Long legs, check
Sexy outfit, check
Cartoon Eye Candy, in other words scanty dressed female characters prancing around...one of the biggest stereotypes exhibited in animation, video games, and comics. We begin with original "sex symbol" Betty Boop, who came onto the scene in the 1930's. It is interesting to note that Betty Boop was originally a dog character which later evolved into a sexy flapper. She is adorned with a sexy mini dress, pumps, and garter. Jessica Rabbit, epitomizes this stereotype very well as she displays a glamorous/sultry female character through her attributes. Her enormous chest, long legs, and red pumps are all characteristics which contribute to the stereotypical "sex symbol" theme seen across the board. But it doesn't stop there, comics are a BIG culprit of this common theme. Even characters such as Wonder Woman and Laura Croft, who were suppose to symbolize feminism and differentiate themselves from the common female stereotype are ultimately illustrated with the average stereotypical characteristics. Both Laura Croft and Wonder Woman have huge racks as well as scanty outfits. Let's move on to analyze popular female video game characters. In terms of notorious video game, Mortal Kombat, these females exemplify this category. Characters Mileena, Kitana, and Jade look like variations of each other because of their extremely revealing outfits. And don't forget the gigantic perfect chest, which is defiantly illustrated here through all three ninja female characters. Lastly, this stereotypical theme is not limited to American cartoons as even characters observed in Japanese Anime are far worse and defiantly take the cake! Lum, from Urusei Yatsura, illustrates the stereotypical concept with her small tiger bikini outfit complete with knee high boots. Although she is probably a more toned down stereotype as compared to many other female characters seen in anime, she could qualify as PG-13 status. So in the end, if your a female in the world of animation you probably exhibit one or all of these traits, and in defense in the words of Jessica Rabbit, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way".
No comments:
Post a Comment