People are up in arms about this character’s proportions (Picture: Disney)
Disney fans have launched into a spirited debate over ‘realistic proportions’ of cartoon characters, after one fan pointed out the shapes of fictional characters in short Inner Workings.
Despite the mini-film being shown ahead of Moana in 2016, some fans are only picking up on the characters now, with both male and female’s sporting exaggerated proportions that in no way reflect reality, but here we are.
For a little background, Inner Workings tells the story of an office worker, Paul, who’s, er, inner workings, are at loggerheads to break out of his dull routine and have fun.
His love interest, Kate, who sports a curvy frame, tiny waist, and bright-red hair has seemingly sparked the most debate, though.
In a post that’s since been shared thousands of times, a Twitter user shared an image of Kate and wrote: ‘In no way did [Disney] need to do this.’
Can we please note that Paul also has a square head and seemingly elastic body and no one really seems to mind…
The original viral message was met by a rather divided fanbase, though, with many feeling it highlighted ‘unrealistic’ expectations’ of women’s bodies, while others defended the animation as simply being a caricature.
One fumed: ‘I know it’s just a cartoon but for the love of god .. they need to put some belly on that girl . Its makes me sad thinking kids out here thinking that’s how their body should look .. It’s naturally impossible to have a booty like that with no belly at all!!!’
Another shared the concept art – which another had dubbed ‘ridiculous and weird’ – and wrote: ‘The absolute hell are these character designs?’
And one was just not a fan at all: ‘What’s with the smashed body proportions it looks wrong and strange purpose for comedy reasons it’s not funny I’m sorry but this is just lazy character development.’
However, a whole bunch of fans of the six-minute short, which showed in cinemas ahead of Disney hit Moana, rallied for the animation, saying the body shapes are meant to look ‘goofy’ rather than realistic.
One lobbed on Twitter: ‘Well, making fun of these designs someone worked to make feels…wrong. They are just stylized. Now this doesn’t mean one is wrong to point out mistakes but these are made to look cute or goofy on purpose. The main character is made up of squares.’
Echoing those same sentiments, another shared a promo shot of square Paul and joked: ‘Wow! I’m about to watch the Disney short, Inner Workings. I sure do hope I don’t see any abnormally sized body parts .’
Another simply wrote: ‘Just exaggeration??? Its a cartoon.’
Perhaps this is why we can’t have nice things.
