麻豆影院

Christopher Bell has some ideas about how Hollywood can do better.

He鈥檚 not afraid to admit it 鈥� he鈥檚 proud. Christopher Bell (PhDComm鈥�09) likes My Little Pony.

In fact, there鈥檚 an entire fanbase of men who call themselves 鈥淏ronies,鈥� he said 鈥� men who appreciate the long-running TV show and related toys. As Bell sees it, that鈥檚 how it should be, even if the main audience is girls.

鈥淏ronies mattered because Hasbro doesn鈥檛 get to decide who likes My Little Pony,鈥� said the media studies scholar, a leading voice in the effort to change the way popular culture portrays gender and race. 鈥淲e do.鈥�

Thanks to his widely viewed 2015 TEDx Talk, 鈥淏ring on the Female Superheroes,鈥� Bell, a CU Colorado Springs professor, has found a place of unusual influence in the entertainment business for an academic, including serving as a consultant for Pixar Studios.

His work 鈥� and that of like-minded filmmakers 鈥� appears to be making a difference: A growing number of lead film characters are females and minorities, such as DC Comics鈥� Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot, and Marvel鈥檚 Jessica Jones series, now on Netflix.

The depth of the entertainment industry鈥檚 white-maleness struck Bell during a five-year stint in Hollywood in the early 2000s, when he worked as a screenwriter and did tech work for the movies Bring It On! and Deep Blue Sea. Few people producing the stories seemed to care about the social consequences of their habitual use of white male lead characters, he said.

鈥淭his whole industry is doing an incredible amount of unintended harm,鈥� he said. 鈥淪omebody had to point that out. And that somebody was me.鈥�

Three years later, the Westminster, Colo., native enrolled in CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 media studies doctoral program and began researching popular culture鈥檚 effects on consumers. When his toddler daughter, Olivia, began interacting with pop culture, he narrowed his focus to race and gender issues in children鈥檚 media.

By the time Olivia was 9, she鈥檇 become a fan of female superheroes such as Gamora, the green-skinned superhuman female fighter from Guardians of the Galaxy, and Black Widow, the female spy fighter from The Avengers. But when Bell went to the Disney store to buy toys in their likeness, he could only find princess characters. It bothered him.

In his TEDx Talk in Colorado Springs, he lamented the lack of female superheroes and called for equal representation among genders in leading roles. The video racked up more than 200,000 views in a month. (Today, it has more than a million.)

Soon the head of educational programs at Pixar called and asked him to address a group of about 40 animators. Then he spoke to a group twice that size. Next, he met with Pixar directors and producers.

His main message has been the importance of children seeing characters who look, talk and live like they do, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 my job to judge [Pixar], to evaluate their work and to advocate, in an activist way, what they should do in the future,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 much rather do it to their faces than behind their backs.鈥�

So far, Bell has worked as a consultant on 2017鈥檚 Coco and helped shape four other upcoming Pixar movies, including Toy Story 4, scheduled for release next year.

鈥淭hey鈥檒l send character sketches and ask opinions,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can ask, 鈥楧oes it change anything if this character is a girl, or if this character is brown?鈥欌��

Since Bell鈥檚 TEDx Talk, the amount of female superhero toys and merchandise produced has more than tripled, he said: 鈥淚 started this collection in my office of every female superhero I can find after my TED Talk, and I have run out of room.鈥�

鈥淭he most important thing about the work Dr. Bell does is that it鈥檚 something not many people stop to think about, but no one can deny,鈥� said Jayne Simpson (PhDComm鈥�21), a former Bell student. 鈥淎nd when you recognize it once, you see it everywhere!鈥�

As for Bell鈥檚 daughter, now 12, she鈥檚 got a new hero: Ballerina Misty Copeland, the American Ballet Theater鈥檚 first African-American female principal dancer.

鈥淚f there were Misty Copeland action figures, she鈥檇 have every single one,鈥� Bell said. 鈥淪omeone should make Misty Copeland action figures 鈥� that lady is a real-life superhero.鈥�

听

Email Christie at sounart@colorado.edu.

Illustration by Tavis Coburn; Photo by Patrick Clark/CMCI

听