Minions is a film that's loved by everyone. Adults, children, the grumpy, the cheerful, and crucially, men, women, boys AND girls - but despite the film being targeted at both genders, there are no lady minions to be seen!
The entire movie centres around three adorable bundles of yellow - Stuart, Kevin and Bob, but not once do we see a girlfriend, a wife, a daughter or a mum for any of these characters, not least any females in a starring role of their own.
We have to say, here at GoodtoKnow, at first we thought this was mighty sexist on behalf of the creators of the minion franchise - until we heard the reason WHY the little chaps are all...well...chaps.
In an interview with The Wrap, Minions creator Pierre Coffin revealed:
‘Seeing how dumb and stupid they often are, I just couldn’t imagine Minions being girls.’
Oh! Erm... sorry lads.
Whilst this is a fair and understandable justification of the dominance of men in minion society, obviously, we still can't figure out how all of them came to be without a matriach at their helm – surely women are essential to this process at some point?! Coffin has previously said that 'the creatures cannot reproduce or divide themselves', so their origins remain a mystery!
However, whilst he didn't let us know how exactly they came into being, he did also explain the choices behind the main trio's names.
'Kevin comes from an ancient Greek word (‘Kevinos’) which means leader,' he said. 'Stuart comes from the Latin word ‘Stuartalumni’ which means (loosely translated) ‘the one who slacks.’ As for Bob, it means short. For Robert.'
Of course.
Ah, well, maybe Coffin has a super-smart lady minion sequel up his sleeve - and for now, at least the guys he has created aren't afraid to express their inner diva regardless...
