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Female Representation in Children’s Movies Inquiry Project

Wait, What?: A study in how female characters are portrayed in family films 

Abstract:

In this study, I chose to analyze speech patterns that female characters use in family films. Since there is already a small representation of female characters in films today, it’s important to see how these female characters are portrayed. I chose to specifically analyze family films because I wanted to focus on what young girls would most likely be watching. It’s important for young girls to see female characters taking active, strong roles in movies. I picked a specific set of movies to analyze speech patterns used by female characters and what is said about them. From these movies, I learned that there are only, on average, around 3 named female characters who, ask a lot of questions, speak using uptalk, need reassurance, apologize, and get belittled. I hope that this study enlightens people to the fact that the way that women are being portrayed in films is inadequate and still requires change. 

Rationale & Tie to Course Content:

This study is important because I believe that young girls should grow up watching strong female characters on the screen. We currently live in a world where women are the ones to take the passive role in conversations; men dominate the conversation and speak with more authority. This behavior shouldn’t be reflected onscreen. Kids learn by imitation and if we are showing them movies where women are interrupted frequently, constantly need reassurance, and feel the need to apologize for just being who they are, then children will grow up believing that this is the static reality. They will grow up trying to fit this mold in order to be like their favorite movie character. 

Methods Used:

I decided to analyze the top ten grossing children’s movies according to IMDb. I then chose to only analyze the first 30 minutes of each film in order to analyze more films. It is better to have a small amount of data from more sources than a lot of data from only a few. I went into the study wanting to analyze uptalk, discourse markers, and vocal fry, but I quickly noticed that there were more patterns to how women were speaking in these movies. I wanted to take note of female speech that is typically viewed negatively.

The way I began to code my findings was by writing down the quote that I found important, who said it, at what time, and notes about that quote in particular that I found interesting. Once I got through the first few movies I began to notice patterns to look out for. I started color-coding similarities. I would notice different patterns would appear in different movies that I would then add to my data and then go back to the previous movies to see if they appeared in those movies without me noticing. 

Once I have a good foundation of code, I condensed it into another table. I used this table to determine the frequency that I was seeing questions, uptalk, interruptions, apologies, belittling, pleading, and reassurance. I then decided to take the average to gauge what these films were represented overall. 

Results:

The movie with the most female character was Toy Story 3, with six. The least was a tie between Finding Nemo, E.T., Finding Dory, and Beauty and the Beast with two. 

The film with the most questions asked by a female character was Frozen with 28 questions asked, and the least was a tie between Finding Nemo and E.T. with seven. 

The film with the most uptalk used in female speech was Incredibles 2 with 11 instances up uptalk, and the least was The Secret Life of Pets with only one instance of uptalk. 

The films where female characters got interrupted the most were Incredibles 2 and Despicable Me 2 with five total interruptions, and the least being Finding Nemo, E.T., Shrek 2, Beauty and the Beast, and The Secret Life of Pets with no interruptions. 

The film with the most apologies given by a female character is Finding Dory with four apologies, and the films with the least are E.T., Shrek 2, and Beauty and the Beast with no apologies. 

The films that showed the most belittling of female characters were Shrek 2, and Finding Dory, with female characters getting belittled twice, and the least being Finding Nemo, E.T., Toy Story 3, The Secret Life of Pets, and Despicable Me 2, with no instances of belittling.

Finding Dory, and Frozen both had three instances of female characters pleading, while all the other movies that were analyzed had none. 

The films where the female characters needed reassurance the most were Incredibles 2, Shrek 2, Toy Story 3, and Finding Dory, with two instances of reassurance and the films with the least were The Secret Life of Pets, E.T., and Finding Nemo with no instances of reassurance.

In this study, I also chose to analyze how female characters were being talked about. The positive adjectives that were used were “relaxed,” “cool,” “cute,” “strong,” “beautiful,” and “good.” The negative adjectives that were used were “princess,” strange,” “peculiar,” “odd,” “special,” and “damsel.”

Analysis/Discussion of Results:

One of the things that I noticed was that the movie E.T. had some of the lowest results, mainly due to the fact that there was very little female representation. Other films, like Frozen, had much more female representation which provided a lot of data but showed more of the negative speech patterns that I was analyzing. The goal should be more female representation without having an abundance of unfavorable speech patterns. 

When looking at the number of questions that were asked, I was surprised that Frozen reigned supreme. Frozen was praised for being a film about female empowerment, but there were 28 questions asked within the first 30 minutes, that’s almost a question a minute. I want to emphasize that not all questions are bad; they can be used to further the plot and can be integral to the storyline, but I noticed that some of the questions that were asked didn’t seem necessary. The character Anna, in particular, was interesting because of her use of the word “wait”. Whenever she said “wait” it was followed by a question. “Ok, wait. So you have how many brothers?” and “Wait, what?” This is implying that the conversation needs to be put on hold in order for her to get a better understanding of the situation. The amount of questions that she uses overall gives her a sense of innocence but also makes her appear ignorant and gullible. 

Uptalk was the only constant speech pattern in my study that remained from start to finish. The movie with the most uptalk present was Incredibles 2. Uptalk is typically viewed as unprofessional, which is interesting because the character that used uptalk the most was Helen, who was picked to be a representative of all superheroes in the film. 

Looking more closely at Incredibles 2, the character Violet, almost exclusively talked in vocal fry. This was something that I originally wanted to analyze, but she was one of the only characters, out of all the movies, to exhibit this kind of speech. I thought it was interesting to note that the only character to speak using vocal fry, used it a lot.

The belittling of female characters was something that I didn’t go into this study wanting to analyze, but I realized it was that data that aggravated me the most. In Finding Dory, Marlin says to Dory, “Go wait over there and forget. It’s what you do best.” This implies that Dory’s best trait is her ability to forget, which is depicted to be an annoyance to the other characters in the film. In Beauty and the Beast, the headmaster says “What are you doing? Teaching another girl to read? Isn’t one enough?” This implies that reading and being an intelligent female is seen as troublesome. 

One of the results that I found the most interesting, was how often the need for reassurance appeared. It wasn’t too frequent, but there was enough of it for me to notice and take notes. Some instances were more subtle, like in Finding Dory when Dory says “I must’ve come from somewhere, right?” Her use of the word “right” means that she was looking for reassurance that what she said was correct. Other examples were more direct, like in Toy Story 3, when Mrs. Potato Head is comforting Barbie by saying “It’s alright Barbie. You’ll be ok.” 

It’s also important to look at how female characters were spoken about. In Beauty and the Beast, the whole first song is basically just the townspeople hating on Belle because she likes to read a lot. She’s described as “peculiar,” “strange,” and “odd.” Even though she is described as being beautiful, it’s often followed by something negative. She’s beautiful but it doesn’t make up for the fact that she’s an outsider.

Implications of Results:

This study should be helpful to those in the movie industry. When writing a new movie, or developing a script, the way that women speak, and are spoken to, should be analyzed more carefully. Hopefully, the movie industry will put women into more active roles, and make them feel more empowered. 

This study is also important to parents. It’s important for them to know what they are showing their children. It’s not easy to filter everything that a child watches, but it’s important to at least become aware of the issues that arise in how women are depicted on the screen.

Lastly, it’s important for young girls. Children shouldn’t grow up believing that they have to fit a mold that has been shown to them at a very young age. They should grow up believing that they can do anything, with authority and confidence. 

Reflection:

I learned that it’s not an easy feat to try and get accurate female representation on screen, simply because there is no “accurate female.” Every character is different, which is a good thing. If every female were being depicted in the same way, it would make for a very boring movie. However, there should be more female representation overall. There should be female characters who shouldn’t have to question everything they say. There should be female characters who dominate conversations. There should be female characters who don’t have to apologize for who they are. There is diversity in the females that are being represented, but the way that they speak is too similar. 

I am still curious about the comparison to male characters in family films. I strictly focused on the way that females are being portrayed in these films, but I would like to know how men are being portrayed as well. Just because I highlighted how many questions women ask in these movies, doesn’t mean that male characters don’t ask any. 

I think that growing up watching females who take a backseat in conversations, causes a lack of confidence in young girls. There’s no denying that feminism is on the rise in today’s society, but there is still a lot more that needs to be improved in the film industry. There should be more female representation in films overall, which could start with the hiring of more female directors.

Research Results