'Sausage Party' Employs the Smurfette Principle

Looks like Sausage Party is actually going to be a sausage party. The dudebros are all here for Seth Rogen's animated adult comedy about a sausage trying to find its origin in a supermarket: Jonah Hill, James Franco, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Nick Kroll and Edward Norton. Oh yeah, and someone invited that one chick... Kristen Wiig?

Look, guys. We just talked about this. Remember the months-long conversation we had about how having a vagina does not biologically indisposed to being funny? You have met some of these funny women. I know you know who Mindy Kaling is. Just because this is an animated movie does not mean you get to invoke the Smurfette principle.

This was a term Smurfette principle was coined over 20 years ago. Sure, having only one woman in a movie or show isn't always a bad thing. Yes, there are less women in the military, and you probably won't find any in an all-boys boarding school. But in most cases, it's inexcusable, because if you haven't heard, women make up over half the population. And not only is the lack of representation unrealistic, but it often forces female characters into just playing stereotypes of the female gender. The male characters get a variety of interesting traits (Grouchy! Brainy! What's-His-Face! The Ugly One!), while the female character just gets to be The Girl. This also usually means that she's made to be The Love Interest as well, and if Kristen Wiig's character doesn't end up hooking up with one of these dudes, I will eat my own arm.

This didn't originate with The Smurfs. It goes back to the days of Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Lola Bunny, all who simply served as female counterparts to the male characters they were based on. Up through the '90s, this kind of pattern continued: Thundercats, Transformers, and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers were all guilty of it.

But it's 2014 now. We have Tina Belcher and Princess Bubblegum. Sure, it may be another Seth Rogen dudebro movie, but you don't have to go all This is the End/Superbad/Pineapple Express on us and make the few girls that are in the movie explicitly love interests. So please, Seth Rogen, cast at least one other girl. Make Sarah Silverman a piece of baloney, have Aubrey Plaza voice a loaf of bread, give Charlyne Yi the part of Ramen noodles. Do anything but add more sausage to this Sausage Party.