Comments on: From the archives: Chromatic Sexism and Animated Felines

By: Sheep

Sheep — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:51:44 +0000

Actually, orange cats are more likely to be male than female.
It’s just genetics.

I would agree with the white fur = blonde hair comparison.

By: Emma

Emma — Sun, 08 May 2011 01:43:42 +0000

White = Virgin bride is still a new use of the color white.
Blue used to be the color of girls and virgins because it was the color Mary wore.

Before the white = virgin thing took over, it was white = wealth and high class. This was because white was a hard color to keep back in the day, only the rich had the money to do that.

In the The Aristocats, the female lead is the pet of a millionaire singer, she’s high class and rich.

In The Rescuers, the female lead has white fur and wears purple fur. Purple is another color associated with high class. So once again I think the point the film makers were trying to make with the colors were that the female lead was of a higher class then the male.

By: Hazel Geronimo

Hazel Geronimo — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:41:47 +0000

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By: Harlan Draheim

Harlan Draheim — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 07:22:34 +0000

can i see more of this please

By: Lajoie

Lajoie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:41:48 +0000

Thakns for this.. Online consultants

By: The Editor

The Editor — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:27:12 +0000

Could Kimba the White Lion be a counterexample?

By: Delia

Delia — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:32:43 +0000

I think the negative portrayal of dark or cold-colored male cats has a lot to do with black cats being associated with bad luck and superstition.

For instance, old-fashioned fairy tale-style witches’ cats are black. And everyone’s heard the old saying, “don’t let a black cat cross your path.”

By: wring

wring — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:27:00 +0000

Arlene is also portrayed as the aggressive female.

By: Jill D.

Jill D. — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:17:00 +0000

“The orange color typical in heroic male domestic feline characters has significance, personally I don’t know what it is,”

Genetics make all-orange female cats very rare, so a cartoon orange cat would be a simple way of making it obvious that it is a male character– like bows on girl characters.

White-furred females in cartoons are also, aesthetically, akin to blonde heroines.