The “P” in Pixar Stands For Patriarchal

Here is a funny theory.

In 2015, CNN reported that there was only 14.2% of women in top corporate positions in S&P 500. In 2016, according to Fortune reports, women only hold 4% of top corporate positions in Fortune 500 companies. The women dominated fields of work are nursing, teaching, and waitressing and this is according to Business insider. There is also, a heavy numbered of women in human resources management, social work, and couseling. The number one paid, and dominated field of women is Veterinarian, which has an average income of $87,590, and takes a doctorate and a certified license. Keep in mind that this career also takes the most schooling and time to get into. Another weird stat for you that was brought up by a Harvard graduate, found that 28% of women who receive their MBAs are stay home moms after they graduate.

Now what am I trying to say from all of this ?

Why is there a picture of Pixar characters as the header of this blog?

Because…

The picture above has one common theme. All the characters are male, and these are main characters of Pixar movies. Pixar has 19 total movies as of now, and all of them with the exception of 3 are all about male characters going on some kind of journey. The 3 exceptions are Brave, Inside Out, and Finding Dory. This means that 3 out of 19 movies are about males going on journeys, and in some form, accomplishing something that betters themselves or others in the end. 3 out of 19 is about 15% or 16% if you want to round up. It is interesting to me that this number is so unequal, and to me it not only represents the obvious, that women seem to always be on the unequal side of representation, but it highlights a common characteristic between Pixar movies and women's work.

Now, what does this even mean? Like who even cares?

Ya I know this type of thing is a weird stretch, and probably at this point you have no idea what I am talking about.

But if you are still reading at this point thank you!

KEEP GOING!

Here is the thing about media and its audience, people tend to think that it brainwashes people to convert them to any opinion or attitude that it desires. However, scholars like Neil Vidmar and Milton Rokeach have examined the effects of the media on members of society, and have found that the influence of media is much more limited and complex (Wilson II, Clint C., Gutierrez, and Chao, 2012). In fact, the audiences of media are very selective in which media they engage in. People tend to choose media that they can identify with the most. In other words, media does not change or convert anyone’s opinions; it actually reinforces already existing attitudes and opinions that are instilled within a person’s conscious and subconscious. All these tropes are contributions to forming gender identity; however, it is extremely hard to pinpoint the special effects of media because of the wide range of social and psychological factors that affect how a person thinks and acts. According to Sigmund Freud, one of the founding fathers of psychology, the personality of a person is established at the age of six. If this is taken as true and combined with results from psychologist Neil Vidmar and sociologist/psychologist Milton Rokeach, who analyzed the impact of All in the Family on viewers in the United States and Canada, it can be said that a child’s gender identity is already instilled, and that at these ages of six through thirteen (which is the age range of these movies) both girls and boys already have their idea about what it means to be their gender.

I hope that makes sense to you, keep moving.

Now,

Pixar movies are mostly about MALES taking long and hard journeys, overcoming obstacles. Stoping for nothing until their goal is met. What does this do? It is laying a blueprint for men to be high achievers and “go getters”. It not only does this for men alone, it does it for women, but for society as a whole that this is what being a real “man” is all about. Further contributing to a patriachal system that of course apperciates and values men achievers over women achievers.

Consequently, for women it does not push women to have this same characteristic. Going back to the information that I gave earlier. The women dominated fields are nursing, teaching, waitress, human resources, social work, and couseling. What do these have in common? They are all fields with minimal work load to achieve these career paths. Nursing is a 6–9 month trade school, teaching takes a bachelors, waitress maybe a high school education, human resource and social work take a bachelors, and counseling takes a bachelors at least, certification, but also, in some cases does not take anything as long as you let people know you are not certified and that they are okay with that. I know that some of these are hard to get into because I want to be a counselor and even thought about going into social work, so I am in no form downing these fields of work. But when compared to the male dominated fields such as a top executives in business, doctors, or lawyers. They take years and years of school, interning, and ass kissing. All these jobs have something else in common other then long, hard, and obstacle field journeys, and that is a big reward just like how Pixar tells them.

So, to conclude, I am saying here, that the movies of Pixar may be a influential factor to why there is a noticable inequality in women in fields that take significantly a lot more time. The characteristic of high achievement is being associated and instilled within the male gender, and not giving women the proper models to identify with so that they can do the same. They rather take the back seat or the side kick role to the male characters. Resulting, in a lower achievement characteristic.

But thats just a theory!!

Hope you enjoyed!

Ant.Na$ty out peace.