āIn 2010, Brenda Chapman was fired as director of āBraveā and her film was given to a man, a move that some employees perceived as proof of the studioās deeply ingrained gender bias. This double-standard reality was later echoed in my own experience with several articulate, impressive female leads whom the Pixar whisper network vilified as ābitches.ā A female lead in my department once begged her male bosses to support her with a team to complete a challenging production project. Her male superiors repeatedly ignored her requests, until the stress of the job led her into a state of psychological and physical breakdown. When she went into sabbatical to recover, her male replacement was given a team of half a dozen artists to help him complete the same task. When I received a perplexing performance review after finishing my fourth production, it felt Iād never be equally recognized as a valuable asset by the company. The lengthy negative column listed things like, ādesigns too many options; seems like sheās trying too hard; asks too many questions.ā When I shared the document with my candid male mentor, who openly acknowledged the culture of sexism at Pixar, he said, āIf you were a man, every one of those negatives would be in the positive column.ā Physically and mentally burnt out after years of bumping up against the glass ceiling, I left Pixar at age 30, hoping to find a workplace where I could genuinely thrive.ā
In honor of a recent reblog of my Isle of Dogs piece, where someone asked why canāt we just enjoy the cute movie, must we infuse everything with social justice to the point ofĀ āboringnessā.
blakekathryn
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