Finding Nemo, transsexual family values

Finding Nemo is the latest animated movie from Pixar. It tells the story of an anemonefish who lost his female mate, and is left with a single child.

The animation shows a beautiful view of the barrier reef. The underwater scenes far surpass any previous underwater animation, and quite a few non-animated features. The photography is much better than Waterworld.

However, the life of the anemonefish is not well represented in Finding Nemo. The anemonefish couple at the beginning of the movie is monogamous. The female Coral has a single male mate, Marlin, rather than the multiple males which are standard for anemonefish. When Coral dies, Marlin remains male. Marlin should become a female after a short time with no female around. Marlin's change could have been a sign of maturity as important as the appearance of Bambi's antlers, or Simba's mane.

The choice of Ellen DeGeneres to play Dory, Marlin's female friend, suggests that Pixar is aware of the transsexual nature of anemonefish, even if they were not brave enough to show the change.