Up

[tiger_spot]

Just got back from seeing Up. Two things:

1. Best movie in the history of movies.

2. Ow, my heartstrings.

(Okay, also 3. Pixar, can we have a little talk about gender? Thanks.)

But. Totally awesome.

Comments

[ljgeoff]

I've heard good-ish things about Up. I think I'll take Mike this week, if we can find it playing anywhere.

[bluelake367]

We were crying in the first 10 minutes and then couldn't breathe we were laughing so hard later on. Great movie.

What about gender -- I'm curious?

[tiger_spot]

Too many boys. Let me do a little table here:
Film

Protagonists (male)

Protagonists (female)

Major Supporting Characters (male)

Major Supporting Characters (female)

Toy Story

Woody, Buzz

Mr. Potatohead, Slinky Dog, Rex, Hamm

Bo Peep

A Bug's Life

Flik, all the circus bugs

or maybe the circus bugs go here

I think there was a princess

Toy Story 2

Woody

Jessie

Buzz

Monsters, Inc.

Sully, Mike

Randall, the boss

Boo

Finding Nemo

Nemo, Nemo's dad

the sharks, the sea turtle

Dory

The Incredibles

Mr. Incredible

Mrs. Incredible

Dash, the baby, Frozone

Violet, the costume designer

Cars

Lightning McQueen

Mater

Ratatouille

Remy

Emile, Remy's father, Gusteau, Alfredo, Anton Ego

Collette

WALL-E

WALL-E

the captain

EVE

Up

Carl

Russel, Dug, Muntz

Ellie, Kevin
My evaluation of what counts as a major supporting character is basically "do I remember this character", so it's fairly subjective. Some of the dual protagonists are arguable, too; Nemo and Mike in particular may be better

[chinders]

The formatting on your table seems off- there's a LOT of white space between words and table. And the troubleshooter in me checked this on two browsers ;)

[tiger_spot]

Yeah, I know. I can't figure out what's causing that. I sure didn't put it in.

[tshuma]

Regarding gender: were you thinking something like this?

[tiger_spot]

Along those lines. And also, on this one in particular -- (warning, here there be vaguely spoilery things if you care a whole lot about finding out plot details at the exact rate they are revealed in the film) statistically speaking, there are a lot more old women outliving their husbands than the other way around. A swap to Carla and Eddie wouldn't have hurt the film one tiny little bit. And where were the female supporting characters? Kevin, okay, but all the dogs were male, all the construction workers, the lead suit, both nursing home attendants, the villain... Russell's mom appears very briefly and doesn't have any lines, and there's a female police officer early on who has one line, and that's it. And the only reason Kevin's female is so she can get back to her babies. It's a little overwhelming.

[mrteapot]

There must have been some female dogs, right? Dogs don't live for decades. And he had more dogs in modern day than he had when he left. Those dogs had to come from somewhere.

I think that Munz just set all their voice synthesizers to male, because he's a chauvinist.

(But I get the point. And I will avoid nitpicking the subjective chart.)

[tiger_spot]

There must have been some female dogs, right? Dogs don't live for decades.

Yeah, and Muntz had a mother too. That doesn't mean she was in the movie.

I think that Munz just set all their voice synthesizers to male, because he's a chauvinist.

A possibility. It's not like Pixar's going to draw testicles on a cartoon dog, so it's hard to say for certain.

I was more annoyed about the rats in Ratatouille, because Remy's size and activity level are much more likely for a female rat than a male. (Emile, his brother, was a much more realistic male.)

[spectatrix]

We saw the "early" (11 am) showing of it yesterday, since it's been sold out EVERY OTHER TIME we've tried to see it. Good stuff.

[lysana]

I've had a small mad-on about Pixar and gender since the release of Cars or thereabouts. I tried explaining it to my reading list only to have people argue that supporting characters count so I should quit worrying and love the sexism.

Pixar has a Christmas-release movie planned for 2011 that will both be the first female-lead film and woman-directed film for the studio. It's called The Bear and the Bow, about a princess who tries to become an archer instead. It's also a woman-written script, drawing from fairy tales and her love for her young daughter. I wish it were their big summer release, but I think that's going to be Newt that year. Newt has a female protagonist to match the male one, however, so it may be more of a sign of change to come that both films are planned. I hope so. Seems ironic that Miyazaki's studio is the only major player that does female-lead movies on a regular basis, and only one was about a princess (but Mononoke is no Disney flower, bless her).

[chinders]

Unfortunately, we have to wait another 3 years for a female lead. Boo.

[tiger_spot]

I got a little fidgety around Finding Nemo, but then The Incredibles was pretty well balanced and I took it as a promising sign of change. Got squinty again at Ratatouille and am actually fairly cranky by now.

Sure, supporting characters count. There are way more male supporting characters, too (see chart in comment above), so I'm not sure what point your commenters were trying to make....