COP1 Seminar - Gender in animation

This seminar wasn't focusing on representation of gender in animation specifically, but also in other forms of art. There were other elects considered too such as feminist responses to this art, as well as how women are represented in animation. Something that was brought to our attention first was that there are examples of work which is dedicated for just the work of female artists. This was something which jumped out at me, because I found saw it as a positive thing, however it was interesting. This is because, if a book was based only for the work of male artists, it may not be taken in the same respect.

 

It got my thinking why this would be. The constant of discrimination towards women over the years, has lead to a constant vulnerability and awareness that men are the more dominant sex and have always been. It is only recently that this division has started to slowly disappear. If one was to see a book named "Male Artists" their first thought is quite likely to think it sexist. However "Women Artists" gives off a big sense of empowerment, because for so many years there have been these constraints over women and limitations to what they can achieve purely because of the traditional expectations placed on them. 

We looked at a range of examples of art work from different artists, for example "The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli from 1482. Personally I think this has quite a positive female representation, and although the man woman in the painting is naked, I don't think it is overly sexual. The visual interoperation of her looks healthy and realistic, which is more than can be said for a lot of the more modern day female representations in art.

Through out the seminar we talked about the issue of the female image and how this can be overpowering to other qualities a woman could have. For example one of the images shown was of an attractive woman in her underwear, and the caption reads "I can't cook, who cares?" This image was one which sparked off a lot of thoughts. There is a lot of pressure on women when it comes to appearance and sometimes this is seen as more important than other abilities, for example weather it not she can cook, weather she is interesting, funny, clever or talented.

Jenny Saville

During the seminar we looked at some of the paintings produced by Jenny Saville. I found these really intriguing, because she has taken a completely different turn on the way in which women can be represented. I think its really refreshing to see that somebody has taken this different approach at showing visually. This work is very raw and literal which I think is what makes it so effective. Some may argue that they thin the work in unpleasant to look at, but to me, it is a realistic female representation, because it isn't fake or manipulated. Also, it doesn't relate to just women, but both sexes. Its sort of a reminder that people can be made to look a certain way to please others, but at the end of the day, each to their own.