“I Am Not a Prize to Be Won” Open Access

Abstract

The Disney Princess films of the Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) are a staple of childhood for countless youths across the United States and the world, especially young girls (Orenstein 2011). As such, their characters serve as windows into hegemonic gender roles. In this study, I view the performance of gender roles in Disney Princess films through an examination of dialogue and screen time disparities by character gender. I find that while female characters (on average) speak more and appear on-screen more frequently than their male counterparts, they tend to have lower word-to-screen-time ratios (WSR values), signaling their potential objectification and deprival of vocal agency. 

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1

PAST RESEARCH………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

RESEARCH QUESTIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9

HYPOTHESES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11

METHODS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

FINDINGS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18

DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 29

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31

METHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 37

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Sociology, General
Keyword	Quantitative Disney Gender
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Devon Goss, Emory University
Committee Members	Irene Browne, Emory University Cassidy Puckett, Emory University

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