Animated films are falling into the trap of using skin disorders, blemishes, and wrinkles as a visual shorthand for negative traits, a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology claimed today.

The study found that 76.5 per cent of villainous characters or those with negative associations had any form of what the authors call dermatologic findings, this compares to 25.9 per cent of the characters meant to appear good. These dermatologic findings include a wide array of issues including scars, baldness, wrinkles, and moles.

The study analysed characters from the top 50 highest grossing animated films as of January 2017. The main protagonists and antagonists of each film were identified and examined for dermatologic findings. All animal characters were excluded from the analysis and four movies were excluded based on mechanical or robotic characters and one due to its PG-13 rating.

Two additional categories were used for characters that didn’t neatly fit into these clearly good or bad roles. Atypical protagonists were moral characters who also had attributes or roles with negative or evil connotations, such as being a caveman, thief, or vampire. In another cinematic context, these attributes would make them more likely to be villainous than good. Hidden antagonists were characters that initially presented as benevolent but were later revealed to have insidious motives when they betrayed protagonists.

Ninety-two per cent of the movies were released after the year 2000, and 50 per cent were released after 2010.

Previous studies have highlighted the same issue in prominent films of the 20th century and shown that notorious film villains have a statistically significant higher proportion of dermatologic findings compared to heroes.

Michael Ryan, one of the researchers from the University of Texas, said:

“The depiction of skin issues in movies and its association with evil over good could be a factor contributing to the stigma of skin disease. By repeatedly portraying protagonists as characters with flawless skin, there is the potential to cause distress in those whose appearance does not fit this unrealistic ideal.

“Real life examples of this can be seen in dermatology clinics where cosmetic treatments are performed to remove harmless moles, eliminate wrinkles, and alter many of the natural skin changes that develop with age and solar exposure. Societal perceptions and beliefs regarding beauty and youthfulness are likely underlying the desire for these treatments. The association between evil and skin findings in film could be one factor that contributes to these beliefs.”

Matthew Gass of the British Association of Dermatologists said:

“The animated films we watch as children tend to stick with us, with many of us being able to fondly recall our favourites with ease. We watch them in formative years when we are learning about good and evil, and whether they mean to or not, it’s likely that they impact our biases and associations.

“One thing that thing that we know is that the creators of these works are capable of producing emotional, nuanced, and thoughtful works. We hope that this means that they will be open to considering this research when making animated films in future.”

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Notes to editors:

For more information please contact the media team: comms@bad.org.uk, 0207 391 6084. Website: www.bad.org.uk

About us:
The British Association of Dermatologists is the central association of practising UK dermatologists. Our aim is to continually improve the treatment and understanding of skin disease. For further information about the charity, visit www.bad.org.uk

Dermatologic Depictions in Animated Movies BJD-2018-0144.R2

The abstract for this manuscript is as follows:

Background: Living with skin disease can be distressing for dermatology patients and can adversely affect their wellbeing. Inaccurate dermatologic depictions in media may contribute to this angst and reinforce the stigma of skin disease.

Objective: To determine if different dermatologic depictions exist among character categories in animated movies.

Methods: This cross sectional study examined major characters from the top 50 highest grossing animated movies and separated them into four categories based on roles. The metrics mean findings per character and proportion with one or more skin findings were compared between categories and tested for significance.

Results: Characters with villainous roles or negative attributes had a higher number of findings than characters meant to appear good. Only 25.9% of traditional protagonists and hidden antagonists had any skin findings at all and averaged 0.37 findings per character, while 76.5% of traditional antagonists and atypical protagonists had skin findings, averaging 1.56 findings per character (p< .0001).

Conclusion: Increased skin findings for evil characters in animated children’s movies can reinforce stigmas surrounding skin disease and may contribute to the distress felt by dermatology patients.