain false premises about women. Often these stereotypes are seen as tropes, neither good nor bad in their use but often used for storytelling mechanisms. As animations reflect the current cultural aesthetics each trope comes with their own flaws and disclaimers. Currently sociology scholars recognize gender is fluid and a

Jill Valentine Resident Evil 5, is a prime example of the “action girl” storytelling concept in video games. Jill Valentine is a primary example due to her toughness, assistance to Chris Redfield and the rest of the B.S.A.A. members through her abilities to wield a weapon and for her title “The Master of Unlocking”. She is quick witted and fierce in her abilities to survive the horrors of the Spencer Mansion and make a desperate escape from Kijuju, Africa. But Jill is still stereotyped in the series in general. In Resident Evil 5 for a brief quarter of the game Jill is the antagonist, the damsel and the tough “action girl”. As she represents several tropes at once, her message as a character becomes convoluted, as anyone can be a victim, in her case as a damsel and antagonist, and a women can overcome death as explained through the game. Jill Valentine is consistently sexualized through her appearance, character dialogue and weakened by her damsel situations.

However, there is hope when a new television series called, Kim Possible is introduced in