A study of animated films has found that characters with strabismus are more likely to be depicted as unintelligent, villainous, dopey or clumsy.
The study by researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine examined 125 films made by Walt Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, and Studio Ghibli.1
While strabismus – a misalignment of the eyes that occurs especially in children, has no bearing on intelligence or personality – the researchers found characters with strabismus were 14 times more likely to be depicted as unintelligent than intelligent and six times more likely to be followers than leaders.
“When animators are figuring out what a character is going to look like, they have to decide on every little detail of that character’s appearance, and so it’s not by chance that an animated character happens to have strabismus,” said ophthalmologist Dr Michael Puente.2
“That’s something that the animation team made a deliberate decision to do, and I imagine that they have reasons for that decision.
“Our study suggests that commonly, the reason that a character is depicted as having strabismus is if that character is unintelligent or undesirable, and that animators see strabismus as a way of visually conveying that undesirable trait,” he said.
The study concluded that the depictions could have harmful effects for children with strabismus by perpetuating stereotypes that can negatively affect a patient’s self-confidence and influence the perception of strabismus by young impressionable audiences.
The research is published in the journal of Pediatrics.
… the depictions could have harmful effects for children with strabismus by perpetuating stereotypes that can negatively affect a patient’s self-confidence
Psychosocial Impact
Dr Puente said he often encounters young patients who ask for strabismus surgery because they are self-conscious about their appearance.
“Every day I have kids that are asking me for surgery, and that says a lot as children tend to be apprehensive of medical care.But strabismus often affects these kids so much that they’re asking for a fix. I don’t think there are a lot of other paediatric surgeons that have that experience.”
While strabismus can have impacts on a child’s visual development, it also impacts the way that they interact with society, their peers, teachers, and friends.
Dr Puente said children with strabismus often get bullied. “There have been studies that find they’re less likely to get invited to birthday parties…3 (and) kids in school are less willing to sit next to a kid with strabismum.”4
He said this stigma affects the way that children develop psychosocially and negative perceptions in media can contribute and magnify these stereotypes.
The researchers said they weren’t able to find a single primary protagonist with strabismus, however comic-relief characters or villainous characters with strabismus were common.
Researchers found only three characters that were considered “leaders”, but one was a villain and the other was depicted as “unintelligent”. In 125 films and 46 characters with strabismus, there was only one that was found to be intelligent, the character Forrest Woodbush from Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur.
Dr Puente said he hoped the study would shine a light on how pervasive negative depictions are in media created for children and show animators how it affects young patients.
“If animators recognise that they tend to always portray strabismus so negatively, I hope they can reflect on that and… think twice before giving (an undesirable character) strabismus,” Dr Puente said. “It sends a message to their very young, impressionable audience.”
References
- Liu J, Mantha A, Puente MA, et al. Depictions of strabismus in children’s animated films. Pediatrics. 2024; e2024067355. doi: 10.1542/peds.2024-067355.
- Mason K, Animated movie characters with strabismus are more likely to be villains, study finds (news release, 11 Nov 2024) University of Colorado, available at: news.cuanschutz.edu/ophthalmology/animated-movie-characters-with-strabismus-are-more-likely-to-be-villains-study-finds [accessed 15 Nov 2024].
- Mojon-Azzi SM, Kunz A, Mojon DS. Strabismus and discrimination in children: are children with strabismus invited to fewer birthday parties? Br J Ophthalmol. 2011 Apr;95(4):473-6. doi: 10.1136/bjo.2010.185793.
- Lukman H, Kiat JE, Choong YF, et al. Negative social reaction to strabismus in school children ages 8-12 years. J AAPOS. 2011 Jun;15(3):238-40. doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2011.01.158.
