Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Women in animation'

This research explores the practice and context of animating female experience, specifically responding to the issue of postnatal depression. The interrelated hypothesis argues the definition of ‘animatrix’; a term that can be used to identify a particular approach to practice that is distinctly woman-centred or woman-created. In doing so, I address unfavourable conditions in the animation industry, both historically and continuing, that discourage an authentic female voice. This study takes an exploratory self-reflective practice approach wherein I examine my own and others’ experiences and responses to mental health issues surrounding childbirth. I correlate these to associated themes of the representation of adult women, social constructs and expectations of women as mothers, concepts of taboo and abjection, along with ideas of embodiment, memory, and fragmented storytelling. Coupled with this, I scrutinise practical and structural techniques used in animating; in particular, hand-drawn animation as opposed to the use of two-dimensional, cut-out, or rigged animating techniques or sculptural or digital three-dimensional model styles. This extends to incorporating haptic and tactile aspects of a drawing-based practice, integrated with theories of flow, to develop iterative digital screen-based artworks that can be displayed in multi-modal environments. Through a critical review of my multidisciplinary practice surrounding the field of animation, I identify key criteria that may be used to designate the honorific of Animatrix to a practitioner or practical outcome. This designation and attendant criteria serve to provide a launching point for further critical discussion from academics, practitioners, and the industry about the representation and contribution of women in animation.
Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Visual Arts (DVA)
Queensland College of Art
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Despite the volume of research into fairytales, gender and ideology in media studies, the specific subject of animated adaptations of national fairytales and their role in constructing gender identities remains a blind spot at least in relation to non-Western and non-Hollywood animation. This study addresses the gap by analysing animated adaptations of Russian national fairytales in Soviet and post-Soviet cinema and television. It does so as a tool through which to approach the gender politics of the dominant ideologies in national cinema and also, though to a lesser extent, in television. One of the key perspectives this research adopts concerns the reorganization of the myths of femininity, as stored in ‘national memory’ and transferred through the material of national fairytales produced during a century-long period. By providing a detailed critical treatment of animated adaptations of Russian magic fairytales, this research examines the interaction between the cinematic versions of the national fairytales and the representation of female characters on screen. It draws on a range of feminist theoretical approaches on media representation. By performing a systematic study of the under-researched field, through a combination of qualitative and empirical analysis, the work demonstrates how totalitarian regimes and new democratic societies implicitly control gender constructions in similar ways, and specifically through the animated versions of national fairytale adaptations. The research identifies how the constructions of femininity are manipulated through the reshaping of the national past coded in the ancient folkloric narratives. The findings of the study reveal the principles on which the implicit patriarchal gender politics is based. These principles include the conservative choice of fairytale material adapted to the screen, the reactionary increase of production of animated fairytales targeted against liberalisation, the exclusion and reconstruction of strong matriarchal fairytale female characters, stereotypical representation of selected female characters, and normalisation of domestic violence. In so doing the study identifies a weakness in the existing scholarly discourse on ideology, which traditionally has claimed that Soviet animation was non-violent. Further, the study establishes the constructions of national memory and female identity as a part of the dominant cinematic discourses.

This thesis interrogates the ways in which the body-centred practices of women film artists embrace the materiality of direct animation in order to foreground gendered, subjective positions. Through the researcher's own creative practice, it investigates how this mode of film-making, in which the artist works through physical engagement with the film materials and the material processes of film-making, might be understood as feminine and/or feminist. Direct animation foregrounds touch as the primary sense. Its practices are process-based and highly experimental, because images are made through the agency of the body operating within restrictive parameters, making results difficult to predict or control with precision. For these reasons, direct animation has not been embraced by mainstream, narrative-focused, studio-based models of production, unlike other forms of two and three dimensional animation. It has remained a specialist area for the individual artist and auteur, and, to date, there is a paucity of commentary about direct animation practices, and what exists has been dominated by male voices. In order to develop ideas about the ways in which women represent themselves in an expanded film-making praxis that is focused on the body and materiality of process, this PhD inquiry, encompassing a body of films with written contextualisation, is situated in the context of the direct animation practices of three artists (Caroline Leaf, Annabel Nicolson, and Margaret Tait); and informed by conceptual frameworks provided by Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva and Hélène Cixous. This thesis proposes, via interaction between these three axes of research, that women film artists, operating independently, are able to create a female imaginary that represents women and is recognised by them, by constructing positions of practice outside the dominant symbolic modes of patriarchy, which evolve through the maternal body and the materialities of the feminine.

The Birth is a multi-media video installation inspired by my personal experiences of a miscarriage and the births of my two children. The work is influenced by the mythologies found in Korean culture that focus on the mother figure as a ¡°Great Mother¡±. She is an ¡°ideal woman¡±, a ¡°good mother¡± and a ¡°sincere wife¡±. Working abstractly across the media of painting, video, digital animation, and the paintings of my son, The Birth exploits metaphors and symbols, to tell the story of women, especially the stories of mothers. The work speaks to motherly love and my own identity as an artist and a mother.

This paper describes my work with a historical craft and my attempt to find new ways to look at it, work with it and present it. I use the embroidery technique Hardangersaum which is all white, and where selected threads of the woven fabric grid are removed while others are wrapped and embellished. The artistic research leans heavily on the traditional craft but tries to isolate it from its historical baggage. I turn my focus to the grid of the fabric and I present some viewpoints from Rosalind Krauss and Hannah B. Higgins. I describe questions of scale and presentation that have emerged and show how digital animation has played a major role in the development and the communication of the embroidery work.

Ce travail propose une analyse de la construction des personnages féminins des longs-métrages d’animation produits en Espagne entre 1985-2017, dans l’intention d’apporter des pistes sur la production du corps à l’ère du numérique. Une première approche de la matérialité de l’image générée par ordinateur à travers un parcours historique a servi d’abord à établir un cadre méthodologique. Elle a été suivie par une périodisation historique de l’introduction de la 3D en Espagne, à partir du modèle économique de production et de ses répercussions sur le contenu du long-métrage. Étant la première étude académique à traiter cette étape en profondeur, nous avons eu recours à des sources primaires, ce qui a impliqué un travail de terrain comportant près de soixante interviews semi-dirigées et le visionnage de plus de cent longs-métrages. La corrélation entre les caractéristiques de production de l’image en 3D et le contexte social et politique de l’Espagne a permis de mieux comprendre l’évolution du modèle commercial du cinéma d’animation. Tous ces éléments, obtenus et analysés à partir d’une étude ethnographique et de documentation bibliographique, ont contribué à délimiter le cadre dans lequel explorer le corps virtuel. La perspective de genre a été fondamentale pour discerner les implications de l’économie sur la fabrication du corps. En d’autres termes, l’étude des personnages féminins et de la manière dont ils sont construits comme tels, malgré l’absence d’un sexe biologique, a aidé à comprendre la manière dont le marché modèle les corps des femmes
This dissertation looks at the construction of female characters in animated feature films produced in Spain between 1985 and 2017, with the idea of providing insights into the production of the female body in the digital era. To establish a methodological framework, a first approach to computer generated imagery was made by means of a historic run-through of animation techniques over the years and the relation with other media. A breakdown of the historical stages of introducing 3D in Spain was then proposed, working from the economic production model and the impact thereof on feature-film content. As the first ever in-depth academic study of this stage, it proved necessary to draw from primary sources, whether trade professionals or their own films. This involved a fieldwork campaign involving nearly sixty semi-structured interviews and the watching of over one hundred feature films. Relating the 3D image production features to Spain’s social and political context over time then gives a much better idea of the business model trend in animated films. All these elements have been drawn from an ethnographic study and bibliographical documentation, helping to contextualize the study of the virtual body. The gender perspective has been crucial for ascertaining the economy’s impact on the construction of the body. In other words, the study of feminine characters and the way they are constructed as such, despite the absence of a biological sex, has helped us to understand how the market moulds women’s bodies

Representations of the Muslim female are value-laden synonymous with the act of veiling. Veiling has fuelled political, social and academic debates and this study contributes to the ongoing conversation alongside identity formation by examining the image of the Muslim female on-screen with due attention given to animation. The image of the Muslim female is drawn in all manner of directions from that of the belly-dancing beauty to the 'bundle in black', the latter often associated with terrorism, particularly post-9/11 and the consequent 'War on Terror'. There is another direction that proffers an idealised image of the good daughter and dutiful wife against that of the fallen woman. Such constructs I argue tend to rid the Muslim female of her agency. This thesis examines how and why various representations of the Muslim female have emerged and changed, whilst some aspects have remained stagnant over time, thus positioning on-screen representations within their historical context. This project goes beyond traditional academic methods of critical analysis in reading film. The hybridised role of the researcher-animator enables the study to offer a critique from that of the spectator, but with the added vantage point of the practitioner with a set focus on the making of meaning. The interdisciplinary approach incorporates film theory, specifically concerned with representations of race and gender. The work of Muslim women scholar-activists informs and inspires the practice in reclaiming the status of the Muslim woman. Their approach lies within three trajectories being gender-sensitive interpretations of the Qur'an, a recovery of Muslim women's history and a critique on representation. Their approaches fall in line with the aim of this project to reclaim the historical Muslim figure on screen, whereas animation provides an attractive yet versatile mode of production to carry out such a task. Key questions guiding this study are: why are current and existing portrayals of the historical Muslim female problematic? Why do these portrayals need to be addressed? Why does an alternative approach to the portrayal of the historical Muslim female need to be devised and put into practice? Finding the answers to these questions lie in the undertaking of the practice. The practice consists of the first two episodes of a five-part series titled 'Sultan Razia', and as the title suggests the animation is based upon a legendary historical Muslim female figure, who ruled the Sultanate of Delhi between 634-638 Hejira/1236-1240CE. This project is an example of how theory works in practice and vice-versa to determine an audio-visual practice that re-inserts the Muslim female into a history that breaks away from established cliches.

Née d’un questionnement initial sur la thématique de la démocratie gabonaise, cette recherche a évolué, non pour s’en détacher, mais pour en analyser un des aspects fondamentaux souvent mis de côté : celui de l’égalité dans la représentativité des genres. Au Gabon, depuis la Conférence Nationale qui instaure la démocratie dans les années 1990, la présence des femmes au sein des Gouvernements et dans les grandes Institutions de la République est ininterrompue. Auparavant, les groupes exclusivement féminins ont été leur principale tribune d’expression, limitant ces dernières à une pratique périphérique au champ politique. Elles semblent désormais parfaitement intégrées à la sphère des responsabilités.Cette thèse de doctorat vient interroger l’engagement des femmes dans le contexte gabonais. Elle analyse notamment la construction des différentes identités féminines socialement déterminées, mais aussi les rapports qu’elles entretiennent entre elles, et l’image qu’elles construisent de la sphère politique. Elle s’intéresse également à l’adéquation entre les pratiques féminines et les réalités de ce champ. En somme, l’objectif principal de cette recherche est d’analyser la pérennisation des dissymétries entre les femmes et les hommes en matière de responsabilités et de représentativité.La méthode principale a consisté en des entretiens semi-directifs auprès d’une soixantaine de femmes et d’hommes élus ou simples militants, issus d’une dizaine de partis politiques de la majorité et de l’opposition, du monde associatif, mais aussi de gabonaises et de gabonais sans attache partisane et non militants, appartenant à des catégories sociales variées. De nombreux présupposés théoriques sont venus renforcer cette étude qui se situe notamment à la croisée de la reproduction des rapports de sexes, de la domination, de la théorie de la dominance sociale, mais aussi de la violence symbolique et de celle relative aux imaginaires des croyances africaines.Cette étude apporte de nombreux enseignements sur l’engagement politique des femmes au Gabon. En dépit de leur présence numérique de plus en plus importante, et du fait que le pays se soit engagé, à l’échelle continentale et mondiale, à réduire les inégalités entre les femmes et les hommes et à améliorer le statut de ces dernières, leur existence en tant qu’actrices politiques demeure précaire, ce qui se lit à travers les postes qui sont les leurs et qui demeurent intrinsèquement liés aux mêmes grandes thématiques. En définitive, la sous-représentation quantitative et qualitative des femmes gabonaises en matière de responsabilités est la conséquence de nombreux facteurs, notamment la difficulté à juxtaposer leurs nombreuses identités contraignantes, le besoin de maintenir un ordre familial remis en cause par la disparition ou les modifications de la virilité sociale masculine elle-même consécutive à une présence plus importante des femmes au sommet de la hiérarchie, les pratiques féminines peu adaptées à la recherche et à la conquête du pouvoir, ainsi que l’influence importante des valeurs traditionnelles reçues en héritage. Enfin, l’organisation trimorphique de la société, c’est-à-dire sa séparation en trois univers distincts, à savoir, la sphère privée, la sphère publique et la sphère des pouvoirs, complexifie la réalité de l’engagement politique des femmes gabonaises
Emerging from an initial questioning on Gabonese democracy, this research has evolved, not in order to emancipate itself from it, but to analyze one of its fundamental aspects which is too often put aside: the equality of gender representativeness. In Gabon, since the National Conference that established democracy in the early 1990s, the presence of women within Governments and major Institutions of the Republic has been permanent. Previously, the female groups were the main platform for their expression, limitating them to a peripheral practice in the political field. Now, they seem perfectly integrated into the sphere of responsibility.This doctoral thesis questions the commitment of women in the context of Gabon. It analyses in particular the construction of different identity among socially defined women, but also relationships between them, and the image of the political sphere that they build. It also deals with the adequacy between the women's practices and the realities of this field. In short, the main objective of this research is to analyse the perpetuation of the asymmetries between women and men in terms of responsibilities and representativeness.The main method consisted in semi-structured interviews of some 60 women and men representatives or activists from a dozen political parties of the majority and the opposition, of the associations, but also of Gabonese citizens and a variety of non partisan and not militant Gabonese people belonging to various social categories. Many theoretical assumptions have reinforced this study which is especially at the crossroads of the reproduction, of sex relationships, of domination, of the theory of social dominance, but also of symbolic violence and that are related to the imaginary of African creeds.This study provides insights into the political commitment of women in Gabon. Despite their increasing numerical presence, and the fact that the country has committed itself, on a continental and global scale to reduce inequalities between women and men and to improve the status of women, their existence as political actors remains precarious. This is visible through the positions they occupy and which remain intrinsically linked to the same major themes. In the end, the quantitative and qualitative under-representation of Gabonese women in terms of responsibilities is the result of many factors, including the difficulty to juxtapose their many binding identities, the need of maintaining a family organization undermined by the disappearance or changes of men’s sense of social manhood itself due to a greater presence of women at the top of the hierarchy, women's practices that are not suited to search and the conquest of power, as well as the important influence of traditional values inherited. Finally, the trimorphic organization of society, that is to say, its separation into three separate worlds, namely, the private sphere, the public sphere and the sphere of powers, makes the reality of Gabonese women’s political commitment more complex

As a Japanese cultural genre, animated works for girls serve as sociocultural texts which articulate hegemonic social norms and ideologies regarding gender in Japanese society. This thesis aims to critically examine representations of 'magical girl' protagonists in Jpanese Magical Girl TV animation programmes (anime) for girls from 1966 to 2003, and to analyse female audiences' viewing experiences and understanding of those programmes in relation to the context of sociocultural and feminist movements in Japan. By using a combined methodology of close textual analysis of six Magical Girl TV anime and of qualitative research, in which individual interviews with female audiences and a focus group discussion among girl audiences were conducted, this thesis explores how representations of Western-oriented witches and witchcraft in the Magical Girl TV anime facilitated constructions of female gender identity and idealised 'self' and how actual female audiences in three different age cohorts understood, took pleasure in, consumed, negotiated, resonated with and/or reconciled with those representations. Although Japanese witch animation texts articulated Japanese normative moral values and hegemonic femininity as well as ideal gender equality, they served as sites in which female audiences took pleasure in constructing an ideal 'self' and self-assertion through negotiating, resonating and reconciling with Western-oriented fashionable female protagonists and their lifestyle, and attaining self-expression through 'textual poaching' or exercising imagined magical transformations in an all-female or solitary environment. This thesis attempts to contribute to uncovering little-explored but important Japanese cultural texts of Magical Girl TV anime and explicate the way in which actual Japanese audiences responded to this gender-segregated genre of Japanese TV anime.

Simple content analysis methods, such as the Bechdel test and measuring percentage of female talk time or characters, have seen a surge of attention from mainstream media and in social media the last couple of years. Underlying assumptions are generally shared with the gender role socialization model and consequently, an importance is stated, due to a high degree to which impressions from media shape in particular young children’s identification processes. For young girls, the Disney Princesses franchise (with Frozen included) stands out as the number one player commercially as well as in customer awareness. The vertical lineup of Disney princesses spans from the passive and domestic working Snow White in 1937 to independent and super-power wielding princess Elsa in 2013, which makes the line of films an optimal test subject in evaluating above-mentioned simple content analysis methods. As a control, a meta-study has been conducted on previous academic studies on the same range of films. The sampled research, within fields spanning from qualitative content analysis and semiotics to coded content analysis, all come to the same conclusions regarding the general changes over time in representations of female characters. The objective of this thesis is to answer whether or not there is a correlation between these changes and those indicated by the simple content analysis methods, i.e. whether or not the simple popular methods are in general coherence with the more intricate academic methods.

Betyg VG (skala IG-VG)

Dissertação de Mestrado em Design e Multimédia apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
As mulheres sempre foram objecto de estudo em arte, mas a arte que elas mesmas criam tem sido sistematicamente excluída dos registos da história da arte há séculos. Isto deixa-nos com um ponto de vista unilateral sobre a participação da mulher no mundo da arte e da própria arte em si.Para enfrentar esta discrepância, este trabalho pretende criar uma animação a apresentar e chamar a atenção ao trabalho de várias artistas femininas. De maneira a criar este filme vou antes explorar a história da animação, especificamente sobre a animação que mistura técnicas em 2D e 3D ao analisar os filmes: "O Príncipe do Egito", "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle" e " Paperman", examinando como estes utilizam estas técnicas para contar uma história convincente. Isto é feito com a intenção de criar uma animação que apresenta e destaca o trabalho de artistas em diversas áreas. As artistas que escolhi investigar são Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Barbara Kruger, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl e Yayoi Kusama. Desta lista decidi destacar o trabalho de Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović e Qing Han.Women have always been a subject of art but the art that they themselves create has been systematically excluded from art history records for centuries. This has left us with a one-sided point of view of the portrayal of women in art and of art itself.In order to tackle this discrepancy, this work intends to create an animation presenting and shining a spotlight on the work of several female artists. In order to create this film I will delve into the history of animation, more specifically animation which mixes both 2D and 3D animation techniques and analyze the films: "The Prince of Egypt", "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Paperman", by examining how they utilize these techniques in order to tell a compelling story. All with the intention to create an animation showcasing several artworks by artists in different fields. The artists chosen to study were Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Barbara Kruger, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović and Qing Han. And from this lineup I ultimately chose to highlight the work of Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović and Qing Han.
Women have always been a subject of art but the art that they themselves create has been systematically excluded from art history records for centuries. This has left us with a one-sided point of view of the portrayal of women in art and of art itself.In order to tackle this discrepancy, this work intends to create an animation presenting and shining a spotlight on the work of several female artists. In order to create this film I will delve into the history of animation, more specifically animation which mixes both 2D and 3D animation techniques and analyze the films: "The Prince of Egypt", "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Paperman", by examining how they utilize these techniques in order to tell a compelling story. All with the intention to create an animation showcasing several artworks by artists in different fields. The artists chosen to study were Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Barbara Kruger, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović and Qing Han. And from this lineup I ultimately chose to highlight the work of Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović and Qing Han.As mulheres sempre foram objecto de estudo em arte, mas a arte que elas mesmas criam tem sido sistematicamente excluída dos registos da história da arte há séculos. Isto deixa-nos com um ponto de vista unilateral sobre a participação da mulher no mundo da arte e da própria arte em si.Para enfrentar esta discrepância, este trabalho pretende criar uma animação a apresentar e chamar a atenção ao trabalho de várias artistas femininas. De maneira a criar este filme vou antes explorar a história da animação, especificamente sobre a animação que mistura técnicas em 2D e 3D ao analisar os filmes: "O Príncipe do Egito", "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle" e " Paperman", examinando como estes utilizam estas técnicas para contar uma história convincente. Isto é feito com a intenção de criar uma animação que apresenta e destaca o trabalho de artistas em diversas áreas. As artistas que escolhi investigar são Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Barbara Kruger, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl e Yayoi Kusama. Desta lista decidi destacar o trabalho de Geng Xue, Helena Almeida, Berthe Morisot, Guntal Stölzl, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović e Qing Han.

Le présent mémoire consiste en une analyse thématique des représentations féminines dans l’œuvre de Satoshi Kon, de Perfect Blue à Paprika. L’objectif de ce travail est de démontrer que ces images de la femme reflètent la place des femmes dans la société japonaise contemporaine. À cet effet, nous avons examiné les films du réalisateur selon l’approche des études féministes du cinéma. Nous avons divisé notre analyse en trois thèmes : la violence, la sexualité et le double. Il apparaît que les représentations féminines des longs-métrages de Kon possèdent effectivement des parallèles au sein la société nippone actuelle. Le réalisateur emploie des figures et des motifs narratifs communs au Japon et l’anime afin de produire et reproduire les stéréotypes de genre. Par ailleurs, il utilise les éléments filmiques et les particularités du médium de l’anime pour appuyer ces définitions des rôles sexuels. Cette étude est originale par son angle d’approche féministe et psychanalytique qui est rarement adopté par les théoriciens de l’anime. Les études portant sur ce médium sont d’ailleurs récentes et s’intéressent généralement à l’esthétique de l’anime ou à la formation d’une identité nationale japonaise plutôt qu’à la construction du genre dans un média de culture populaire.
The present thesis consists of a thematic analysis of the feminine representations in Satoshi Kon’s work, from Perfect Blue to Paprika. Our objective is to demonstrate that these female depictions reflect the status of women in contemporary japanese society. To this end, we examined the director’s movies according to feminist film theory. Also, we separated our analysis in three themes : violence, sexuality and the double. It seems that Kon’s feminine representations possess parallels to the present Japanese society. Indeed, the director uses figures and narrative motifs common to Japan and anime in order to produce and reproduce gender stereotypes. In addition, he utilizes filmic elements and the particularities of the anime medium to support these definitions of sexual roles. This study is original in its feminist and psychoanalytic approach which is rarely employed by anime theorists. Furthermore, the studies regarding this medium are fairly new and usually focus on the anime easthetic and the establishment of a Japanese national identity rather than the construction of gender in a popular culture media.

碩士
國立臺南藝術大學
音像動畫研究所
96
This elaboration mainly discusses about the technological processes of 2D computer animation 『The Woman with Pearls』. Through the analysis of 『The Woman with Pearls』, it shows how the animators reflect their thoughts by image as well as to compare the feature and deficiency between traditional animation and computer animation. Further more, this analysis discusses the technique of 2D computer animation and feasibility of combine traditional and digital tools. Finally, this thesis tries to analyze how the digitization affects animation industry and the new direction of independent animation production.

碩士
國立臺中科技大學
商業設計系碩士班
102
“New Woman” is a term synonymous to a person who is independently minded, has the courage to vie for human rights and gender equality, and who substantially enjoys life. To realize the goals pursued by all women, new women of various domains have actively promoted new feminist movements; thus, in current societies, increasing number of women are supporting gender equality and are willing to acknowledge themselves as new feminists. However, the excessive numbers of traditional norms existing in society have constrained women’s actions and behaviors; consequently, under imperceptible influences, these women have gradually developed intellectual independence, hoping that they could possess the power to participate in crucial decision-makings. Thus, how should these new women appropriately manage their social and familial relationships when facing high expectations from the traditional society necessitates extensive investigations? This study adopted Pixar’s animated movie released in 2012—Brave, which starred a female protagonist, as the research subject. The purpose of this study was to (1) investigate the narrative structure of this movie, (2) understand the heroic image created in the movie, (3) analyze the turning points that occurred during the hero’s journey, (4) interpret the symbolic meanings of new woman, and (5) identify the current status of women and the traditional society. This study analyzed the narrative structures of the movie Brave by examining the 31 narrative functions of fairy tales developed by Vladimir Propp. Additionally, based on the 12 stages of a hero’s journey, which were proposed by Christopher Vogler, we provided insight into the process of change during the adventures of a new woman and how she liberated herself during her journey from the constraints imposed by traditional norms. Through these analyses, the following research findings were achieved: (1) Propp’s narrative structure swayed between fairy tales and the reality; (2) images of magnificent landscape provided viewers with a strong sense of heroism; (3) the stage at which the heroine encounters challenges (tests) initiated the dialogue; (4) new women in the movie internalizedthe process of discovery, tempering, peril (danger), and birth after she received the bow and arrowsand necklace; and (5) new women liberating from their labelled images created the legend of their braveness.