Animation Source Forums

I wouldn't throw her away because she still at least a little bit worthy of a role

Stella.... For me, not much can be said about this "lover-with-Boris" except two words: Annoying and Unwanted!

My thoughts exactly.

Thank you. It's not that i hate Stella,( anyone who's apparently a Stella fan), but, yeah, she was annoying!

As much as we all hate Stella, she was the reason Boris didn't die. Without her, Balto never would have found out he was on the plane, and he never would have known to rescue him after he found Duke. That's one of the reasons I actually don't really mind her character.

As much as some of us hate Stella.

But the rest of your point is well considered.

I STILL don't get this hatred for Stella among fans, and I never will. There is an imbalance of vitriol thrown at her when, as I have said so MANY times in the past on here, Dixie is not only just as over-sexed and flirty as Stella is (and vain to a fault), but more of a dippy airhead on top of it...painting a much worse picture of the female gender in general than Stella does (who has a sharper wit and generally smarter outlook in spite of her buxom design and voice). I seldom if ever see anyone castigate Dixie. And you know what that comes down to? More of that same, tired old "the first Balto movie kicks *** compared to Balto threeeeee. Nyah nyah nyaaaaah!" (I censored that one myself, folks). The same nonsense used to justify every criticism of everything in both sequels that is different from the first one.

Not that I hate Dixie, mind you. Frankly, I don't hate ANY of the characters from the Balto films (except maybe that irritating Scottish terrier from Balto 2...that is a definite exception).

Gimme a break already.




The writers and producers paid very subtle tribute to the general nature of Alaska and its population at the time, often through the animal characters (as well as the human ones). I'd go into detail here, but I'd be afraid of being accused of going off-topic. So I will limit my observations to Stella herself, and what I believe her to represent.

I might add that, as opposed to Balto 2, which simply is a wolfaboo dream movie (the wacky interpretations of which since, by many fans, have driven the more general and saner population of the fan base rather nuts over the years), Balto 3 not only returns to the dog sledding foundations laid out in the first movie AND more in keeping with real Alaskan history, but presents generally more believable characters. In spite of the inexplicable hated tossed at this sequel by many fans (usually younger ones who seem to have no real concept of what the writers and animators intentions clearly were), it stands as a better look back at Alaska than Balto 2 EVER could be.

But back to Stella. She's buxom, she's sexy (don't read into that. The character IS designed to be sexy), she's confident and she's showy. Back in the 1910's and 20's, Alaska was loaded to the brim with showgirls (and those of a less-savory nature) who plied the towns and villages. They played the bars, the taverns and the "speakeasies", entertaining the miners and prospectors, the mail carriers, lawyers, lawmen, politicians, and the rest of the male populace. And Stella is clearly reminiscent of that aspect of Alaskan history.

One of the most well-known real-world women who was a showgirl was the famous "Klondike Kate". Though she never played Nome (as far as the history shows anyway), her travels in Alaska, and her time in the town of Dawson during the gold rush, made her one of the most famous female entertainers in Alaskan history. She was showy, sexy, and buxom, and she knew how to grab hold of a male audience and keep it there.

Below are some links showing brief history of this remarkable woman, and a photograph I posted, which is one of the well-known ones of her (which is all OVER the internet). Please look at these.

And then, after all of that, I think you guys need to lighten up on Stella, and stop looking at her through such a narrow field of vision. When compared with the vain, ditzy, over-sexed, flirty Dixie, the character of Stella comes off as smarter, more worldly, a stronger and more confident female, and even more concerned and humane in the end (when she discovers that Boris is in trouble). All that Dixie ever seems to care about is her own needs, how good she looks (and whether or not anyone notices), and when she's gonna get that man she so desperately wants. How anyone could see her as a better character than Stella is mind boggling.


KLONDIKE KATE



http://library.thinkquest.org/11313/Gold_Rush/kate.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Rockwell

http://www.tsweekly.com/news/local-news/klondike-kate-our-destitute-prostitute-or-aunt-kate.html

http://historicphotoarchive.com/stuff/klondike.htm

So I post a bit of intellectualism and counterpoint, and everyone suddenly is afraid of further discussion?

Are you implying that including Stella was a grasp by the producers at making WOC more realistic by introducing a character to represent the *show-girls" in Nome at the time? Because I think that while it may be a lot more realistic, it's a step in the wrong direction. There are a lot of things they could have added, but I think an homage to strippers was not the right choice. It is meant to be for the entire family, but it's primarily aimed at children. Whether or not they would understand the reference is beside the point--it just has no place in a kids' movie.

Stemming from this, I can't help but wonder whether it had anything to do with the demise of the Balto franchise (besides lack of advertising, etc.) I mean that perhaps some people that watched it understood Stella as a reference to that particular way of life, and that changed their minds about the franchise.
Just a shot in the dark, but meh.

Wings of Change could EASILY have excluded Stella without affecting the storyline. As a storyteller, I know that if a character doesn't have a purpose, then it's nothing more than filler. That's all Stella was in Wings of Change: filler. Something that was there needlessly, just to extend the runtime.

As I mentioned earlier, Stella wsn't entirely useless. She's the reason Boris didn't die.

I am only suggesting my interpretation of it, Origamist. I have no factual statements from the writing or production staff to make that claim. I just know the history well enough to know what I believe to be going on here...either consciously on their part, or subconsciously. They would have been studying the time period and Nome specifically. It's clear they did some research. I am sure they stumbled across stuff like this.

Klondike Kate was not a "stripper". That is a gross misrepresentation of what she was and what ladies like her did. And in any case, as has been seen in discussion elsewhere, as well as in the movies themselves, not only did they show bars in the cartoon version of Nome, but a Native Alaskan hunter with a gun, trying to kill a character. "No place in a kid's movie?" Just how much of it, then?


Given your logic, they could have excluded Muk, Luk, Mr. Conner, Mr. Gundersen, Sylvie, Dixie, Dipsy, Mel, the Scottish terrier, Nuk, Sumac, and Yak, and every non-speaking wolf, dog and human. Even Jenna and Boris after the first movie. And every other incidental animal which appears. Hey - they're "just filler", right?

In point of fact, not every character in a story needs to have a defined purpose...more specifically in animation and live-action (and in theater) than in literature, as they can serve as background action and incidental interest. Literary characters are quite different than those in visual arts, as they each have to be defined in the writing. There is, in fact, a difference. And the way I see it, there was nothing wrong whatsoever with not only giving Boris a love interest (as a "subplot", which is what that was), but also giving Balto a traveling companion in the search for Boris and Duke (and the bush plane). In that search, the character of Stella demonstrated some other contributions...small though they may have been.

She was the reason Boris was on the plane in the first place. Without her Boris wouldnt have been on the plane, and it would have crashed regardless, HOWEVER, Balto may not have found Duke so easily without Stella. Which might have extended the story a bit more.

Exactly. She "redeemed" herself by saving Boris, so regardless of how annoying she was, she was useful in that way. Plus she helped them save Duke.

I will say that there isn't a character that I really despise in any of the Balto films.
You guys despise Aleu and Stella so much and for really stupid reasons.
It is the way it is, I've accepted the presence of those two characters and I didn't even really hate them from the get-go.

I say just leave Stella's part in and the way it is already.
She's not really focused on very often anyway, she brings up a conflict for Boris as a character with the whole flying thing which also ties into Balto's dream to fly, she redeems herself in the end as many of Wings of Change's characters do, and it's safe to say she's one of the few factors that made Wings of Change remotely entertaining.