You are here:

Voices

Name: Voices
Director: Joanna Priestley
Released: 1985
Duration: 4 min

Representation Score

7.4/10

Good

1985

Director

Joanna Priestley

Runtime

4 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Joanna Priestley’s *Voices* is an experimental animation that prioritizes sensory abstraction over character-driven storytelling. Because the film eschews traditional narrative structures in favor of avant-garde techniques, it lacks the demographic framework necessary for standard representation metrics. The work’s strength lies in its ability to dismantle social hierarchies by focusing on universal human anxieties. By centering on the internal experience of fear rather than social status, the film creates a space resistant to conventional systemic biases. Ultimately, the film functions as a postmodern disruption. It trades specific identity representation for a fragmented, existentialist exploration of the human condition.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Voices have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film's abstract style avoids depicting specific LGBTQ+ identities. However, it challenges traditional romantic storylines by rejecting conventional narrative structures.

How does Voices portray gender?

Fair

By removing character-driven roles, the film avoids reinforcing traditional gender hierarchies. It treats the 'voice' as a universal concept rather than a gender-specific tool.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Voices?

Fair

The experimental animation lacks visible evidence of racial or ethnic casting. While it avoids racial stereotypes through abstraction, it does not actively utilize diverse casting.

How does Voices represent religion and culture?

Good

The work subverts Western linear storytelling by prioritizing internal, existentialist experiences. It focuses on personal fears like aging and destruction rather than external religious morality.

Does Voices include disability representation?

Fair

There is no explicit depiction of physical or neurodivergent characters. The film's focus on overwhelming internal thoughts provides a metaphorical space that may resonate with neurodivergent processing.

Present on Screen

The film's non-linear structure challenges traditional masculine or feminine leadership roles.
It avoids racial stereotypes by operating within a realm of pure abstraction.
The focus on universal anxieties provides a space that resists reinforcing social hierarchies.

Limited or Absent

The abstract nature of the animation precludes the depiction of specific LGBTQ+ identities.
There is no explicit representation of racial, ethnic, or neurodivergent characters.
The lack of character-driven roles prevents active engagement with diverse social narratives.

Official Synopsis

A humorous explanation of the fears we share: fear of the darkness, of monsters, of aging, of being overweight, and of global destruction.

How are these scores produced? →