thedriveintheatre

To elaborate on my last post, notice I mentioned that there could be many reasons why Brenda was removed from the project. The fact that they attributed it to “creative differences” without giving us any specific details, probably due to property confidentiality, only provides fodder for feminists and conspiracy theorists to comment on the studio.

Speaking from personal experience, I have worked on many creative projects before with collaborators for my undergrad degree, so I know how it is to have your ideas changed or rejected first-hand. Sure, we had our “creative differences”, but rarely do we have to resort to abandoning the group when we can simply give-and-take. In the case of my final year project, we listened to the ‘director’ and only offered suggestions, but the ‘final decision’ was up to him. Of course, it is not very convenient to ditch your group when your assessments are at stake, but neither should it be for Brenda when her career and the reputation of Pixar is on the line.

The vague subjectivity of the term “creative differences” is what makes this issue so contentious. Was Brenda being stubborn towards Pixar’s Brain Trust to the point that it jeapordised the film’s quality? Or was the Brain Trust (mostly made of men, either by design or circumstance) so intolerant and insistent so as to not accept Brenda’s auteur vision?

Personally, for a studio that prides itself on directorial independence (and markets itself as so), this incident comes as a surprise to me. I have always seen the Brain Trust as a silent mentor who only gives advice to the director, but never attempts to subvert control. To hear that neither party can reach a compromise, and that Brenda left the project (whether of her own volition, or pressured by the company) is shocking news, not just to me, but everyone in the industry (as well as outside observers).

The ‘womyn’ libs would love to play the gender card, and I think this is arguing for a case which might simply be non-existent (if Brenda did leave the project on her own, I would imagine she would be quite amused at the vitriol surrounding women’s rights). But once again, as I mentioned in my last post, the greatest tragedy here is not the perceived workplace discrimination (although that can possibly be true even today), but that Brenda had to give up her ‘baby’ to another director, simply because Pixar can’t see eye-to-eye with her vision. And if there’s one thing I hate as much as sexists, it’s hypocrites.

Lest you think it’s a case of ‘the better man wins the role’, bear in mind that Pixar has a larger talent pool to draw from than any other animation studio in the world. There are bound to be a few talented women that they have overlooked, either by choice or by accident. It seems like Pixar is gradually becoming like its rival Dreamworks with its elitist power structure of the Brain Trust and increasing reliance on sequels, while Dreamworks is becoming the more progressive studio with Katzenberg’s new laissez-faire approach and their history of giving female employees director roles.

P.S. Several online commenters I’ve read have consoled themselves with the fact that while the film now has a male director, the story still has a female protagonist. This is unremarkable when you consider that Disney has had a long tradition of having females as the central main character (Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Pocahontas, Mulan, Princess & The Frog, Tangled). Or that Studio Ghibli have been doing it for almost every single one of its films. Or that Dreamworks Animation already got the jump on Pixar with Renee Zellweger’s Susan in Monsters Vs Aliens.

And by ‘central main character’, I mean, those whom we identify as the ‘hero’ character, and are the focus of the narrative. While Pixar has had many strong female characters, they are often in support or service of the main (male) characters’ journey and development. If we were to include strong female supporting characters, we can include countless films from other studios like Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Princess Kida, Disney), Rio (Jewel, Blue Sky), Rango (Beans, Industrial Light & Magic), and Legend of the Guardians (Gylfie and Nyra, Animal Logic). Brave will set a precedent for Pixar, but not for the rest of the animation industry, Eastern or Western.