29/01/2020

Strong is the new... sexism

Cactus is completed.
It turned out to have a coherent narrative - which, obviously, was not the one I had written and storyboarded (however sparsely) for it.
Once again I seem to created a hero who is an old lady with a bun. Once again I seem to have created a story about an artist/ the power of art.

I can't decide whether that is
a. sloppy thinking, just looking at what's right in front of me or
b. authenticity, speaking about what I know, understand and feel strongly about
or maybe c. both of the above plus there aren't that many animations about old ladies but the ones I have seen - notably Belleville Rendezvous- have been fabulous. so
I like making films about women and there aren't enough of these
I like heroes who are NOT physically strong or beautiful or overly sexualised...

which leads me to the thought: Why do I SO hate that advert: "Strong is the new beautiful" After years of being told we must be beautiful to have worth, women are now being told that strength makes us beautiful. A Post-feminist loophole that means men can appear to be less obsessed with our outward appearance to the exclusion of any inner characteristics, achievements and skills, yet still berate us for not fitting their model. Beautiful may now have more diverse forms but it is still compulsory.
Sod that.
At least when you are 80 people stop demanding that you are beautiful, sexy, available-for-objectification and physical strength is not expected/ but mental strength and a fierce independence can be appreciated as a somewhat shortage commodity...

So - old lady heroes to the fore! (and no thank you, we do not like the word Heroine. That is a badly-spelled narcotic. Nor the word Shero, which is a tautology since the Hero (personal name) of classical mythology was a woman. and since most of the heros I know are women)
Since you ask, I'm not 80 - nowhere near. But when I am, I expect to still be making animations, possibly about 100-year-old women.

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