Emotional silence: Are emotive expressions of 3D animated female characters designed to fit stereotypes

Abstract

In this paper, we present a methodology to conduct content analyses on character depiction in 3D animated children's movies. Using this methodology, we analyzed the depictions and emotive expressions of female characters by conducting a content analysis in two popular contemporary 3D animations. We studied the design of feminine coded appearance and movement using simplified drawings. Based on this study, we observe that female characters and their emotive expressions are still designed to fit stereotypes in contemporary 3D animated children's movies. Our 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, the expressions did not demonstrate the diversity of human emotions in terms of how female characters visually express their emotions.