Appeal

"Not only do sympathetic characters need appeal in their design, but villians and comics should have just as much. Appeal is the pleasing and fascinating quality that makes a person enjoy looking at any drawing"

John K Stuff blog is a really useful blog site for gripping the basics of these principles. I especially liked this quote as it explains the principle of 'appeal' so simply. Appeal is the quality which makes you want to look at something.

An obvious example would be to look at the Disney Princesses, as the protagonists of the film, eg. Ariel, Aurora and Belle, the audience will spend most of the time looking at them and therfore it is vital that these characters have 'appeal' to entice the audience to continue watching. We could argue this is the explanation for this sterotypical image of this slim, generously assetted polite women, of whom young girls aspire to be, and men aspire to be with.

From a brief look at the Disney Princesses, their physical appeal is similar through out
- large eyes
- heart shaped faces- symmetrical faces are thought to be the most appealing
- usually long billowing hair (free loose hair has sexual connotations linking back to the 1800s)
- petite waist - further emphasising their femininaty
- clothes tailored to exentuate breasts

Again the physical appearance is the initial appeal of these characters, aswell a personality traits (will discuss later).
What is interesting to explore next is Disney's latest film 'Tangled', a modern twist on the fairy tale 'Rapunzel' in an attempt to appeal to the male population, the storyline follows a rebellious 'swash-buckling' male hero. There are some interesting theories as to their change in direction, those of which I will discuss in my next post!

Good  night!
Nibs X