Shrek (2001)

The world seems to be getting more and more unsafe for transgender people. Varying legislation in the USA and the UK are having negative impacts on the mental health of trans people. From making gender-affirming healthcare less accessible to not acknowledging pronouns, the world seems to be hyperfocused on attacking people who aren’t cisgender. Though adults are unfortunately often the victims of hate crimes, the toll isn’t less on children. They aren’t allowed to claim different identities from what they’re assigned at birth, and often even lack the resources required to understand how they’re feeling. There are severe efforts being made to hide awareness that some people are transgender, feeling a different gender identity that does not align with their expected gender and birth sex.

This causes children with trans identity to grow up with a lot of resentment for themselves. Films can often alleviate the alienation by presenting realities where these feelings are shared by characters. Animation as a medium of storytelling is in no way meant just for children but the following four films can be thought to be open to all ages including children and as I hope my readings will reveal, they could be interpreted as transgender stories.