The Forecast Is Getting Better for Girls in Animation
Well, I’m pretty happy with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and not just because it’s one of the most hilariously bizarre animated films I’ve ever seen (it’s an ‘adaptation’ of one of my favorite picture books of all time that can only be considered a total reimagination), but also because it DARES to suggest something that most films never do: that girls like science, too.
Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.
I am always frustrated that science belongs firmly to men and boys in mainstream film, especially kids’ movies. And I have to say that I was pessimistic about Cloudy precisely because of this reason: the main character in the film is Flint Lockwood, a misfit inventor/scientist and a young man struggling to create some sort of relationship with this father. This is pretty conventional territory for animated films, and I was prepared to see some funny, but ultimately pretty standard supporting girls stuff from the film’s main female character, Sam Sparks (voiced by Ana Faris). I was pleasantly surprised, then, when Sparks turns out to be not an aspiring, silly weathergirl, but instead a genius, nerdy young woman who has squelched her passion for weather science after a childhood of being teased and taunted. There’s a genuinely moving and funny scene in the film in which Sam talks about her young life as a glasses-and-ponytail wearing nerd who turned her back on the science of meteorology, took off her glasses (which she still actually needs in order to see), styled her hair, and started acting more acceptably girlie by pretending to know nothing about science – all of which resulted in her ability to pass as a vapid, pretty and popular aspiring weathergirl. In response to this revelation, Flint places Sam’s glasses on her face, puts her hair into a ponytail with a Jell-O scrunchy (taken from the Jell-O castle he created for her) and tells her how beautiful she is. It’s a really nice overturning of the conventional ugly duckling transformation scene so prevalent in films with young girls. You know the one I’m talking about, where the nerdy girl takes off her glasses, lets down her hair, and suddenly becomes pretty? In Cloudy, Sam damns the pressure of the weather network, puts on her glasses, pulls back her hair, and uses her vast knowledge of meteorology to help save the day. It’s both immensely satisfying and inspiring.
Of course, Cloudy is not entirely awesome. Sam sports a boy’s name and the sharp line that gets drawn between girls and science seems to end up reaffirming that only exceptional, ‘boyish’ or ungirlie girls will ever like it or be good at it. Even as the film critiques conventional notions of beauty, it ends up reaffirming them: Sam is firmly established as a beautiful and attractive young woman well before she puts her glasses back on. And, finally, the boy who ends up winning her heart is the one who defines Sam’s standard of beauty (and makes her his prize). This is still a boy fantasy, after all.
But it’s quite an improvement, at the least. Cloudy, along with Monsters Vs. Aliens, portrays a female character who would rather be a misfit or a freak if it means that she can be who she really wants to be. Considering that so many animated films are about misfit boys trying to find their ways in the world, it’s satisfying and powerful to see girls getting the same treatment. Between Cloudy, Monsters Vs. Aliens, and Coraline, I’d say that this is just about the best year yet for girls in animation.
So……. what’s the deal, Pixar?
