Month: November 2021

For this part of the thesis I created a document with the articles names and links and as I read what I found, I would write some notes to know what it was about, good or bad, useful or not, possible important quotes that might help explain my theory.

Of course, research takes time as there are things that do not matter, but as a researcher we need to read in order to exclude or not. I was quite surprised that there were so many studies and research on female representation in animation and interesting studies regarding the main eras of disney and stereotype evolution, evaluations on what impact it has on children. Exactly what i was looking for. Most of these articles are about gender and stereotype and mostly about disney, as much as I want to include other studios, the beginning of everything was indeed with Disney, so all the rest comes after.

Books:

The 3 books I believed were important are down to one: Gender Trouble by Judith Butler. It is an extremely interesting book, everyone should read and try to understand, even spoken about more. This book is going to be addressed in the first chapter as I see it as an introduction to the subject, before understanding a problem, its origin must be studied. The subject is gender and sex, therefore identity is also a strong point in this books theory. It dismantles these 3 concepts and defends that they are manipulated according to culture and era where it is occurring (on each individual) and suggests solutions for a problem with so many years in society.

Articles:

Articles are the main information source of my thesis, I did find a lot of interesting papers, although I noticed a favouritism for frozen, literally everything speaks of frozen as it is such a great turning point in womens representation and storytelling in a disney princess movie. Another confusing thing is the characters that are princesses and the ones who aren’t, when speaking of representing women in animation everything is about princesses. Makes sense, unfortunately most movies where a female character is the protagonist is about a princess – who is not even the hero of her own story.

• “Gender and Speech in a Disney Princess Movie” by Azmi, N.J.
• “Viewing the Disney Movie Frozen through a Psychodynamic Lens” by Christopher Kowalski & Ruchi Bhalla
• The Criterion: “Changing World with Disney” by Aditi Joshi
• “Gender Roles in Disney Films: Analyzing Behaviors from Snow White to Simba” by Keisha L. Hoerrner
• “Gender Roles in Animated Cartoons: Has the Picture Changed in 20 Years?” by Teresa L. Thompson and Eugenia Zerbinos
  

These articles all speak about the impact of stereotypes in animation on young children, what they retain from it and how they may express it during teenage years.

The research papers were also useful but will not be addressed as much, the referencing of those documents was used to look for more information. Of course, some of these articles are paid and it is hard to access some of them, I was able to due to my mother as she is a university teacher. Papers from other students are really good as a way to understand how the research was conducted throughout the study as well as referencing.

An interesting aspect I noticed is, dreamworks animation movies don’t really have females as protagonists, although there is a strong female presence, most movies are about male characters. I did look for more information on this, but it seems like its not a very spoken subject.

It’s time to start looking for information backing up my theory or not, but I really need to find good info and research material. My methodology will be based on research papers and articles, studys and books from experts in some of the field I wish to talk about.

I’m trying to keep everything organized regarding references, so I kept a document with every article I found and where i found it, to then have a description of the information of each and be able to organize better when structuring.

Some of these documents were found looking at other papers references and so on, some of them will not have a specific website or were i found it due to this.

Articles:

• “Sisters Doin’ It For Themselves: Frozen and the Evolution of the Disney Heroine” by Michell Law
• “Gender Roles in Animated Cartoons: Has the Picture Changed in 20 Years?” by Teresa L. Thompson and Eugenia Zerbinos
• “Gender Roles in Disney Films: Analyzing Behaviors from Snow White to Simba” by Keisha L. Hoerrner
• “”It’s Called a Hustle, Sweetheart”: Zootopia, Moana and Disney’s (Dis) empowered postfeminist Heroines” by Samantha L. Seybold
• “Viewing the Disney Movie Frozen through a Psychodynamic Lens” by Christopher Kowalski & Ruchi Bhalla
• “The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess” by Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario

Books

• “Gender Trouble” by Judith Butler
• “DreamWorks Animation Intertextuality and Aesthetics in Shrek and Beyond” by Sam summers

Research Journals:

• “Gender and Speech in a Disney Princess Movie” by Azmi, N.J.
• “Producing 3D Animation Teaching Materials — A Case Study of the Huge Differences between Male and Female Wealth Management” by Tingsheng Weng
• The Criterion: “Changing World with Disney” by Aditi Joshi
• “Two Spirit: Counseling Native American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual People” by Michael Tlanusta Garrett and Bob Barret

Papers from other students:

• “Long May She Reign: A Rhetorical Analysis of Gender Expectations in Disney’s Tangled and Disney/Pixar’s Brave” by Caitlin J. Saladino
• ““Look Out New World, Here We Come”? – Race, Racialization, and Sexuality in Four Children’s Animated Films by Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks” by Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo and Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo
• “Animating Gender Roles: How Disney is Redefining the Modern Princess” by Juliana Garabedian
• “Frozen in Time: How Disney Gender-Stereotypes Its Most Powerful Princess” by Madeline Streiff and Lauren Dundes
• “The Representation of Gender in Disney’s Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast” by Linda Houwers

These will now be reviewed and analysed in order to formulate a good theory and development of discussion.

This week I booked a session with Lawrence to talk about my thesis subject and ask if there are any places that would be good to do research on this theme. Hopefully suggest artists and movies to look in to.

I came back to london about a month ago and just got a way to finance myself, for the first time I am studying and working, and finally I understand how hard it is. Of course, studying is my first priority always so I will do everything to make it work. I will take Lukes advice and take a week or two off all the work and come back fresh. Not really a holiday, just a focus on something else for a while.

My meeting with Lawrence was to guide me a little, take a break, and get some energy to start my research with what I got from this meeting.

Lawrence gave me a lot to look in to, books, movies, artists, directors and activists that would back up what I want to talk about, it is a sensitive subject for a lot of people and I want everyone to understand what I want to say, not just women, we know what is going on, the awareness is for everyone, including the industry in question.

My aims and goals with this research would be to understand why there is such a difference in the development of female and male characters: there is nothing wrong with male characters, the female characters should just have the same freedom in creation as the male, say no to some of the rules.

A good place to look in to is disney publications website, but as much as it is extremelly useful it is too technical for what I am searching for, it does not mention that much about character or story development.

Starting point of the research

So, what made me want to start this research was an article I saw where there was a quote from the head of animation of frozen saying “women are harder to animate than man because they always have to look pretty”

I disagree with that sentence, not judging or anything just, I do not believe that is true and maybe that is why I never really identified with any female character when growing up, ever! For me, Tarzan, Mowgly and some more male characters were much more interesting as their personality made much more sense with mine. While all the girls where about beauty, how they look and who they want to marry, how will they get help from a male character and THEY ALL WEAR PINK AND SHINY STUFF!

Is that how women are percieved?

Fairy tales are a very important part of storytelling and the fantasy world, they are needed. We all need a princess fairy tale, but not only princess fairy tales which is the only time women are the main character. Okay, not anymore, but when I was a kid that was the case, and indeed things are changing, but at what pace? is it going the right direction? Is it being done by the right people?

Animation teaches some things to the audience, it usually carries out a message. Are we sending the right message, how can we improve it.

Meeting with Lawrence

In the beggining of the meeting I did introduce my theme and what were my main questions and goals and Lawrence gave me some suggestions on where and how to look for information.

Books:

• “Dreamworks Animation Into Textuality And Asthetics In Sheck And Beyond”, by Sam Summers
• “Women And Animation”, this book was issued by The British Film Institute in 1992 and is a compilation of work from women in animation.
• “Dykes To Watch Out For”, by Alison Bechdel (1985)

Movies:

• Luca (2021), by Enrico Casarosa
• Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi and Winsluss
• Mitchels vs the machines (2021), by Michael Rianda
• Pink Flamingos (1972), by John Waters
• Egg (2019), by Martina Scorteli

Artists:

• Andreas Deja
• Sam Summers
• Roger waters

Characters:

• Ursula – The Little Mermaid
• Mufasa – The Lion King
• Izma – Kuzko
• Divine – Pink Flamingos

This week was the final session of the tutorials and it was about discussion, conclusion, references/ bibliograph and appendices.

Discussion

As the title says, this is the part where we discuss the importance, meaning and relevance of the results, as well as explain and evaluate them, linking these results/ findings to the research questions and literature review will help make an argument supporting the conclusion.

Structure:

1. Restate the research question which should then be followed by how the findings answer the question
2. Relate findings to issues raised in introduction
   • compare contrasts, mention any common or different trends
   • how does it compare with previous findings
   • does it support them
   • does it refine them
   • does it corroborate them
3. If the findings end up being something totally different from what we expect we might want to consider writing some previous parts of the thesis.
4. Detail the major conclusions, essentially this is evaluating the findings
5. Discuss how these implications may impact future research and study for future researchers.
   • this can mention feedback and critiques and how to improve
   • usually the shortest part of this session

Conclusion

This should be a review of the key points raised and a reminder of it’s relevance in the study, this will make the reader with something to question themselves about. No references are needed in the conclusion.

Structure suggestions:

1. restate the thesis
   • simply reword thesis statement
   • structure can be different and say the same thing
   • Don’t be apologetic when showing results
   • start with a strong statement reflecting the thesis
2. review the key points of the thesis
   • read the thesis from front to back
   • make notes of the topic of each chapter/paragraph
   • our choices may compliment or contrast
   • best practice is to choose two
   • what do you want the reader to take away from the thesis
3. why is the work relevant
   • encourage audience to question themselves
   • do not leave loose ends to threads
   • be sure to resolve points
   • ask why it is relevant
4. Leaving the reader with something to think about: the message
   • why should we care
   • end with something interesting to say
   • maybe a realisation, a call for action or a warning
   • this might give the audience something to remember and make them care.

References/ Bibliography

References are where we credit and mention anything quoted or based on another persons work related to our study. All references are placed in the end of the study in its own chapter and will also be referenced throughout the rest of the study, although the full reference will be at the end.

The system that we will be using is The Harvard Referencing System.

Appendices

These are any extra documents or images gathered over the course of your investigation, it can be put at the end of the thesis or referenced in a link to our blogs where we show the research more in depth.

In the end of each point Lawrence mentioned he showed us examples of thesis from other students and the ways they did their own study, these sessions were extremely helpful as a way to guide us though the process of writing something as complex as a thesis. It did help to put my mind at ease as I was so lost about how to do it, and at the same time it is still scary.

I booked a meeting with Lawrence next week and will definitely have more insight on the matter and where to look for information.

This weeks’ session was about the next 3 topics on the thesis: Literature Review, Research Methodology and Results / Findings.

Literature Review

Its’ aim should be:

• discuss and review work of other peers who have made studys related to what I am to talk about, articles, books, movies, documentaries, publications among others.
• demonstrate gaps or adress a lack of information in related topics, must justify the research.

Literature review can be inserted in the study in the introduction, as a chapter or inserted in to each chapter if needed. This chapter should demonstrate the student has a clear knowledge of the subject in study backed up by research of others, as well as demonstrate I can intregrate these in a clear way in the thesis. The person who will grade the study will have to see these demonstrations for a successfull outcome.

What should be included:

• Make a statement related to our field of study
• Recognize the work of others
• Consistent argument
• Definition of the current state of the field of study in the area

Making sure all work of others referenced are reviewed by pairs is essencial. Lawrence also sugested to showour thesis to others and see what they understood from it, feedback from people outside of the matter is also good as the study must be accessible to all.

The structure should be:

• Chronological
• Thematical
• The wheel
• The pyramid
• Chapter by chapter

Research Methodology

The research methodology must describe the basis of the chosen research methods, also seen as the philosophy of the research. We should also mention if the work is based on qualitative or quantitative methods, or a mixture of both.

Qualitative:

• measuring the quality of something
• based on opinion

Quantitative:

• measuring the quantity of something
• based on numbers and statistics

What should be included:

• Interviews
• Observations
• Questionaires
• Document Analysis

Structure:

• Clear and concise
• Be sure not to have issues with selection of information and refining of findings
• Include research questions and how will I adress them
• Mention whether a research method is more “tried and tested” or experimental in its approach
• Summarise research methods
• Speak about the main challenges in the study
• These elements may be revised in discussion

Results / Findings

The name of this topic is quite direct in comprehension, this would be the part where we document our results and findings from the document analysis and questionaires, everything included in the research. These must be clear to the audience and related directly to what we intend to discuss. The questions made in the abstract or introduction can be now adressed according to the research results.

This weeks’ session was about going deep in the first topics of the thesis: Abstract and Introduction.

As mentioned in the previous blog, everything that cannot be put in to the thesis paper must be added on the blogs. Now, the first point mentioned was research:

• books
• films
• documentaries
• research papers (disney or other animation articles and essays)
• blogs from griz and norm
• the animation blog
• engage in online forums and reach professionals in industry
• discord

Of course, the help of our tutors will be essencial as this is the final stage of our masters degree and the most important thing for most of us, so a range of tutors will be there to help us which is good.

Abstract

Suggestions and tips:

• Should be around 300 words in length
• Must be a concise and clear summary of our thesis
• keep it concise, “umbrella terms”
• introduce subject area
• does not need referencing, as it will be done later in the body of the thesis
• be clear to the reader
• content should be of a factual basis

Abstract should include:

1. what is the research field
2. if there is a gap in our knowledge or not
3. overall aims and objectives and how it will respond to the gaps
4. methods used to achieve goals
5. important results and findings
6. how it can be used as futher knowledge in the chosen field

Lawrence did show us some examples of abstract from thesis of last years’ students and some of them are quite short or dont really fit in to all this but that does not make them less good. It all depends on the research and goals of each project. All this is guide to help us achieve what we think is our best work yet.

Introduction

An introduction should provide a context, clear intention of what we want to achieve as well as an overview of chapters as a way to guide the interpretation of the reader throughout the research. Should be around 5% to 10% of the word count.

Breakdown of what an introduction should do:

1. Identidying the readers
2. grabbing the attention
3. making it relevant
4. general knowledge of subject
5. preview of key points
   
   1. Identifying the readers is a good starting point as they are the ones trying to understand your research, mainly the person who is going to grade it. But of course, what is really important is that this study is understandable for everyone, animator or not animator. Keeping the reader interested is key to success.
   2. Grabbing the attention can be quite hard as there are so many ways to fail at this. One of lawrences’ tips was to either start with a question (which an also be seen as an old and basic technique) or provoque intrigue when introducing the theme.
      Writting a list of the most interesting topics of our study can help highlight these and obtain the attention of the reader.
      Associate present events on a more general spectrum to make the reader relate to it and narrow the subject in the body of the study.
   3. Making it relevant by giving a concise insite on the background of the subject giving enough knowledge to the reader.
   4. General Knowledge of the subject includes the studys’ purpose, our motivation in doing it as well as topic and scope of research. Compare and mention work or artistic view regarding the theme.
   5. Preview of key points is a way to let the reader know what is coming next, like opening the door for what the study will refer next, the interesting and deep dive into the subjects must be saved for the body.

After these sugestions lawrence showed us examples of other thesis introductions, from what I understood, this is where we have to captivate the reader to keep searching what what we mention in the introduction. Like a “Once upon a time, on a distant realm…” sort of opening.

Its finally here, the moment we all feared, the thesis! That word gives me goosebumps, but well, we have to face it so might as well do it right. This week we had a the first thesis suppport session with Lawrence Bignel.

It was great, as most of us don’t know anything about writing a thesis and it is quite scary, but lawrence will give us an insite and overview on how to do things and organize our research and making of a project. On this first session, lawrence explained the plan for this training as well as the weight of everything we have this year regarding grades. This time will also be used for booking 1 to 1’s.

Our thesis will be 8000 words long but anything that we cannot include on the thesis paper will be mentioned in these blogs. So, before anything else, any thesis paper begins with research, the tips mentioned in these sessions were:

• primary research: interviews; questionaires
• secondary research on critical analysis: academic/research papers; articles; audio; technical documents;
• Gantt sheet

Getting Started:

Developing a structure for the thesis is quite important to organize our time, the Gantt sheet serves that purpose. Having a goal is key to be able to organize all the research and where we want to be at in the end, even if we don’t know the final outcome of the research. Starting with a question, a very good way to start a research.

layout suggestions:

These are extremelly helpfull as a way to organize all the information throughout the thesis, next week Lawrence will go deep on Abstract and Introduction development. This session was shorter as it was the first, but it was quite good as I can understand a bit better the amount of work to be done and how to filter some things.

In the end of the session we saw some thesis papers from last year, from Tao and Iva which is also a good reference. Both Iva and Tao are great animators and their work is definitely something to look up to.