The Golden Compass
You’re no doubt aware that there’s a new kids’ action/adventure film coming out called The Golden Compass. This film is already generating controversy because the author is an atheist, and Christian groups are already organizing to boycott this …
November 29, 2007 27 Comments
Karaba the Witch
Hold onto your hats, folks — I found a children’s animated adventure that has nearly as many female main characters as male ones! Possibly more, depending on where you draw the line on which characters are main characters.This film is …
November 27, 2007 25 Comments
Ice Age: setting female characters back a few millennia…
Ice Age is one of the worst children’s films I’ve ever seen in terms of gender portrayal.
In a nutshell, Ice Age is a classic all-male buddy adventure in which a motley group of guys of different prehistoric species bring a …
November 25, 2007 133 Comments
Persepolis
In this life you’ll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it’s their own stupidity that makes them act that way. That will keep you from responding to their meanness. There’s nothing …
September 4, 2007 No Comments
Great female characters in Hollywood’s current animated blockbusters for kids: where are they???
Taken individually, most of Hollywood’s recent offerings for kids have been reasonable quality entertainment. But taken as a group (I’ve been watching them alongside my kids), I’m struck by the lack of female characters in these films. For …
August 16, 2007 22 Comments
Jungle Book II: the story of how a female character is softened
from the “deleted scenes” bonus material of Jungle Book II, with Sharon Morrill, Executive Vice President, and Matt Walker, Senior Vice President of Music.
Matt: What you’re hearing fading out is the song “I’ve Got You Beat,” which was …
March 3, 2007 5 Comments
Girls Will Be Girls
As a kid, I absolutely hated the “Dennis the Menace” portrait of childhood. I’m sorry to single out Dennis here since he’s not the only one, but that comic symbolized for me the story of childhood that didn’t reflect …
February 20, 2007 1 Comment
The Tale of Mr. Morton
This is the tale of Mr. Morton.
Mr. Morton is who?
He’s the subject of our tale,
and the predicate tells what Mr. Morton must do…
Okay, maybe I’m being a little unfair to complain that when it comes time to teach kids the …
February 18, 2007 20 Comments
The Knights of Disney
Here’s an update on my little boys and their reactions to female characters:
Nicolas has decided that he’s “Henry the brave knight” (a character of his own invention), so since we’re all about knights at our house these days, my …
February 13, 2007 4 Comments
Do boys like stories about girls?
When I was younger, I planned to have only girls. I had all these great theories about raising girls. Plus, since childhood so often means boyhood in stories, boyhood seems somehow less interesting. Like it’s already been …
February 7, 2007 37 Comments
