Facial features of cartoon characters and their perceived attributes.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between skeletal antero-posterior profile of popular family cartoon characters and their perceived personal characteristics. The Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB) was used to identify popular animated family movies released since 2000. Cartoon characters were identified, and classified based on their gender (male/female), skeletal profile (Class I, II or III) and character assessment (protagonist/antagonist). Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out. Chi Square analysis was used to assess the differences (p-value) between gender and character assessment against the skeletal profile. Fifty popular animated family movies were identified. Within these 88 humanoid cartoon characters were identified made up of 32 male protagonists, 27 female protagonists, 22 male antagonists and 7 female antagonists. 40, 30, 21 were assessed as having a Class I, II and III skeletal profiles respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed in both FPFA and MPFP values for Class III characters (P = 0.009 and P = 0.006, respectively). However, no significant variations were noted when comparing the remaining groups. Female antagonists and male protagonists were most likely to be portrayed with a Class III skeletal pattern when compared to female protagonists and male antagonists respectively.