One of my major inspirations during this project has been the research of Dr. Stacy L. Smith. Her research into representation of women on and off-screen is a large part of why I feel driven for this project.

When I began talking about this topic in around 2014 in my BFA’s art classes it was during the gamergate cultural discussion. Nobody really had any research yet about women and how they were being treated in the gaming world. While I could make artwork describing how it felt, there were little stats and research to back it up.

Dr. Smith’s work to put numbers and faces behind her Hollywood research is really inspiring and provides an opportunity to shine a light on the shift that’s been happening in both the animation & game industries over the last 10 or so years.

You can read one of my favorite studies by her below:

https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inclusion-animation-201906.pdf

Some excerpts from that PDF:

Below you can see the video of her full Ted Talk: