Former BRAVE Director (Pixar’s First Female Director) Says The Studio Is Sexist

If you went to see Pixar’s BRAVE in theaters, you may have noticed in the end credits that the director was listed as Brenda Chapman…the first female director in the studio’s history.  Well it turns out that there is a much deeper story for Mrs. Chapman, one that led to her firing and her accusations that Pixar is sexist.

In a new interview with The New York Times, Chapman talks about her being hired to direct the film, and then being replaced by director Mark Andrews.  She blames it all on sexism:

“When Pixar took me off of Brave — a story that came from my heart, inspired by my relationship with my daughter — it was devastating…To have [my story] taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels.”

Chapman says that the replacement is a very common one in the animation field, but to replace her on her own project and give that project to a man was just insulting:

“Animation directors are not protected like live-action directors who have the Directors Guild to go to battle for them…We are replaced on a regular basis. … To have [my story] taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels.”

But sexism is definitely not something just relating to her former employers, Chapman says.  It’s something that has been running rampant in the industry for a long time:

“Sometimes women express an idea and are shot down, only to have a man express essentially the same idea and have it broadly embraced.”

The question is…do you agree with Mrs. Chapman’s belief of sexism?  Or do you think there was a legitimate reason for  the change up?