The XX Factor: What women really think.

Boy Story

Wall-E's Oscar win for best animated feature has reminded some bloggers about Pixar's lady problem, or more exactly, its lack-of-ladies problem. In the words of Vast Public Indifference, it's not that Pixar doesn't write female characters so much as present them all as "helpers, love interests, and moral compasses to the male characters whose problems, feelings, and desires drive the narratives." Wall-E's Eve might have been a move in a more girl-powered direction, but the forthcoming Up! doesn't seem to have any women in it at all (though it does look predictably delightful).

Buffy creator Joss Whedon, whose feminist credentials are better than just about any other Hollywood dude's, thinks Pixar got girl trouble too. (Whedon tangent: Anyone watching Dollhouse? Just saw the second episode, in which Eliza Dushku spends an hour running from a crazed lover trying to track her down with a compound bow and arrow, and it's only the memory of Buffy, which is strong in me, that has kept me from a DVR purge.) Here's what he said to Mother Jones about Pixar this past November:

MJ: As a father, what do you think about the fact that Pixar doesn't have a [top-billed] female protagonist yet?

JW: I wrote Toy Story [for Pixar]. And I remember at the time having a crisis in myself because I couldn't figure out Bo Peep. There's no reason why there couldn't be [female Pixar leads]. There is that moment in The Incredibles, when the mom has a pep talk with Violet and Violet stands up like a hero and you can see her other eye for the first time. [My wife] said, "Oh look, they wrote a scene for you."