Well in this story the powers of a witch aren’t something hereditary or dependent on “talent” so of course there’s going to be a generally equal amount of girls + guys. Their culture and stories probably isnt the same as ours too x
It honestly reminds me of the art world, which maybe it is a parallel to since a lot of the story parallels studying art and drawing and the gate keeping and elitism in the art world. Art students are overwhelmingly female but the artists you see portrayed and represented in elite art spaces are overwhelmingly male. In school I had many art classes that there were no men in and the proportion of women to men in the school of art was insane. And yet so many that go on the be successful are men because of sexist gate keeping which is implied to exist in this world as well as in Agathe’s memories one of the insults they use to explain why she isn’t good enough is saying that the magic she makes and uses is so feminine. WHICH IS SOMETHING PERVASIVE IN ART COMMUNITIES. Galleries and Studios often will not present work they see as overly feminine or that uses materials that are associated with femininity (like soft sculpture/fabric/ textiles) as these things are not considered to be high art....by men of course who kept women out of the art world for centuries and also only allowed them in in the beginning to do still life which they then deemed feminine even though men were praised for it for decades. Basically there are many female artists irl and females witches in the story that make and practice art/magic but the artists/witches in positions of power to represent these groups tends to be men.
Also, the two groups/extremists brimhats and magic council can be metaphors for different views in the art world where some think it should be accessible to all and gatekeeping is stupid while others think the culture around high art should be preserved and that mixing crafts into the art world muddies the waters and creates difficulties for practicing fine artists. Both groups have good points and neither one is entirely right or has the best solution to the issues with the art world. Damn I should have written an essay about this in school lmao
Which honestly is really cool considering where manga finds itself in the art world. For example, these books are filled with beautiful illustrations...so so many illustrations. And yet the illustrations when contained in a book are considered worth less that illustrations you will find in a gallery despite the amount of effort going into them often being the same. Manga is sold at an affordable price for consumers and the artists are underpaid and under appreciated and not respected in the art world despite the fact that they inspire and captivate us and even motivate so many to become artists as children....sort of like Coco’s story. And then illustrations in the world of fine art can sell for hundreds and thousands. Anyway if anyone is reading this...you should totally go buy the licensed version of this story. Support the artist and collect these beautiful books.
Thank you so much for offering your perspective!! I had not considered a comparison with the art world but you bring up a lot of good points in regards to gatekeeping spaces that often originated from women's
+ own artistry or spaces that are vastly populated by women
That’s a very interesting comparison. While I do believe that the art community was sexist in the past, I don’t particularly believe that’s the case at the moment. Art, especially fine art, success is measured on how it can stand the testament of time. As women were not really allowed to study and create art in the past, naturally mostly men have become successful in this field as they’ve past the first test of time. Certainly there are always extremists but I believe that we’ll get more successful women in the future in this field. However there is also the shift on the perspective of fine arts. Less people are getting into these days as with the other abundance of pop music and digital art taking over the scene, this also means less money and fame funneled into the fine arts. More artists are going to school for digital art to find careers that pay more steadily like game companies and graphic design which usually don’t acclimate the amount of fame a famous fine artist would. I find your claims that Coco’s world being a lot like the artist world a very cool comparison in any case.
Why are so many of the witches men even though tales of witches usually portray women?