Posts tagged GENDER
Ma Meilleure Ennemie - Analysis (Part 2)
Ma Meilleure Ennemie - Analysis (Part 2)

In the previous blog, I analyzed Stromae’s verse from the song Ma Meilleure Ennemie as a reflection of Ekko’s emotional struggle in the animated series Arcane. This part is about Pomme’s verse and how it can be interpreted as a representation of Jinx’s inner guilt. Pomme has a softer voice that contrasts with the chaotic atmosphere that Jinx is often associated with. I will explore how both the lyrics and the visuals of the music video reflect Jinx’s fractured sense of self, emotional paralysis and duality between desiring connection and fearing it at the same time.

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EDITORIALSona d’ÉbèneVIDEO GAME, GENDER, ROMANCE, CHARACTERComment
Ma Meilleure Ennemie - Analysis (Part 1)
Ma Meilleure Ennemie - Analysis (Part 1)

This is the first of two blogs that focus on music as narrative in the animated series Arcane (Christian Linke & Alex Yee, 2021-) supported by an analysis of its animation and character development. The series is set within the League of Legends (2009-) universe, an online multiplayer videogame created by Riot Games. It takes place in various fictional lands populated by hundreds of different champions, some of whom are explored in Arcane.

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EDITORIALSona d’ÉbèneVIDEO GAME, GENDER, ROMANCE, CHARACTERComment
How Cartoons Demonise Dissociative Disorders Through the Propagation of the Stereotype of the Dual Personality
How Cartoons Demonise Dissociative Disorders Through the Propagation of the Stereotype of the Dual Personality

You’ve seen this all before. A character, often male, is a nice guy, maybe a bit too nice or too repressed. They’re nerdy or meek, not overly popular, and often bullied or abused in some way. However, in certain situations, everything changes. Either through a shift in mannerisms or through an actual physical transformation, they change into a violent brute, a self-confident schemer, or a passionate womaniser. Characters like The Incredible Hulk, Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura from Japanese manga series Yu-Gi-Oh! (Kazuki Takahashi, 1996-), and all versions of The Nutty Professor story. Popularised by the fantasy of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde, and later by pulp entertainment drawing from limited understandings of the then-named Multiple Personality Disorder in the early 20th century, the dramatised conception of people with aggressive alternate personalities appear across a diverse range of animation in both heroic and villainous roles, but few name what it is or give the topic proper weight.

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EDITORIALHazel JamiesonIDENTITY, GENDER, CHARACTER
Visualizing Reproductive Fear: Linking Body Metaphors To Traumatic Emotions In The Experimental 2D Animation Born (2024)
Visualizing Reproductive Fear: Linking Body Metaphors To Traumatic Emotions In The Experimental 2D Animation Born (2024)

Experimental animation often employs metamorphosis and incorporates visual metaphors as strategies to explore concepts such as the cycle of historical trauma, thereby contributing to the transmission of collective memories related to colonialism, apartheid, and war. (Stewart 2024, 7). These transformations not only signify external historical ruptures but also mirror internal emotional upheavals. In this context, the body emerges as a crucial site of expression, metaphorically becoming a space through which the intensity of emotion can be measured (Kövecses 2000, 24). This provides a solid theoretical basis for using the body to express abstract traumatic emotions in experimental animation.

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CREATIVE REFLECTIONYixin SunTRAUMA, EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION, BODY, REPRESENTATION, GENDERComment
Why Is Animation So Afraid of Queerness?
Why Is Animation So Afraid of Queerness?

Animation is inherently queer. The very process of destabilising the rigid boundaries of the human body and abstracting it into shapes and colours that we can project ourselves onto is essentially a process of queering. In their article “Why Are Cartoons So Queer?” for Sunstroke Magazine, Kellie Toyama remarks that “the flexible nature of animation gives stories the added potential to introduce fluid concepts of gender and sexuality with ease,” making animation the perfect medium to visualise the queer experience. As Paul Wells states, “the animated film has the capacity to redefine orthodoxies of live-action narrative and images,” an analysis that Kodi Maier elaborates on by linking his discussion directly to queer theory: “animation’s elasticity opens a realm where ideas of normalcy are disrupted and hidden potentials are revealed much in the same way that queer theory disrupts common understandings of gender and sexuality to explore other options in regards to embodiment and expression.” Why is it, then, that mainstream animation has for so long been afraid of queerness?

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EDITORIALOliver VigniQUEER IDENTITY, REPRESENTATION, IDENTITY, GENDER, SEXUALITY Comment
A Critical Look at the Representation of Prominent Black Women in Warner Bros. Animation
A Critical Look at the Representation of Prominent Black Women in Warner Bros. Animation

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs was one of the earliest animated American films to place a Black woman as the main character. Directed by Bob Clampett at Warner Brothers in 1942, the character of So White set a precedent for three further Black female lead characters in future Warner Brothers animated projects. However, introduced as a “happy washerwoman made for a jazzier version of the mammy stereotype” (Lehman 2007, 78), So White contributes to a larger structure of racism within American animation, hindering the progression of positive representation for future Black women as animated characters. The question that this blog investigates is whether the representation of Black women in Warner Brothers animation has truly improved since the introduction of So White, or do So White’s successors continue to perpetrate harmful stereotypes about African American women?

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EDITORIALAlissa Clarke-GaarRACE, CHARACTER, GENDER, HOLLYWOOD, REPRESENTATION Comments
How The Substance (2024) Uses Fantasy-Horror to Remind Us How Unrealistic Society’s Perception of Aging Women Is
How The Substance (2024) Uses Fantasy-Horror to Remind Us How Unrealistic Society’s Perception of Aging Women Is

When arthouse streaming service, MUBI, acquired one of the year’s surprisingly successful films, 6x Oscar-nominated The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024), it was originally being distributed by Universal for barely $18M. However, French writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s refusal to cut certain scenes eventually allowed her to shop the film elsewhere. With Fargeat now satisfied and Universal likely banging their heads against the wall, The Substance has become an absolute hit, going on to make $70M+ at the global box office (D’Alessandro, 2024).

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EDITORIALKearin GreenGENDER, REPRESENTATION, FEMINISM, AGING, BODY, HORRORComment
Visions of Vulnerability: The Artistic Depiction of Psychological Decline in Arcane
Visions of Vulnerability: The Artistic Depiction of Psychological Decline in Arcane

In recent years, the entertainment industry has begun to delve more deeply into the once taboo topic of mental health and its complexities, expanding the representation of characters with mental illness beyond the two-dimensional caricatures that such screen representations began with. Riot Games’ animated Netflix series Arcane (Christian Linke & Alex Yee, 2021-) stands out as a compelling addition to this discussion, particularly through its creative representation of one character’s increasing mental instability. In this blog, I will analyze how Arcane draws from real-life manifestations of psychosis in order to create a visceral illustrated experience through the psychological deterioration of the innocent Powder into her unstable new identity, Jinx.

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EDITORIALSydney SmithNETFLIX, GENDER, SUBJECTIVITY, REPRESENTATION Comments
4 Iconic Animation Characters Who Wear Glasses
4 Iconic Animation Characters Who Wear Glasses

In animation and film, disability representation is crucial in shaping the portrayal and perception of characters. A previous article took a closer look at Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, and found that disability can either be a barrier or a defining characteristic that enhances a character’s depth and relatability to audiences. Such representations are often taken for granted, yet they carry significant symbolic and practical weight. This can be particularly evident in how vision disability is depicted through characters who wear glasses. Glasses worn by fictional characters serve as integral elements of character design, reflecting personality traits, intellectual abilities, and personal journeys.

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EDITORIALHollie HobbsCHARACTER, REPRESENTATION, GENDER, COSTUMEComment
They Were More than Roommates: An Analysis of Ramona’s Growth in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023-)
They Were More than Roommates: An Analysis of Ramona’s Growth in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023-)

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023-) is an anime adaptation of the original graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley and directed by Abel Góngora, released in November 2023. One of the many adaptations of the original story, Góngora’s retelling shifts its focus to its female lead, Ramona Flowers while featuring a new narrative of forgiveness and reconciliation with past relationships.

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EDITORIALJada CarterADAPTATION, TELEVISION, GENDER, REPRESENTATIONComment
Representations of Femininity: International Perspectives - Liyana (Aaron and Amanda Kopp, 2017)
Representations of Femininity: International Perspectives - Liyana (Aaron and Amanda Kopp, 2017)

This blog post examines the 2017 film Liyana, directed by Aaron and Amanda Kopp, which describes itself as a “genre-defying documentary” that weaves together both animation and live-action scenes to tell the story of five orphaned children in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Yet its reflexive framing narrative focuses on the children’s creation of their own fictional tale featuring the fearless Liyana, who as part of the film’s story-within-a-story structure embarks on a treacherous quest to save her younger brothers.

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EDITORIALRosie ThomsonGENDER, IDENTITY, RACEComment
Review: Stella Hockenhull and Frances Pheasant-Kelly (eds.), Tim Burton’s Bodies: Gothic, Animated, Corporeal and Creaturely (2021)
Review: Stella Hockenhull and Frances Pheasant-Kelly (eds.), Tim Burton’s Bodies: Gothic, Animated, Corporeal and Creaturely (2021)

Tim Burton’s Bodies provides a distinctive body-centric approach to the analysis of Burton’s back-catalogue of animated and live-action films (see Fig. 1 for book cover). Tim Burton is an internationally celebrated filmmaker, animator and artist who has worked in the industry since the 1980s. His work is commercially and critically acclaimed and is mostly associated with the fantasy horror sub-genre, the macabre and spectral, animated corpses and grotesque outsider protagonists.

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BOOK REVIEWAnna BlagroveTIM BURTON, STOP-MOTION, GENDER, FEMINISM, ANIMATIONComment
Pride without Prejudice: Queer Animation of the 2020s
Pride without Prejudice: Queer Animation of the 2020s

Just a little over three and a half years into the 2020s, the seeds of the tropes and trends that future generations shall refer to as “2020's cinema” began to sprout. Be it the new string of self-aware whodunits following the success of Knives Out (Rian Johnson, 2019), such as Bodies, Bodies, Bodies and See How They Run (both released in 2022), or the slow resurgence of slashers with Scream sequels, X and Freaky (starting a new chapter for the genre after its self-referential era post-Scream and ‘neo-slasher’ period in the 2000’s), an exciting foundation for this new decade’s cinema has been set.

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EDITORIALAnant NambiarQUEER IDENTITY, GENDER, SEXUALITY, NETFLIX
Reclaiming personal memory through Hollywood fantasy in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
Reclaiming personal memory through Hollywood fantasy in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

In the first act of Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto (2005), a tale of a young transgender woman growing up in small town Ireland during the height of the troubles in the 1970s, there is an extended fantasy sequence in which Kitten (Cillian Murphy) imagines her own conception by her parents. It is one of many fantasy sequences that are scattered throughout the film, and one that relies heavily on manifesting a fictional memory which most likely did not happen.

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EDITORIALLuke BrookmanGENDER, REPRESENTATION, TRANSGENDER, GENREComment
Reflecting futures in fantastic media: who do we think we can become?
Reflecting futures in fantastic media: who do we think we can become?

Children are frequently asked who or what they want to be when they grow up, and the possibilities can seem pretty endless. Racecar drivers and dolphin trainers, chefs, presidents, sometimes out and out supervillains – but also doctors and teachers, writers and artists. After my experience as a postdoctoral researcher with the European Research Council-funded research project Constructing Age for Young Readers (CAFYR) at the University of Antwerp, I have spent a lot of time wondering what we might hear if we were asked those same questions again while in our thirties, or even our forties. Who would we want to become? Who are we shown as inspiration for who we might be able to become?

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EDITORIALMichelle Anya AnjirbagLITERATURE, CHILDHOOD, GENDERComment
Review: The Factual Animation Film Festival (FAFF) 2022
Review: The Factual Animation Film Festival (FAFF) 2022

The Fall of 2022 marked the 9th year of running of The Factual Animation Film Festival (FAFF). Following the success of 2021, this time the festival maintained its hybrid format offering both in-person and online events. Those who found themselves in Berlin on September 24th, could attend a screening at local Z-inema moderated by Marina Belikova, one the festival’s producers.

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EVENT REVIEWAnastasiia GushchinaREPRESENTATION, GENDER, DOCUMENTARY, FANTASY, IDENTITYComment
Redefining Gender Representation in Dua Lipa’s “Hallucinate” (2020) Music Video
Redefining Gender Representation in Dua Lipa’s “Hallucinate” (2020) Music Video

Dua Lipa’s animated music video “Hallucinate” was released during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The song is taken from Lipa’s second album, Future Nostalgia, and was influenced by the studio 54 aesthetic (Daly, 2020). Dua Lipa's animated character in the music video has been compared with the features of Betty Boop, a figure who epitomized the hedonistic nature in America in the 1920s.

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SEQUENCE ANALYSISDemikel EvansMUSIC VIDEO, REPRESENTATION, GENDER, SEXUALITY, QUEER IDENTITY Comment
Review: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleischer-Camp, 2021)
Review: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleischer-Camp, 2021)

The extraordinary life of Marcel, a one-inch tall talking shell, first began with three Youtube shorts in the early 2010s. He took the Internet by a storm: Jenny Slate’s crackling timbre, coupled with Dean Fleischer-Camp’s comically awkward script, drew over 31 million views. Now, after more than a decade of slumber, the shorts finally resurfaced, though this time in feature form.

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FILM REVIEWGrace HanFANTASY, STOP-MOTION, GENDERComment