Dissemination Project
Assignment Objective:
Create messages appropriate to the audience, purpose and context
Assignment Description:
The Dissemination project was a piece of communication designed to distribute scientific knowledge about media effects to a lay audience.
The first step of this process was to deliver a proposal to Dr. Kretz, outlining the topic within media effects, the target audience and the format of the project. This would be approved or tweaked by the instructor. Research was conducted on our topic (Gender role representation in Disney's Princess Films) and placed in the format of our choice (podcast). I ordered the information into a script from which I read and recorded. Photoshopping the following images, I overlaid the recording and created the videos below.
As a final requirement of the assignment, students reflected on their project in a two to three page paper including the purpose of the project, target audience, how one would distribute their project, methods, summary and evaluation. This essay can be located below or as a PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tkR3dakU4-OzzqAHbWRbN-M3vpe1m8oB/view?usp=sharing.
Dissecting Disney: Gender Role Representations in Disney’s Princesses Films
Revolving around the portrayal of gender roles in the media, more specifically in Disney
princess films, and their effects on preadolescent viewers, this project serves to inform parents of
the unrealized danger of Disney. Parents most often choose and approve of what their children
watch and therefore must understand exactly what gender roles they are subjecting their children
to and what effect this may be having on them. With this knowledge, parents will be able to
make educated decisions on whether or not they will continue to expose their children to these
films.
Ideally, this project would be distributed via the “Podcasts” app on iPhone as a series of
podcasts titled “Dissecting Disney: Gender Role Representations in Disney’s Princess Films.”
The series would be broken down into individual, weekly podcasts, addressing popular Disney
Princess films, beginning with more recent releases and going back in time to older classics. For
the purpose of this project, I only created two podcasts, exemplifying one new, Disney’s Frozen
released in 2013, and one old, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast released in 1991, example of
Disney’s gender role representation for princess characters.
My podcasts were based upon research from eight scholarly sources that analyzed the
film content and recognized prominent gender roles and their frequency via the coding of
character traits. In addition, each source offered background information on the media’s effects
on young children. Some, more specifically, included the effects of Disney’s gender portrayal on
preadolescents. I included this background knowledge in my first podcast as an introduction to
the series and then connected it back to both Frozen and Beauty and the Beast , using specific
examples from the movies. I expanded upon these articles’ examples by including actual sound
clips from the films, not only making the example more recognizable for listeners but also
keeping them engaged.
To successfully formulate this project, we were required to meet specific checkpoints
throughout the semester as required by Dr. Kretz. First, we submitted a brief proposal, proposing
an area we were interested in researching the effects of. I determined my focus, gender role
representations in Disney’s princess films, easily, as I had taken Dr. Kretz’s course on gender
and media the semester prior and had a great number of resources already at my disposal. The
second stage was collecting eight to 12 scholarly sources that could potentially serve as the basis
for our research. While a few came from Dr. Kretz’s lectures during my previous semester with
her, the rest were found via Google Scholar, searching for articles, not only on gender
representations and their effects but specific to Disney’s Frozen and Beauty and the Beast. All 12
of my sources were verified by Dr. Kretz. By the next stage of the process, though, creating a
draft to have critiqued by our peers, I had boiled my list of scholarly sources to only eight with a
few pictures and videos being cited alongside. To begin my draft, I first planned out my podcast
on Frozen with old fashioned paper and pencil, writing down how the podcast would naturally
progress. The podcast begins with an introduction to the series, providing initial information on
the media’s role in constructing social norm, particularly dominant social and cultural
conceptions of femininity and masculinity. This is followed by narrowing in on film’s effects,
and furthermore, Disney films. The first podcast focuses solely on Frozen . From here, a content
analysis would occur, identifying specific examples of stereotypical gender representations, and
then looking at the negative effects of these examples on young children. Finally, listeners would
be offered potential solutions, most notably the development of media literacy. The draft I
brought to class was only partially completed with a mere seven minutes recorded. After
receiving peer feedback, I added in background images to my podcasts and finished collecting
and recording information in the order stated previously. I followed the same procedure while
creating my podcast on Beauty and the Beast , minus the extensive background information
introducing the series that was included at the beginning of the Frozen audio. iMovie was used to
combine my audio, recorded via iPhone, and images.
Reflecting on my project, I do not quite believe that I achieved my purpose. The content
was certainly present with in depth background, content analysis, effects of gender role
representation and potential solutions for parents. I do believe, though, that there may have been
a more effective way of presenting this information. Being so content heavy may have caused the
listeners to lose interest, regardless of my integration of music into the podcast as an attempt to
keep them engaged. Furthermore, my organization of topics in the podcast places the effects of
these gender role representations at the end. Because this is the primary focus of the project, I am
now realizing it may have been a better choice to present this information closer to the
beginning. Whether or not I included all information necessary for the audience’s understanding,
this podcast cannot fully be successful or achieve its intended purpose without being presented
and organized in the most practical way.
Works Cited
Buck, C., Lee, J., Wermers, S., & Deters, K. (Directors). (2014). Frozen [Motion picture on
DVD]. United States: Disney/Pixar.
Coyne, S. M., Linder, J. R., Rasmussen, E. E., Nelson, D. A., & Birkbeck, V. (2016). Pretty
as a Princess: Longitudinal Effects of Engagement With Disney Princesses on
Gender Stereotypes, Body Esteem, and Prosocial Behavior in Children. Child
Development, 87(6), 1909-1925. doi:10.1111/cdev.12569.
England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-Meek, M. A. (2011). Gender Role Portrayal and the
Disney Princesses. Sex Roles, 64(7-8), 555-567. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9930-7.
Golden, J. C., & Jacoby, J. W. (2017). Playing Princess: Preschool Girls’ Interpretations of
Gender Stereotypes in Disney Princess Media. Sex Roles, 79(5-6), 299-313.
doi:10.1007/s11199-017-0773-8.
Hill, K. M. (2010). The Making of a Disney Princess. McNair Scholars Journal, 11, 83-96.
Hynes, A. (2010). Raising Princesses? Gender socialization in early childhood and the Disney
Princess franchise. Critical Social Thinking: Policy and Practice, 2, 205-216.
Iamrebecalopez. Light Snowflake By Iamrebecalopez - Disney Frozen Snowflake [Png].
Retrieved from
https://www.pngkey.com/detail/u2w7a9q8o0i1t4e6_light-snowflake-by-iamrebecalopezdisney-
frozen-snowflake-png/.
Johnson, R. M. (2015). The Evolution of Disney Princesses and their Effect on Body Image,
Gender Roles, and the Portrayal of Love. Educational Specialist, 6-56. Retrieved from
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/edspec201019/6/.