Among the most unappreciated feminist films of our age is The Emoji Movie, which is quietly, yet purposefully, revolutionizing the way we depict female characters in animated movies.

I admit that when I sat down to watch The Emoji Movie on Netflix (looking back, I wish I had spent money to see it in cinemas), I had my doubts — after all, it has a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and there isn’t a single positive review out there — but I was ultimately pleasantly surprised. Not only was the plot a fascinating glimpse at the inner workings of our smartphones, but it also has one of the most progressive female characters I’ve ever seen on screen.

In this day and age, making strong female characters is pretty much a staple of animation, so much that we’re almost tired of seeing them (there isn’t even much romance in movies aimed at children anymore!), but The Emoji Movie wasn’t afraid to push the envelope by developing a truly revolutionary kind of female lead: Jailbreak, a female emoji we can all admire and look up to as an icon of feminism.

Spoilers for The Emoji Movie below.

Bringing women’s rights into the conversation

It’s clear that Sony purposefully put Jailbreak in the movie to subtly teach everyone what feminism looks like. And Jailbreak is very effective at that: she spends most of the movie belting out useful definitions of feminist lingo — such as “mansplaining” — and pointing out situations of injustice without any context.

This might seem jarring at first, but who needs context nowadays? The time for showing is over; it’s time to tell. And it’s much more effective to awkwardly interrupt the story to talk about real-life inequality to an audience of… children? Adults? Cynical old people who think phones are frying our brains? It may be unclear who the audience for this movie is, but that ambiguity is part of what makes the movie so great — it’s a movie for everyone.

Jailbreak isn’t like other girls

I especially loved how Jailbreak is dressed as the epitome of “not like other girls,” complete with brightly colored hair. It’s time women in computer science finally saw themselves properly represented in animation, especially in their traditional outfit: purple hair and a beanie, and not at all “feminine.”

Jailbreak is very open about rejecting gender roles: she didn’t want to be held down by the few boxes that exist for female emojis, so she decided to go into hiding and try to break her way out of the phone. It’s a great story that would make a great movie of its own — of course, this movie is centered around the man who comes along years later and helps her actually do it — but maybe we’ll get a sequel: The Emoji Movie 2: Jailbreak.

I can’t wait to see how many women will be dressed up as Jailbreak in Comic Con this year!

(Oh, and in the Spanish version of the movie, Jailbreak’s name is actually ‘Lady Hacker,’ because all women should have ‘Lady’ precede their profession: Lady Police, Lady Programmer, Lady Mechanic…)

Being true to oneself is what matters

The message of “be yourself” is one often thrown around in animated movies, to the point that it can often get tiresome. That’s why The Emoji Movie’s final twist is so poignant, and works so well with its feminist message.

Jailbreak, who originally refused to admit that she was beautiful as a princess, ultimately decides to keep the princess look, because Gene — an extremely attractive Meh emoji (I could write a whole other article about how refreshing it was to see a main character with his personality on screen) — likes her more that way.

She ultimately decides to stay in the phone after all instead of following her original dreams. Since she’ll be staying in Textopolis, she doesn’t really need her career anyway, so she can shed the “programmer” costume and stick to being a woman.
Not only does Gene get to be in exactly the same place he was at the beginning of the movie, but Jailbreak also gets to be exactly who she was in the beginning: a princess. Because all women are princesses. And in this way, everyone is being true to who they really are.

Follow your heart, guys.

The Emoji Movie may have done badly in the eyes of critics, but especially in this day and age, Jailbreak’s brand of feminism — kind of incoherent and in the background — is what young girls need to see to be empowered and be reminded that their dreams are always secondary to a man’s.

You can currently watch The Emoji Movie on Netflix (and in Spanish, if you want to get to know “Lady Hacker”!)

What was your favorite feminist moment in The Emoji Movie?

April Fools! The Emoji Movie is horrible.