Girls gone missing from kids’ movies: “Wreck-It Ralph”

Another day of driving my three year old daughter to school, another day she gets to see, and point at, a giant animated sexist ad go past her plastered on the side of a bus. Another day that my daughter gets to learn, along with the rest of the kids in America, that boys are more important than girls.

Do you know that in 2012 Hollywood won’t allow females to be in the title of movies for children? Yet, after “ParaNorman” and “Frankenweenie,” we get “Wreck-It Ralph” making three in a row of animated movies named for their male stars? In fantasy world, children are supposed to dream big, let their imaginations go wild, and anything should be possible, unless, of course, you happen to be female.

Parents, it’s not OK that kidworld shows males front and center, while females get sidelined and represented as a minority again and again and again.

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Girls gone missing in new Halloween movies for kids

As if Halloween wasn’t sexist enough already with its sexy “cute” costumes aggressively marketed to little girls, this season Hollywood delivers not one, but three animated male-centered monster movies. In each one, males are front and center while females get relegated to the sidelines.

I just saw this poster for “Frankenweenie:”

The movie is about a boy and his dog and named for the male protagonist. The male/ female ratio on the movie poster 4:1 (I thought that the smaller, sidelined cat could be female, but after looking up the character, I learned his name is Mr. Whiskers.)

If you’ve been reading Reel Girl, you know I just blogged about all the sexism in “Hotel Transylvania.” Here’s the poster, male/ female ratio 6:2

And a couple weeks ago, I blogged about ParaNorman.

Also named for the male protag (remember, the name of “Rapunzel” had to be switched to “Tangled” because Disney didn’t want a girl’s name in the title.) Male: female ratio 4:1

These repetitive images put females in the minority and on the sidelines. They are reproduced in toys, games, and clothing, and show kids that boys are more important than girls.

See Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing in Kids’ Movies in 2011.

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ParaNorman: what’s wrong with this picture?

Movie titled for its male protagonist? Check. Male/ female ratio 4:1 (mirrored by monsters/ dead people)? Check. Lone female sexualized? Check.

Girls make up half of the population of children, so why does Hollywood present them as a sexualized minority in movies for kids?

 Update to commenters: Nothing in the plot of this movie changes the sexualization of the female character. Or justifies that sexism for some greater good. Please don’t fall for Hollywood’s m.o. that there’s “a good reason” to marginalize females in animated movies. There isn’t. Sexism is not required for plot or humor, because “there are no female pirates in history” or original versions of adapted stories are sexist. In “Ratatouille” there’s only one female chef to four males, because that’s just how it is in the real world. Huh? It’s okay to make a movie about a rat who can cook but too many female chefs would be unbelievable?

Don’t read comments if you don’t want spoilers.

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