Female Figures. A discussion at the London International Animation Festival 2017

Abstract

The Impact of my presentation at Society of Animation Studies about the lack of women in the animation industry has broadened the discussion. This event was held at the Barbican in London as part of the London International Animation Festival, and chaired by Abigail Addison director of Animate and the discussion centred around the lack of women currently working in the animation industry in key creative roles and the impact this has on the kind of stories being told as well as the designs of female characters in both adult and children's animation. This unconscious bias has the potential to create a world that is not reflective of society and one that is not realistic for both women and girls. When Laura Mulvey wrote her seminal paper in 1975 about the male gaze in Hollywood cinema, she looked at the gender power asymmetry in cinema at this time and how this affected the construction of female characters in Hollywood cinema, this perspective of a heterosexual man is still very strong in the animation industry today, and during the discussion it was apparent that there is a need for more women to create female characters and stories.