ARANJUEZ Big Hero 6

Power from a

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE Race, Gender and Grief in Big Hero 6 A story about a healthcare robot set in an uncanny future may not sound like the most effective conduit for progressive representations of real-world issues.

But, writes ADOLFO ARANJUEZ , with its multicultural cast, inspired female

©ATOM

characters and sensitive exploration of loss, Big Hero 6 offers exactly that.

www.screeneducation.com.au

Power from a

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE Race, Gender and Grief in Big Hero 6 A story about a healthcare robot set in an uncanny future may not sound like the most effective conduit for progressive representations of real-world issues.

But, writes ADOLFO ARANJUEZ , with its multicultural cast, inspired female

©ATOM

characters and sensitive exploration of loss, Big Hero 6 offers exactly that.

www.screeneducation.com.au

P MY P

©ATOM

NEW & NOTABLE

Screen Education I No. 79

10

THIS SPREAD, TOP ROW, L–R: Go Go, Wasabi, Hiro, Tadashi, Honey Lemon and Fred; Baymax walking the streets of San Fransokyo; the villainous ‘man in a kabuki mask’; the powered-up robot

THE LONG-AWAITED ASIAN HIRO At the centre of the story is fourteen-year-old Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), a ‘precocious genius’3 who excels at robotics and breezed through high school, having graduated the year before the events of the narrative. We first meet him competing in the illegal sport of ‘bot-fighting’, in which combatants create and control robots that clash to the ‘death’. After feigning incompetence, he wins against the formidable Yama (Paul Briggs) within minutes and collects his winnings, much to his competitors’ chagrin. They threaten to harm him and steal his robot, but Hiro’s older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney), arrives in the nick of time to rescue him; the two then escape on motor scooter – until the police thwart their getaway. After being bailed out, the brothers are brought home by their aunt, Cass (Maya Rudolph), who has acted as their guardian since their parents’ death a decade prior.

They live above Cass’ bakery/cafe, which prominently features a maneki-neko (‘beckoning cat’ figure, considered lucky in Japanese culture) above its entrance.

Soon after, we meet Tadashi’s friends at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Fred (TJ Miller), Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr), Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) and, most importantly here, Go Go Tamago (Jamie Chung) – who are each working on robotics projects. Wasabi is putting together a hyperprecise laser cutter; Honey Lemon, an enormous chemical sphere; and Go Go, a ‘zero-resistance, faster bike’. Tadashi, however, has been doing something altogether less ‘cool’. He reveals that he has created the robot Baymax (Scott Adsit), a ‘personal healthcare companion’ that can provide instantaneous care in response to patients rating their pain ‘on a scale of one to ten’. After ­being inspired by Tadashi and pals, Hiro decides to ‘audition’ for San Fransokyo Tech and wows the crowd, particularly professor of robotics Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell), with the ‘­microbots’ that he has created. Hiro is accepted into the school, but a catastrophic fire erupts and Tadashi dies while trying to save Callaghan, who is apparently trapped in the burning building.

By this point in the film, it is clearly established that the Hamada brothers are of Asian descent: not only is their surname distinctly Japanese in timbre, but they also sport the Asiatic physical characteristics – especially straight black hair and eyes with visible epicanthic folds – that have become conventionalised in modern animation. The actors who voice Big Hero 6’s primary Asian characters – Hiro, Tadashi and Go Go – are also of Asian descent. While this is comparable to the presence of Ming-Na Wen, Lea Salonga, BD Wong and George Takei in the voice cast of Disney’s only other major Asian-centric animation, Mulan (Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook, 1998), it is a significant departure from the Caucasian voice actors employed for the Middle East–set Aladdin

©ATOM

I

n the opening moments of Disney’s Big Hero 6 (Don Hall & Chris Williams, 2014), we see San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge remodelled with Shinto torii arches.

Soon we are presented with a metropolis glimmering with lights from cars and buildings, the city’s ferry building announcing that we are in the Port of San Fransokyo.

This urban landscape is filled with skyscrapers with neon signs displaying katakana symbols, and, upon moving from sky to ground level, we are brought into a seedy alley between buildings marked with hiragana and kanji. Immediately, the film announces that we have entered an excitingly different but recognisable world – a sensorially immersive blend of Tokyo and San Francisco.

As Hall describes it, this geographic ‘mashup’ ‘felt more interesting as a setting – more playful and exotic’ than a single real-world city.1 And, according to production designer Paul Felix, the team behind Big Hero 6 was ‘inspired by the urban design in Tokyo’, and wanted the audience to ‘feel that [the narrative] could be in an Asian country’.2 Indeed, throughout the film, we are shown San Francisco’s postcard-perfect townhouses standing tall along streets lined with cherry blossoms; we see pagodas, paper lanterns hung on cable cars, and Victorian-style buildings with Asiatic curved roofs. However, Hall and Williams’ film is noteworthy not just because of its cross-cultural setting; Big Hero 6’s innovative depictions span race and ethnicity, gender, and even mental health.

This foregrounding of Asian identity both on and off screen – though not immune from criticism – is a historic move for Disney, whose catalogue of animated films is conspicuously populated

by Caucasian characters and voice actors.

– Jake Gyllenhaal and Emma Stone, respectively – ‘racebend’ and play characters of Asian descent.

Viewers could be heartened by the existence of Disney films such as Mulan, or even the live-action telemovie Cinderella (Robert Iscove, 1997), in which the prince is played by Asian actor Paolo Montalban. However, the settings for these films – Han Dynasty China and a fantastical fairytale kingdom – are far removed from the culturally diverse world of today’s Disney viewers. A later film, Pixar co-production Up (Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, 2009), does take place in modern-day America, but its Asian character, Russell (Jordan Nagai), merely plays a supporting role. In contrast, Big Hero 6’s San Fransokyo puts contemporary multiculturalism front and centre; as Williams points out: we do have this very diverse cast. In one sense, we don’t make a big deal out of it. The characters are certainly not defined in any way by their race and I’m very proud of that.7

‘WOMAN UP!’ Following the tragic events at the university, Hiro discovers that a ‘man in a kabuki mask’ has been mass-manufacturing microbots and controlling them using a neural transmitter attached to his mask. He then concludes that this villain must have also been responsible for the fire and, thus, Tadashi’s death.

©ATOM

Screen Education I No. 79

(Ron Clements & John Musker, 1992).4 This foregrounding of Asian identity both on and off screen – though not immune from criticism5 – is a historic move for Disney, whose catalogue of animated films is conspicuously populated by Caucasian characters and voice actors. From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (William Cottrell et al., 1937) to Frozen (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2013), Disney’s canon is replete with white character after white character, with a minority character occasionally thrown into the mix.

More generally, Asian characters aren’t particularly well represented in mainstream screen texts for younger viewers – we seem restricted to examples such as Cho Chang (Katie Leung) from the fourth to eighth Harry Potter films (Mike Newell, 2005; David Yates, 2007–2011), Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) of Glee, the titular character (Dante Basco) of American Dragon: Jake Long, and Lucy Liu’s manifold roles in animated films and TV shows. The pervasive downplaying of Asian talent is evident in cases of ‘racebending’, too: the term was coined after fans were disappointed with the casting for The Last Airbender (M Night Shyamalan, 2010),6 and persists in Hollywood productions as diverse as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Mike Newell, 2010) and this year’s Aloha (Cameron Crowe), in which white actors

11

To this end, he vows to ‘apprehend’ this criminal and enlists the help of Tadashi’s friends, whom he ‘powers up’ in line with each individual’s area of scientific interest. When the now-‘upgraded’ superheroes confront the masked villain – later revealed to be Callaghan, who has survived the San Fransokyo Tech fire after all – Wasabi asks Go Go and Honey Lemon: ‘Seriously, what’s the plan?’ Go Go responds, ‘Get the mask,’ with Honey Lemon acquiescing, ‘I’m right behind you!’ The two then battle with the wayward professor while Wasabi looks on, still wary.

In this scene, the filmmakers follow through with the characterisation of these women that they’d established earlier in the film. As Maria Lewis puts it: ‘They’re not anyone’s girlfriends and they aren’t used as a romantic plot device […] Honey Lemon and Go Go are just straight up bad-asses.’8 These fiery female characters certainly subvert the damsel-in-distress stereotype that pervades many of Disney’s earlier films – see: most of the titles in the Disney Princess franchise – and Big Hero 6 aces the Bechdel Test9 without difficulty. Go Go even tells Hiro to ‘woman up’ before his San Fransokyo Tech presentation, perfectly encapsulating the female characters’ determination, and it is Go Go who spearheads the group’s ‘transformation’: ‘Tadashi Hamada was our best friend.

We’re in.’ Without a doubt, it’s uncommon to have such strong female superheroes in mainstream titles – the few examples that exist include the titular character (Janet Varney) of The Legend of Korra, the eponymous heroine (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) from Joss

Screen Education I No. 79

12

Whedon’s The Avengers (2012) and its sequel (2015),10 and the various female mutants from the X-Men films (2000–2014). Within the Disney canon, powerful (non-superhero) female protagonists are equally rare, the sister duo (Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell) from Frozen aside.

A further commendable aspect of Big Hero 6 is its depiction of women involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The underrepresentation of women in STEM occupations is widespread – by 2011, for instance, women held less than 25 per cent of all American STEM jobs,11 while women filled only 28 per cent of Australian STEM roles.12 As Go Go and Honey Lemon are depicted not only as ‘bad-asses’ but also as highly successful women in STEM fields, perhaps those in the audience, especially younger female viewers, will be inspired to interrogate – and even rectify – the current dearth of women in these fields.

Admittedly, Big Hero 6 has some way to go in terms of gender representation. Most of the speaking roles are still assigned to the male characters, and the main drivers of the narrative – Hiro, Tadashi, Callaghan and even Baymax, who is referred to as ‘he’ in the film – are male. This is a disappointing detail, considering the status of female representation on screen generally; as a case in point, ‘only 30 per cent of speaking characters in 2013’s highest grossing films were women’.13 However, the fact that Hall and Williams have included such influential women in their story is a significant step in the right direction.

As Go Go and Honey Lemon are depicted not only as ‘bad-asses’ but also as highly successful women in STEM fields, perhaps those in the audience, especially younger female viewers, will be inspired to interrogate – and even rectify – the current dearth of women in these fields.

After Hiro discovers Callaghan’s dastardly scheme, he and Baymax have a conversation in his bedroom. Baymax asks where Tadashi is, and Hiro explains that his brother has died. ‘People keep saying he’s not really gone as long as we remember him,’ our hero adds, ‘but it still hurts.’ The robot then says, ‘I see no evidence of physical injury,’ to which Hiro responds, ‘It’s a different kind of hurt […] You can’t fix this one, buddy.’ In this brief exchange, Big Hero 6 foregrounds the impact of grief – and mental health more broadly – on human life. The filmmaking team ‘decided early on that the central relationship would be between Hiro and Baymax as Hiro struggled to deal with the loss of his brother’, explains Williams,14 and even consulted with clinical psychologist Michelle Bilotta Smith to ‘identify exactly how Hiro would handle the loss of his older brother – how adolescents process loss differently than adults’.15 Certainly, mainstream cinema doesn’t shy away from showing us instances of bodily injury – we see these in everything from kung-fu films and spy thrillers to horror gore and Jackass-style comedy – but Big Hero 6 challenges convention by giving younger viewers depictions of psychological damage. It makes visible what are otherwise invisible illnesses.

Following Tadashi’s death, Hiro goes through what are commonly known as the ‘five stages of grief’. First identified by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying more than forty years ago, these ostensible stages are better understood as facets of the grieving process that are experienced by individuals in varying orders and to different extents.16 In Hiro’s case, he arguably moves from denial (he doesn’t join Cass and Tadashi’s friends during the wake, evading the evidence of his brother’s death) and depression (he refuses to attend university, rejects loved ones’ attention, is unable to eat) to bargaining (feeling as though bringing the arsonist to justice could make a difference

©ATOM

to Tadashi’s death). Subsequently, he progresses to anger – instead of merely apprehending Callaghan, he commands that Baymax ‘destroy’ the wayward professor.

In The Empty Room, Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn uses the term carrying to describe the process whereby a still-living sibling doesn’t move on but rather ‘carries’ the deceased sibling with them as they move forward.17 Hiro is not only laden with the memory of his brother but also accompanied by Baymax, a physical vestige of Tadashi. As part of his vengeful plan, Hiro ‘upgrades’ Baymax by fashioning armour for him and programming him to learn martial arts. As Baymax interjects, however, ‘I fail to see how karate makes me a better healthcare companion’; similarly, when ordered to kill Callaghan, the robot protests, ‘My programming prevents me from injuring a human being.’ Hiro’s attempts to ‘change’ Baymax dramatise the internal turmoil he is experiencing. At this stage, he rebuffs Baymax’s attempts to help him through his grief – refusing to come to terms with Tadashi’s death – and directs the robot’s efforts towards destruction. After Callaghan’s escape, boy and robot return home and Hiro tries to re-program Baymax to hurt, not heal. But Baymax interrogates him: ‘Will terminating Professor Callaghan improve your emotional state? […] Is this what Tadashi wanted?’ It is only at this moment that Hiro tears down his defensive emotional walls and allows Baymax and Tadashi’s friends to help him accept that his brother is gone – the final stage of the grieving process.

Yet Big Hero 6 takes its exploration of grief further, showing how resignation to a loved one’s demise can form part of a character’s coming of age. Hiro learns that seeking revenge against Callaghan won’t bring Tadashi back, and even comes to understand that empathy is more powerful than hate. Hiro and the others discover that Callaghan, too, is consumed by grief – he lost his daughter Abigail (Katie Lowes) after a teleportation experiment headed by science entrepreneur Alistair Krei (Alan Tudyk) went awry. Much like how Tadashi took it upon himself to re-enter the burning San Fransokyo Tech building to save Callaghan, Hiro and Baymax volunteer to rescue Abigail – who, it turns out, has survived the accident – and end the professor’s sorrow. Echoing that of his brother, Hiro’s justification for his heroic act is ‘Someone has to help.’ This is but one of many instances of mirroring in the plot. Callaghan seeks revenge against Krei; Hiro wants to avenge Tadashi by ‘destroying’ Callaghan. Baymax helps Hiro through his grief; Hiro soothes Callaghan’s suffering heart by reuniting him with his daughter. And, reminiscent of how Tadashi dies while trying to rescue Callaghan, Baymax sacrifices himself in the climax’s final moments to ensure Hiro and Abigail’s safety. In this bittersweet scene, Hiro farewells not only his robot companion but also, finally, his brother – an ‘unloading’ of sorts that severs his final ‘carried’ connection to Tadashi.

Screen Education I No. 79

‘HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR PAIN?’

13

With global box-office takings amounting to over US$650 million, Big Hero 6 is a veritable commercial success,18 matching its positive critical reception. Disney should be commended for offering viewers a film that positively, if belatedly, represents women and racial/ethnic minorities in tandem, and perspicaciously tackles grief and mental health.19 As Tadashi advises his brother early in the narrative, it’s important to ‘shake things up’ and ‘look for a new angle’. Undoubtedly, presenting stories from the vantage point of characters beyond the conventional provides exactly the sort of unique perspective that Tadashi would have championed. More importantly, Big Hero 6 seems to be part of a trend for the animation studio; following the premiere of Inside Out (Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen, 2015) at Cannes in May this year, Disney and Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter affirmed: ‘It’s very important to us […] to have female and ethnic characters. It’s grown in importance over time. As you’ll see in future films, we’re really paying attention to that.’20 So, on a scale of one to ten, how would I rate this movie? In light of the strides it has made, and notwithstanding some criticisms that it isn’t representative enough of Asianness or how it could have done more to empower its female characters, I’d give it a nine-point-five for good measure.

Adolfo Aranjuez is the editor of Metro and the subeditor of Screen Education. He has edited and written for publications in Australia and the Philippines, and worked with various arts organisations and festivals. He is one of the Melbourne Writers Festival’s 30 Under 30. Find him online at <http://www.adolfoaranjuez.com> and @adolfo_ae. SE

Screen Education I No. 79

14

Endnotes Don Hall, quoted in Disney, Big Hero 6 production notes, 2014, p. 13.

2 Paul Felix, quoted in Disney, ibid.

3 Robert L Baird, quoted in Disney, ibid., p. 3.

4 While Salonga does provide the singing voice for female lead Jasmine (whose speaking voice is by Linda Larkin), she is of Filipino descent and, thus, is a cultural mismatch for the Arabian princess.

5 A Tumblr user, for example, finds fault in the fact that the Hamada brothers are half-Caucasian: ‘Disney resorted to racebending to fulfill its false belief that a movie with a 100 percent Asian lead would not perform well in the market’; see ‘Big Hero 6: Hiro Is Not the Asian Hero We Deserve’, sunrisah, Tumblr, 31 October 2014, <http://sunrisah.tumblr. com/post/101424205054/big-hero-6-hiro-is-not-the-asian -hero-we-deserve>, accessed 14 June 2015.

6 See Racebending.com, <http://www.racebending.com>, accessed 14 June 2015.

7 Chris Williams, quoted in Kelley L Carter, ‘Big Hero 6 Is Disney’s Most Diverse Movie Yet’, BuzzFeed, 5 November 2014, <http://www.buzzfeed.com/kelleylcarter/big-hero-6-is -disneys-most-diverse-movie-yet/>, accessed 14 June 2015.

8 Maria Lewis, ‘Three Reasons Why Big Hero 6 Is the Most Important Disney Film of the Past Decade’, Junkee, 5 January 2015, <http://junkee.com/three-reasons-why-big-hero-6-is-the -most-important-disney-film-of-the-past-decade/>, accessed 14 June 2015.

9 First formulated by Alison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out for, which can be viewed on her Flickr account, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/zizyphus/10748290154/>, accessed 15 June 2015.

10 Though it’s worth noting the criticism of Black Widow’s character arc in the second Avengers film; see, for example, Sara Stewart, ‘An Open Letter to Joss Whedon from a Disappointed Feminist Fan After Watching Age of Ultron’, Women and Hollywood, Indiewire, 30 April 2015, <http://blogs. indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/an-open-letter-to-joss -whedon-after-watching-age-of-ultron-from-a-disappointed -feminist-fan-20150430>, accessed 15 June 2015.

11 David Beede et al., ‘Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation’, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Department of Commerce, August 2011, <http://www.esa.doc. gov/sites/default/files/womeninstemagaptoinnovation8311. pdf>, accessed 15 June 2015, p. 1.

12 Kelly Roberts, ‘Engaging More Women and Girls in Mathematics and STEM Fields: The International Evidence’, report for the 1

©ATOM

SHAKING THINGS UP

©ATOM

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-devine/stages-of -grief_b_4414077.html>, accessed 14 June 2015.

17 ‘[I]n order for us to go forward with our own lives, whole, unhampered by guilt at having been the ones chosen to survive, we often need them to come, too.’ See Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn, quoted in Donna A Gaffney, ‘On a Scale of One to Ten, How Would You Rate Your Pain?

Death, Grief and Continuing Bonds’, National Alliance for Grieving Children, 25 November 2014, <http://www. nationalallianceforgrievingchildren.org/scale-one-ten-how -would-you-rate-your-pain-death-grief-and-continuing-bonds>, accessed 14 June 2015.

18 For more discussion of the commercial success of diverse ensemble casts, see Peter Gutiérrez’s ‘Safety in Numbers: The Staggering Success of the “Ensemble Action Movie”’ in this issue of Screen Education, pp. 38–45.

19 Further avenues for classroom exploration could revolve around Honey Lemon’s Hispanic background, and Wasabi’s neurotic tendencies.

According to Genesis Rodriguez, her character ‘­pronounces Hiro in a [L]atin accent […] Honey Lemon uses action words like Photo-Photo, Ayy, Waasss which sound [L]atino’; see Rodriguez, quoted in Tiffany Bendayan, ‘Big Hero 6 Movie: Interview with Genesis Rodriguez #­meetbaymax @michimu’, Living Sweet Moments, 26 October 2014, <http://­livingsweet moments.com/big-hero-6-movie-interview-­genesis-rodriguez -meetbaymax-michimu/>, accessed 18 June 2015. This fact could inspire discussions regarding whether race and ethnicity need to have physical manifestations, as Honey Lemon arguably looks Caucasian and doesn’t embody the tanned, darkhaired Hispanic stereotype.

In terms of mental health, Wasabi is described by head of animation Zach Parrish as ‘almost obsessive compulsive’; see Christina Radish, ‘Head of Animation Zach Parrish Talks About Superpowers Aligning with Personalities, Animating Baymax, and More for the Big Hero 6 Early Press Day’, Collider, 5 September 2014, <http://collider.com/big-hero-6-zach-­parrish -interview/>, accessed 18 June 2015. While it’s questionable whether (or to what degree) Wasabi possesses either the aforementioned disorder or its related personality disorder, scenes involving his neatness, attention to detail, ­adherence to rules and general apprehensiveness could be used to raise questions about obsessive-compulsive behaviours.

20 John Lasseter, quoted in Sandy Schaefer, ‘John Lasseter Says Disney & Pixar Working to Improve Diversity in Their Animated Films’, Screen Rant, 18 May 2015, <http://screenrant. com/inside-out-disney-pixar-moana-toy-story-4+john-lasseter -diversity/>, accessed 14 June 2015.

Screen Education I No. 79

Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, 1 May 2014, <http://amsi.org.au/publications/gender-report-20104/>, accessed 14 June 2015.

13 Alexandra Donald, ‘Girls Against the World: Female Representation in Modern Hollywood’, Screen Education, no. 76, Summer 2015, p. 62, citing Martha M Lauzen, ‘It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World: On-screen Representations of Female Characters in the Top 100 Films of 2013’, San Diego State University, 2014, available at <http://womenintvfilm. sdsu.edu/files/2013_It%27s_a_Man%27s_World_Report.pdf>.

Donald also discusses the underrepresentation of women behind the scenes.

14 Williams, quoted in Disney, op. cit., p. 3.

15 Disney, ibid., pp. 4–5.

16 Megan Devine, ‘The 5 Stages of Grief and Other Lies That Don’t Help Anyone’, The Huffington Post, 11 December 2013,

15