The Role Of Feminism In The Film Monster's University

Monster’s University is not a feminist film. Feminism is about “social, political and economic quality of the sexes” (Hobbs & Rice, 2012, page 6), something that this film does not show. It also happens to be a film that does not make an attempt to combat gender binaries and fails at representing all genders of its target audience, which is people of all ages due to the film’s G rating (Parentpreviews, 2015). It is not merely the fact that the cast is primarily male that prevents it from being feminist; as Derr (2013) points out, a male- or female-driven cast is not inherently sexist; she explains a one-gendered cast would be more acceptable in a film about an all-male school as in Dead Poets Society or a mainly female cast in a film about …show more content…
As discussed in this paper, Monster’s University documents stereotypical college life (Rae & Scanlon, 2013)—an experience that is had by both males and females. In fact, this experience is had by more females than males (Forbes, 2015); despite this, main male characters significantly outnumber main female characters in the credits by a staggering 72% (Pixar Wiki, 2015). Furthermore, though the test passes the criterion of the Bechdel Test stating that there must be more than two named female characters, none of them add significant value to the movie and the interactions between them are virtually non-existent (Rae & Scanlon, 2013) giving an overall failing grade of 1/3 on the Bechdel Test. It is imperative that this be improved in future films so that viewers, particularly children, are not bombarded with stereotypes or expectations based on their gender. If that were to happen, children would get the chance to grow up with the knowledge that they are not defined by their gender and they have the right to equality and fair treatment. Better yet, they would have the courage and the confidence to demand