Animation and Fantasy in Film & Television: Three Women Writers Who Turned Fairy Tales into Reality
Disciplines
Screenwriting
Abstract (300 words maximum)
In the past decade, women screenwriters have found more significant success in the film and television industry. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, three women screenwriters dominated the industry, achieving global commercial success in genres that had previously been dominated by male writers. In this presentation, I will share details about the careers of Rita Hsiao, Fran Walsh, and Lauren Faust and will demonstrate how their contributions to both film and television broke barriers for women writers working in animation and live action fantasy. In this analysis, I present the timeline of each of these screenwriter’s successes, showcasing the progression of their work from Hsiao’s Mulan (1998) to Walsh’s Lord of the Rings (2002) to Faust’s My Little Pony (2010) television series. Specifically, this research will highlight the writers’ thematic messages and audience reception of films and series. All three writers leaned on fairy tales and other pre-existing stories and reimagined them for contemporary audiences, specifically younger viewers. I will discuss the impact of their breakthrough films and series and demonstrate the significance of their work in a male-dominated industry.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - English
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Anna Weinstein
Animation and Fantasy in Film & Television: Three Women Writers Who Turned Fairy Tales into Reality
In the past decade, women screenwriters have found more significant success in the film and television industry. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, three women screenwriters dominated the industry, achieving global commercial success in genres that had previously been dominated by male writers. In this presentation, I will share details about the careers of Rita Hsiao, Fran Walsh, and Lauren Faust and will demonstrate how their contributions to both film and television broke barriers for women writers working in animation and live action fantasy. In this analysis, I present the timeline of each of these screenwriter’s successes, showcasing the progression of their work from Hsiao’s Mulan (1998) to Walsh’s Lord of the Rings (2002) to Faust’s My Little Pony (2010) television series. Specifically, this research will highlight the writers’ thematic messages and audience reception of films and series. All three writers leaned on fairy tales and other pre-existing stories and reimagined them for contemporary audiences, specifically younger viewers. I will discuss the impact of their breakthrough films and series and demonstrate the significance of their work in a male-dominated industry.