Mount Coronet

I love the amazement and joy that is unikitty because unikitty. Not because female.

 

Besides, I haven't seen any character profiles or even a design for them yet. How am I supposed to be excited or dismayed by that?

It's truly confusing. If the people behind the movie hadn't proven that they couldn't craft awesome and compelling characters then I could maybe relate to the fear that they might stick in underdeveloped female characters just to satisfy audiences. But that's not the case at all. The Lego Movie had plenty of incredible characters, so I can't see how more female characters (and more interaction between the existing female characters) could possibly be a bad thing.

 

If nothing else, this news reassures me that Chris McKay cares about the movie he's making and isn't just going to try to ride the wave of success the first movie brought. He's putting genuine thought into how to make the sequel even better, and that makes me even more excited to see what he has in store.

Actually, I don't think anyone is saying that it isn't fine and dandy to include more girls in the next Lego movie. What you have been reading is an emergent discussion about whether it is right and necessary to have a 1:1 female:male ratio in all modern stories regardless of author, genre, plot etc.

 

I should probably shut up and see the first Lego movie, since I am sure it will be awesome.

Is it...wrong or unnecessary to have a 1:1 ratio? What would be wrong with that?

 

I mean, maybe the ratio won't always be exactly 1:1. What if you have an odd number of characters, right?

 

Still, a ratio of, oh I don't know...5:1 or worse *cough* is something we can agree is a problem, isn't it?

I think a lot of it may have resulted in some poorly worded (myself included) arguments. Almost everyone in that topic wants strong female characters. There seems to be some confusion that it may come at the expense of a well written story-line, which appears to be where most of the dissension lies.

Ah, I see. But what is that concern based on?

I am going to take a stab in the dark and say the "Mary Sue" phenomenon; where a female character is written to have disproportionate and unrelatable positive features.

 

My personal experience though is it's the exception and not the rule, so I don't know for sure.

Of course it isn't wrong. I was just clearing up the misconception that some people were against the idea of having a 1:1 ratio in the next Lego movie, when that isn't the case and the discussion had actually branched out further than that.

The key question for the discussion you read is whether the need to have a 1:1 ratio pertains to all modern stories. I would submit that it isn't necessary, because I have personally enjoyed many stories with higher male ratios and many with higher female ratios. I believe that writing is a creative medium and I would like writing to remain free. However, there are some very interesting and impassioned arguments for the other side, and you should go and read those as well.

 

And yeah, the 5:1 ratio was undeniably excessive, mostly because it harmed the creative efforts of the community to make stories within the universe.

The argument isn't about the movie, it's like, about storytelling in general. It seems everyone has their own take on what is and isn't necessary in terms of male to female character ratios, but generally everyone agrees that the addition of new strong female characters in the next LEGO Movie is a good thing. I looove how orderly and polite the discussion was despite some radically different views, it's one of the big reasons I love BZP ^^

There is no need to have a 1:1 gender ratio in any individual story. I get a lot of enjoyment out of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, in which only one of the central characters (Spike) is male, as well as Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, in which only one of the central characters (Nya) is female. Neither franchise is ruined by its imbalanced gender ratios, though it could be argued that Ninjago has plenty of room for improvement (to date, for instance, it has not had a single recurring female villain).

 

With that said, the media landscape as a whole should be working towards 1:1 gender ratios or something similar, and since main characters in so much major media tend to skew male, every movie or show with well-written, plentiful, and diverse female characters helps to level the playing field.