Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 is a relatively new animated movie that was released on October 23, 2014 in the United States. This movie takes place in a fictional setting called “San Fransokyo” wherein Hiro Hamada forms a superhero team, consisting of his scientist friends, in order to fight a masked villain. His team includes characters, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred, and Baymax. Baymax is a robot created by Tadashi Hamada (Hiro’s brother) that was designed to give medical attention to those in distress.


Big Hero 6 has a diverse cast of characters. There are people of color in this movie. One of the heros, Wasabi, is an African American. He is super smart and strictly abides to rules in general. When they were being chased by the villain threatening their lives, he refused to go through the red light even though everyone else in the car was yelling at him to go through it. Another hero, Gogo Tomago, is Korean. She is an athlete, and has a tough personality. When Wasabi refused to go through the red light, she took over the steering wheel and skillfully drove the car, finding shortcuts which led to their successful escape.

This movie features strong, capable female characters as well as completely lacking humor that is gender-based. Main characters, Honey Lemon and Gogo Tomago are both female and scientists. In American society, subjects such as math and science are known as “boy subjects” and until recent years the careers in these fields were completely dominated by men. During the movie Gogo uses the phrase “woman up” to encourage one of her teammates to do better. As opposed to “man up” which is commonly used in America. Aunt Cass, the single guardian of Hiro and Tadashi, is also female. She never complains and she is depicted as a happy business owner and caretaker. Also Abigail, the villain’s daughter, is the test pilot who braved teleporting into another dimension.