Brains vs. Brawn: A Shift in Representation

An article I read today reminded of an idea I've been tossing around for about week or so. The article itself can be found here. 

In the article, the writer explains that a current shift in representations of masculinity is occurring in this season's lineup, and I'd have to agree. As a student of popular culture, I frequently look at how women, men, children, and all other "character types" are represented. It's a fascinating past-time, and it's this studying of representation that gets me through Tim's fascination with all things reality (namely, all the Housewives and Big Rich Texas). However, how the genders are being represented is not the subject of this blog post; although, I hope the above articled get the mind to thinking.

The idea I've been kicking around for the last couple of weeks is a shift in representation throughout the years in the heroes of animated films, an idea that came about when the televisual airwaves were saturated with advertisements for the re-release of one of my animated favorite films growing up: The Lion King. Of course, I own the DVD (soon to own the Blu-Ray), so I watched it at home the other day and was struck by a dynamic that had always puzzled me when I was younger: Parents and society in general push for children to demonstrate some kind of intelligence, but for some reason the heroes of my childhood rarely expressed a heightened form of intelligence; such extreme intelligence was reserved for the villains, not the heroes. The heroes were to be intelligent so long as they weren't too intelligent. 

Thankfully, this characterization has changed, as demonstrated by another favorite of mine (a more recent film): How to Train Your Dragon. In this particular film, the hero lacks any kind of physical strength, a bad thing in a society that prizes physical prowess over an intellectual ability to solve problems. Of course, society sees the error of its ways when a combination of intelligence and physicality is required to save them all from a monstrous dragon.

As opposed to The Lion King, How to Train Your Dragon demonstrates how artistic representations of heroes and villains have shifted due to society's increased need for "geek" knowledge to navigate through all the rapid technological changes we've experienced. Both films remain two of my favorites; nevertheless, I'm glad for the change. Now I don't have to harbor secret fascinations with villains like Scar and Ursula, who display cunning and intelligence, but instead can see intelligence displayed on screen as a positive, not something to be feared.