Strong Female Leads

Brave's Merida Merida is the main character in the movie Brave.  According to Kevin O'Keeffe, in his article All of Pixar's Films Rated By How Feminist They Are, until Inside Out, this was the first Pixar movie with a sole female protagonist.  Merida is a Scottish princess who enjoys archery and horse back riding.  Her mother tells her that these hobbies are not appropriate for princesses and that she needs to get married.  Merida rebells against her mother because she is determined to go on her own path and be independent.  She does not like to be controlled. This is a big turn for Pixar because they finally introduced a strong female as the protagonist, with no other male characters over shining her.

Toystory 2's Jessie Jessie is a very important character in Toy Story, as she is very brave, athletic and is always there to help the gang with every mission they embark on. Jessie is not the main character, as Woody and Buzz tend to over shine with their roles, but she is still iconic because she was one of the first brave and strong female characters in Pixar animations.  Although Jessie has had a tough past, she has become very independent over time and is very courageous, loyal and dedicated to her friends.  

Finding Dory's Dory In Finding Dory, Dory embarks on a mission to find her parents.  She is all by herself, and very determined to find her family, even though no one is willing to help or pay very much attention to her.  Dory has short term memory loss, so is constantly struggling to remember where she is or who she is with.  Although in Finding Nemo, Dory never quite evolved past  just being forgetful and sweet, she is now has evolved into a very determined and brave character who never gives up even when discouraged by others or not taken seriously.  This is very inspirational because even though Marlin and Nemo help her in the end, she is a female almost entirely by herself, which is not entirely common in animation.

The Incredible's Elastigirl In The Incredibles, Elastigirl is very brave and always ready to fight for her family and people she loves.  Although Elastigirl is sexualized in the movie by her tight outfits ect., and plays the domestic role of the stay at home mother, she is strong in the sense that she puts her family before herself.  Even though she plays the role of a mother, she also doubles as a super hero.  The movie's focus is essentially focused around her husband Mr. Incredible, but she leads her children on a mission to save him... which is the oppisite of the danzle in distress phenomenon.

Works Cited: Kevinpokeeffe. “All of Pixar's Films Ranked My How Feminist They Are.” Mic, Mic Network Inc., 26 Oct. 2015, mic.com/articles/120880/every-pixar-film-ranked-by-how-feminist-they-are.