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Freezing vs Wrecking: Reworking the superhero genre in Disney's Frozen (2013) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Eve Benhamou
I hoped this text would focus more on the archetypal factors
of superhero films and their characters and whilst there were some interesting
cross comparisons between film, animation and comics it continued in a way
which focussed on the obvious gender constructions we see across all. This
genre generally maintains the themes of fear, power, spectacle and control
where the protagonist explores their powers; but the approaches differ with
gender. Benhamou mentions how hyper masculinity and aggression tend to be
celebrated in male characters, or used as a comedic tool known as ‘playful
knowingness’ e.g. Hancock, to further the narrative. But with female characters
the aggression is quickly neutralized, in Frozen it could be speculated that
Elsa is domesticated by her Father, symbolising the patriarchy. A wildness
cannot better a female character but instead she receives a make-over- her
sexualised body create a spectacle, over riding her powers and allowing this
change to be ‘a key ritual of female coming into being.’
An interesting point in this article is when it’s postulated
that performance of a known actor/singer (in animation in this case), an
extratextual element can combine with intertextual elements to add complexity
to a character and therefore affect how the audience may perceive them in
regards to understanding good and evil.
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