Disney, Pixar Films to Include More 'Female and Ethnic Characters'

Disney isn't known for tremendous diversity, but apparently that's about to change. John Lasseter, the legendary Disney Animation/Pixar boss, said Pixar and Disney are making efforts to expand story horizons to represent more of how our world actually looks.

"It's very important to us ... to have female and ethnic characters," Lasseter said today at a press conference (via Variety) "It's grown in importance over time. As you'll see in future films, we're really paying attention to that." Lasseter mentioned "Moana," which is coming out in November 2016, following a Polynesian navigator on an epic adventure. "It's pretty spectacular," Lasseter said. "I guess most people think of fairy tales as European fairy tales. We're trying to reach out and find origins of legends all over the world." The changes in what's on screen are directly related to who is behind the scenes. Lasseter said when he started in animation it was basically a boy's club; so the stories were tied to their perspectives. "We have been seeing more and more women, and more and more people from all over the world starting to work with [animation]. That's exciting. I think it will get reflected in the characters."

Sounds great so far, but the No. 1 priority is still great storytelling. Just keep giving us that classic Disney/Pixar mix of humor and heart and lovable characters and it'll eventually stop being noteworthy when those lovable characters aren't all the same skin color.

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