As a follow up to my “Cool heroines in children’s animated films”, I have decided to mention a few female characters that I find equally cool to the heroines, even if they are not the “main protagonist”. I’ve gotten the inspiration to write this post from a very special and dear person to me. I want to thank him for the idea and suggestions for what “side characters” to write about. Thanks, man, you’re awesome!
Side characters are often used as comic relief, but can also be used to represent ideas or attributes, for example child sidekicks are often used to represent innocence. At other times side characters may exist as wise advisers or as the voice of reason. Whatever their purpose, there have been many fun and entertaining sidekicks in the world of animation. Here’s a few I like.
The Black Widow from “Corpse Bride” (2005) – The Black Widow is a perky, friendly spider that though she doesn’t have her own name does deliver some of the most memorable jokes in “Corpse Bride”. She is the best friend of one of the main protagonist in the film, Emily. The Black Widow is played out as the friend that’s always there for you and always on your side, regardless of the Situation.
“Corpse Bride” tells the story of a young man Victor that through a number of weird circumstances ends up marrying a dead woman named Emily. This means nothing but trouble to Victor, since he’s already supposed to marry and in love with another (living) woman, Victoria. Emily on the other hand has taken quite a liking to her “new husband”. This was Tim Burton’s first full-length animation movie which he himself directed, alongside with Mike Johnson. This movie is full of fun characters, but The Black Widow is probably the sweetest one.
Wilma from “A Flight before Christmas” (2008) – Wilma, a least weasel, is, alongside with impressive villains, one of the most memorable things from this Finnish animation film. Wilma first shows up in the film singing in her crazy manner while shoving snow on to a pack of wolves who are trying to eat the main characters. Wilma is quite an odd weasel. She fancies herself a great singer, praising herself constantly. Being a straight forward weasel, Wilma’s always speaking her mind, even if it at times annoys others. Her quirky personality brings a lot of good laughs but she also represents an experienced character who, despite certain illusions, understands a lot about the world. Her introduction in the film is one of her best: while bathing in self-adoration, she stylishly distracts the wolves with her singing. The singing weasel confuses the wolves so much they can’t see the obvious trap Wilma sets up for them. Hilarious scene with its own unique, Finnish touch of girl power!
“A Flight before Christmas” is about a young reindeer named Niko who believes his unknown father is one of the flying reindeer’s who pull Santa’s sled. Since he can’t seem to learn to fly, he heads out to the North Pole in order to find his father and to learn the secret of flying. This movie is not too bad. A long side with Wilma, there are a few other memorable, fun characters and scenes (For instance, it features a cute side love story of a poodle and a wolf that become interested in each other). However the moral of the story – “you can achieve anything by believing” – does feel a little old and tiring by now. Niko, the main character of the film, was also a little cliché-ish.
(Here’s a video of the film with Wilma in it. Couldn’t find her introduction scene. Sorry!)
Dot from “A Bug’s life” (1998) – This little princess ant is just adorable. She’s a brave youngling and a born leader. Dot is the younger sister of the crown princess, which means she will become queen after her sister, Princess Atta (who’s also a pretty cool character! Strong and independent). Dot, being a child side character, exists to represent innocence in the film. However, her role goes beyond that; she helps out during crisis’s, she stands up for the outsider of the film and is the leader of all of the ant younglings. Sweet!
“A Bug’s life” is, in my opinion, Pixar’s strongest work. It deals with an ant colony which has been terrorized by grasshoppers for years and years. The ant must give the grasshoppers nearly all of their food in order to be “protected” from the outside world (which in actuality is just from the grasshoppers themselves). One of the ants, Flik, however believes that they can get rid of the grasshoppers if they just found some kind-hearted, tough warriors to help them (a´la Kurosawas “seven samurais“). Flik goes out seeking these warriors, as the rest of the ants continue collecting food for the vicious Grasshoppers. This movie is pretty exciting and gripping. Check it out.
The Girl Squirrel from “Sword in the Stone” (1963) – possible the most coolest, most awesome female side character to have ever been created, this girl has it all. She’s funny, she has an extremely strong will, she’s kind and loyal, and a good fighter who’s not afraid to defend the people she loves. She appears in the film only for one sequence, making that part of the movie the most memorable one.
Wart, a boy who’s an apprentice to Merlin the magician, is turned into a squirrel for educational purposes. While gliding through the trees, he bumps into the Girl Squirrel who instantly falls in love with him. Wart tries and fails at explaining that he’s not a squirrel, but a human boy. The Girl Squirrel chases him in a determined matter and results in saving him from being eaten up by a wolf. In the end gets her heart broken after Wart turns back into a human. The viewer gets good laughs, gets to see her kick ass and cry with her, all in ten minutes.
The Girl Squirrel was probably one of Disney’s first strong female characters. She wasn’t helpless or weak and had a mind of her own. It’s also enjoyable to see a determined woman chasing after a man; even if you laugh at this scenario, you also admire her strong will. That’s why it’s so sad when her dreams are deferred. It’s also worth pointing out that the Girl Squirrel was probably one of the first females who officially saved a male in a children’s film. She saved “the boy” in a movie made during the sixties, a time when the majority of life saving in films was made by men. You could therefore argue that this squirrel was the feminist of this film: she questioned gender roles by her energetic behavior.
The Girl Squirrel is a character not often talked about, but clearly was one of the first cinematic presentations of very strong, goal oriented girl power. And, if you look at it closely, could be seen as one of the first presenters of feminism.
“Sword in the Stone” tells the story of Merlin who prepares a young Arthur for a great future. The film contains a series of fun adventures Arthur has during his lessons, while unknowingly destined to become the next king of England. The movie is completely underrated. Merlin’s character is brilliant and the story is quite fun. Worth a watch if you haven’t seen it. Or a re-watch, if you’ve seen it but don’t remember much of it.
That’s a couple of female side characters that I really enjoy watching. Do you guys have any favorites? What do you guys think about the women I just talked about?
Bra inlägg! Tycker att du tar upp väldigt bra karaktärer. Och Tjej-ekorren är verkligen bäst! 🙂 Hon är en av mina tecknade idoler. Hon förtjänar verkligen mer uppmärksamhet och beundran!
Black Widow är verkligen underbar. Jag önskar faktiskt att hon hade ännu mer screentime än vad hon har. Hmm, en spinoff film med the Black Widow kanske vore något?
Dot är väldigt bra också. Den filmen är så underbar överhuvudet taget. 🙂
“A Flight before Christmas” har jag inte sett. Kanske något vi borde göra i jul? Du vet, ha en filmdag med jultema. 🙂
Absolut! 🙂 Du kommer att älska Wilma. Hon är så härligt konstigt men mogen! Och en spin-off film med The Black Widow i huvudrollen skulle vara nice!
Very interesting anaylsis of the Girl Squirrel from “the Sword in the Stone”. And great to see the (tragic) clip. Very moving.
As for side kicks – I motioned Edna Mode from “the Incredibles” before in your Cool Heroines post, who is still my favorite.
I think of M-O from Wall.E. A robot, so is it a male or female? Check it out here
And naturally Sally, the voice of reason and sanity, in the “Nightmare before Christmas” (Maybe not a secondary character?). Her means of escape from her creator are singularly brilliant and speak to her individuality and strength of character in the midst of the mob mentality!
The Original Sally Song:
Fiona Apple sings a great version of the song here. And it has many of the escape scenes of Sally:
Thanks for the clip of MO! Pretty funny character :-). As for its gender… Hm, going to have to go with the idea of it having no gender.
I love Sally, and was considering to write about her in this post, but since she is the love-interest of the film’s hero, Jack Skellington, I considered her a major character instead of a “side-character”. I agree that her courageous ways to escape are amazing!
Thank you for the two versions of Sally’s song. It’s a beautiful song; The original is melancholy and melodic, Apple’s version gloomy and more “rough”. Both with emotion. 🙂
Ремонт и отделка офисов, квартир или дач – это самая распространенная на сегодняшний день проблема большинства людей, решившихся, наконец, привести в порядок свое жилище. Мало того, что ремонт – это занятие трудоемкое и напряженное, еще и найти достойную компанию, занимающуюся отделкой квартир или офисов сегодня практически невозможно. Дело в том, что все меньше и меньше в нашей стране остается фирм, делающих свою работу качественно, эффективно и недорого.Однако наша компания является приятным исключением из этого неприятного правила. Мы вот уже долгое время занимается отделкой и ремонтом квартир и в г. Зеленоград и еще ни разу нам не приходило от наших клиентов ни неприятных отзывов, ни каких-либо жалоб. Богатый опыт наших специалистов, а также высокий профессионализм всех без исключения наших работников, поможет сделать хорошо, качественно и – главное – доступно как косметический, так и капитальный ремонт. Современное оборудование, новые технологии планировки и дизайна, а также индивидуальный подход к каждому клиенту и гибкая система скидок сделали нашу компанию самой успешной на сегодня фирмой, оказывающей услуги по ремонту и отделке квартир и офисов в г. Зеленоград. Список услуг: ремонт квартир ремонт квартир в Москве ремонт квартир в Московской области косметический ремонт квартир капитальный ремонт квартир евроремонт кватрир ремонт магазинов ремонт ресторатов ремонт офисных помещений отделка квартир ремонт ресторанов ремонт квартир под ключ строительство коттеджей VIP ремонт квартир отделка квартир в новых домах
I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case.
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it
with ‘we leave it to you to decide’.
Well, I was mostly trying to voice my opinion and then ask what others thought. I wasn’t really going for “decisive”, more like trying to just say what I think and see what others think :-).
Thank you for you comment!
Hey Potenzmittel
Nice catch there.
It would seem these “minor” characters may have some of the characteristics of the secondary “wise” individuals who help direct the moral development of the primary protagonists in a folklore tale. These characters usually, in these tales, disappear in the movement of the overall narrative.
Maaretta is excavating these characters, I would guess, to reassert their pivotal roles within the context of the tale and indicate a more important positioning for them. As readers we then can reinvest the reading to explore these characters in this light and see how a tale can marginalize what is actually the core of the moral position (embodied in the persona of the marginal character) of the tale.
This becomes a reflection of our own inability to grasp the correct positions as the imperfect subjects (and as readers who then can “relate” to the imperfections of the main protagonist) and the need to have “help” from those with clearer lived ethical positions and how they are not always there (in the narrative or our own lived experience) to give guidance to our later decisions and choices.
The post by Maaretta gives us these moral lessons in the body of each of the four character analysis, but then the decision (as the protagonist must do as well) about the sequences importance and, ultimately the lesson of the secondary character, is left to our own choosing (usually giving the “tension” in the tale how the major character is going to accept the lesson). The original post would seem a neat reflection of the form of the tale while circumventing the marginalization of the character.
Thanks for making me think about this! It was insightful.
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
Your welcome! Glad you liked my post!
What hosting company are you using for your blog? I looking hosting for my best rakeback website.
I don’t quite understand what you mean, but if you mean what site I’m using for my blog it’s WordPress.com. 🙂
Hope that helped!
Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your web site in internet explorer, would check this… IE still is the market leader and a big portion of people will miss your fantastic writing because of this problem.
Hello!
Glad you like my post! Appreciate it.
But, what is IE? And what problem are you referring to?
Hi I attempted to sign up to your RSS and also the link appears to be broken. How do i get around this? Regards!
Hmm. I guess the best thing to do is to try it again after a while.
Regards!
i love sally shes an awesome animated person i hope u make more
vidoes about sally ow and how did u think of makeing
this awesome vidoe of her in my next post ill give u some inside information of how
sally was made and in THE NIGHT MARE BEFOR CHRISTMAS im
going to be doing a bioagaph about sally and her crew hope u red my
next post on here
love
ponny21
Yeah, Sally was awesome. However, I didn’t make the video featured here in the comments. It was embedded from Youtube. 🙂
If you give me a link to your post, I’ll read it!
Take Care, Maaretta
I disagree about the girl squirrel. She represents everything that is wrong with romantic relationships. She first sees Arthur and sees what she wants to see. Aside from being upfront about who and what he is, he really makes it clear that he isn’t interested in her. And what gets me is that he is nicer than most people (male or female) would be in those circustances! She doesn’t listen because she is so caught up in what she wants. She is so wrapped up in her own thoughts and feelings that what he is saying and how he is acting doesn’t matter at all to her and that is just plain selfish! If the genders were reversed then people would view her methods as sexual harassment, assault, and attempted rape (but since it’s a grl then that’s alright?).
I know that this is a children’s movie, but this is a far cry from love! It’s lust and a shallow one at that! She saves Arthur from the wolf, but it’s her fault he fell! The lesson Merlin was teaching wasn’t just about gravity, it was about thinking before you act (looking before you leap). He was so frantic to get away from her that he got careless. Even still, that wolf had four teeth in it’s head and any one of those squirrels outweighed him! Some risk! And she only saved him because she wa protecting her delusional fantasys! She wouldn’t have saved Merlin or Arthur if he was human!
The worst part is the end. After not listening to him or caring about anything but herself, she finds out he is human, shattering her fantasy. He doesn’t tap her on the head to get her attention as some say he does. He just laughs a little because she is so self-absorbed that she didn’t even realize that he changed speices right in her ams! And here is my biggest problem with the scene and how people react to it. Arthur does NOT reject her! All he does is brin her attention to what he has been saying al along! He didn’t get angry or mean (like Merlin did to his squirrel and was justified in it!). She REJECTS Arthur! If this was about love and if she was in love then it would conquer all! She saw that her precious fantasy wasn’t so and left him! He reealed his true self (which he had been saying is the case all along) and didn’t want it. And, to add insult to injury, she runs away crying like he ruined her life! “How dare you be your true self and not what I want you to be!” She is a shallow, selfish, infantile creature that represents the worst traits of humans (males and females) in regards to romantic relationhips!
I understand what you mean that the girl squirrel may seem selfish. But I always thought that it isn’t that she doesn’t respect Arthur rejecting her, she just doesn’t understand human language. So she thinks Arthur is playing around with her in squirrel-like matter while Arthur is running from her; she sees him jumping and running around the trees as flirtation and thinks he’s playing a game in squirrel-like fashion. One could say that it would have been easier if Merlin would have given Arthur the ability to say “No” in squirrel language. I agree with you that harassment is not okay despite if it’s a male or female who is the harasser, but I don’t see the girl squirrel as a harassher for she just didn’t have the ability to communicate with Arthur properly. She, in my opinion, really does love him, thinking he’s a cute, playful male squirrel. Her feelings emerge quicker thank in humans because squirrels (according to this film) have to choose a mate for life quickly.
I do believe that the girl squirrel saved Arthur becomes of her feelings, but I still think she might have saved another squirrel in danger. I agree, she wouldn’t have saved Arthur if he had been in human form, but not because she is selfish, but because humans seem
dangerous to wild animals.
I think the ending isn’t about her not accepting Arthur as he is. In fact she is being a realist. A squirrel and human can’t reproduce or share a similar life, since one lives in trees and another on the ground. She cries because her heart is broken since she can’t have the squirrel she loved/had a crush on. Just because there’s love in the picture, doesn’t mean it should conquer all, for life gets in the way. Arthur is nice to her. But again she asked him some questions in squirrel language, and Arthur can’t really tell her whats been going on since she doesn’t understand. Her crying may seem a little dramatic, but of course she’s upset since she thought she could live her life with a fun male squirrel only to have that squirrel turn into a human, which she as a wild squirrel must hide and run from. So she cries because she realizes it will never be, and lets Arthur go, but still cries because she’s hurt. If anything, I would say the ending shows that she is not selfish, since she accepts the facts. As does Arthur.
Her love may had been a little delusional, but I think it ways more of a misunderstanding from the squirrel’s point of view.
Thank you for the comment!
Wow! That was a great reply! I truly never thought of it that way! I still fully agree with my theory, but I’ll soften my view of the girl squirrel a bit. I understand the lack of communication and the misunderstandings that come from that (I’ve watched my share of Three’s Company), but the end still is upsetting (which, I’m sure, it was meant to be). Thank you for the well thought out reply. I thought someone was just going to reply with anger and profanity (the other posts and replies are like that).
Thank you! I’m glad my reply pleased! 🙂 I agree that the scene was supposed to be a little upsetting, since both Arthur and the girl squirrel got hurt. I understand where your point of view on the squirrel’s character is coming from, and you do have good points. I can just say shortly that i liked the girl squirrel’s character since she is pretty strong and brave (in my opinion) despite misreading Arthur :-).
I usually try not to reply to disagreements with profanity or anger. It’s much more better to reply calmly and just explain ones’ view point! 🙂
Thanks again for liking my reply! Your comments were interesting to read and think about, too 🙂
If you’re reading this, I think you should know that I’ve dealt with dseal22 on Youtube a lot recently and I just can’t understand why his interpretation on the girl squirrel is so harsh.
Still at it, eh? I do believe that your analysis on the girl squirrel is wrong on so many levels! I don’t care if you believe she represents everything that’s wrong with romantic relationships. I believe she represents anybody who is not fully capable of comprehending certain things, emotions, or issues, and I certainly don’t blame her. She wasn’t really caught up in what she wanted when she didn’t listen. It’s because she’s an animal and cannot comprehend spoken English! Besides, if she actually was caught up in what she wanted, it’d probably be just her natural squirrel instincts. Plus, regarding your points about her being wrapped up in her own thoughts and feelings and selfishness, etc., let me spell it out for you: SHE’S A FREAKIN’ SQUIRREL WITH LOW COMPREHENSIVE SKILLS!!!!!
You say it’s a far cry from love? You say it’s a shallow lust? You say it’s her own fault that Arthur fell?! Well, to those three thoughts, I don’t think so!!! I believe that you are hitting a new low in claiming that that girl squirrel is alone responsible for whatever trouble Arthur got himself into while in squirrel form. Plus, I have to agree with maaretta on her motives for saving him from the wolf. She didn’t save him because of her so-called “fantasies”. She saved him because of her feelings for him, which may differ from fantasies. And I will take her word on humans seeming dangerous to some animals.
Finally, you whine about her “not listening to him or caring about anything but herself” when you fail to realize that she is just a squirrel. A SQUIRREL!!!!! She doesn’t understand selfishness! Plus, whatever fantasy you say she has, you are absolutely wrong. That goes for your ASSUMPTION on her being self-absorbed as well. Of course Arthur doesn’t reject her, aside from the fact that he wasn’t even interested in her to begin with, but to say that SHE rejects HIM is a step too far. How can you call it rejection when you know that a squirrelXhuman relationship would never work out in terms of romance? And I have to agree with all of maaretta’s points about her crying. She had to cry because
A. she was trying to be realistic
B. a squirrel and a human could never reproduce properly together (though if Arthur had stayed a squirrel or if the girl squirrel got changed into a human, it’d be a different story)
C. she can’t have him for reasons that maaretta and I have already stated
D. there’s no way Arthur could make her understand since she’s just a squirrel (Unless Merlin boosted her intelligence, but again, that’d be a different story.)
E. her “rejecting” him is more or less justifiable since squirrels usually stay away from humans (Though if Merlin turned her into a human, say it with me: IT’D BE A DIFFERENT STORY!)
F. she knew it would never really work out. (Unless Merlin turned her into a human as well or made it so she became like a close animal companion to him, but, yeah, as you know, those points are another story.)
And pure and simply, she is NOT a “shallow, selfish, infantile creature that represents the worst traits of humans (males and females) in regards to romantic relationships”! She’s just a poor, simple, sympathetic squirrel who obviously can’t understand humans! Plus I have to agree that the ending did show that she accepts the facts and knows that, in realistic terms, a squirrel and a human would never work out. So it wasn’t fantasy, eventhough maaretta called it a bit delusional; it was all just a big misunderstanding, especially since she is a squirrel, and if Arthur actually showed any interest in her at all, especially after being changed back into a human, he’d be a fool.
You, on the other hand, have got to be one of the harshest critics I’ve ever met on the internet, probably even harsher than I am. (No offense, though.) My view on this whole scenario was fine until you came along. You have really put this whole scenario down long enough. I wanted to apologize to you on Youtube thinking maybe I was a little hard on you, but maybe I haven’t been hard enough. The bottom line is, your view on this whole scenario is undoubtedly harsh and unacceptable beyond justification! If you don’t like the scene with the squirrels, that’s fine, but you have shoved your opinions in our faces to such an extent that maybe they don’t even deserve to be heard or read. Take my advice: either A.) accept the fact your opinions are forced, realize you’re doing, learn a lesson, get a life, and find a way to change your habits, or B.) leave us alone and never talk to us again. And don’t give me any of your harsh crap, because it’s not gonna work. I’m not gonna argue with you. Just take your pick (in other words, choose A or B) and go with it.
I hope my words got through to you this time.
P.S. I do not really hate you. I just don’t like your view on this whole scenario, as it is my opinion that you are forcing your opinions on us. I hope you understand.
Oh, yeah, and I do forgive you.
Wow! maaretta, I can’t go anywhere and express my opinions without this Nazi getting upset and wanting to censor what I write! I believed that we discussed this like mature adults. We both listened and spoke politely and saw each other’s point of view (whether we agreed or not). I don’t usually leave comments or whatnot so I guess I’m luck to only have run into one that is unreasonable and insulting. I hope you don’t have to deal with too many of these people.
Look, man, I’m no Nazi, and I am NOT trying to censor what you write, but if you would understand, I am merely trying to set you straight with your opinions. I’m cool with what you write, but to me, they sound quite incorrect. Now, I would like for us to go back to discussing this like mature adults, but only if you take back your own insults about me and apologize.
Hi guys, sorry for my late response. I just started my second year of Collage, so my life has been quite filled up.
I think everyone has a right to their own opinion, but we should try and explain our viewpoints calmly. I am glad to see that people have different takes on the girl squirrel, however it makes me sad that people have started to fight so aggressively over the matter. I hope no one gets their feelings hurt over discussing certain matters.
Thank you both for commenting, and hope no ones too upset now,
Maaretta
Dealt with me? I’ve been dealt with? Is that what the Nazi party said in Germany about those following the Jewish faih? Sorry folks, but I am open to discussions and differing opinions. I am NOT going to bow down to a Nazi that tells me to censor myself and take down my comments. Getting other people’s take on this is the only reason I posted comments at all, but mine are just as valid as anyone else’s. I’m not going to waste my time reading private messages or public replies from someone that is just pointing fingers at those with a different perspective.
Maaretta, I really like your blog and the way you discuss things intelligently. I’m not upset or anything because I avoid the comments or messages of judgemental people. And by the way, I love what you wrote about “A Bug’s Life.” Dot rules! A young Hayden Panettiere from “Heroes” does a fantastic job voicing her!
For the last time, I am NOT trying to censor you or take down your comments! I am merely trying to set you straight so that you can see how harsh your analyses actually are. I just want us to come to an understanding.
P.S. Are you sorry for calling me a Nazi and for insulting me?