Emotional Silence: Are 3D Animated Female Characters' Emotive Expressions Designed to Fit Stereotypes?

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyzed the depictions and emotive expressions of female characters by con-ducting a content analysis in two popular contemporary 3D animations. I studied the design of feminine coded appearance and movement using simplified drawings. Based on this study, I claim that female characters and their emotive expressions are still designed to fit stereotypes in contemporary 3D animated children’s movies. My findings are the following: 1. The percentage of female characters in contemporary 3D animated children’s movies is the same as the percentage of females in human society; 2. On the other hand, those female characters did not demonstrate human diversity; and 3. Moreover, their emotions did not demonstrate the diversity of human emotions in terms of how female characters visually express their emotions. This thesis also establishes a methodology to conduct content analyses on character depiction in 3D animated children’s movies.