Disney's Gender Norms
Description:
Last week, my classmates and I were put into groups to make a podcast that answers: "How do Disney films contribute to the construction of gender values?" Each group answered this question in different aspects. For example, my group particularly focused on the old versus new Disney gender roles in princess and superhero movies. On this page, I will analyze my process when creating this podcast, as well as a microsite. I will also be reflecting on how I think this project helped me progress in my course objectives.
The picture to the left is a screenshot from one of my blogs where I spoke about my pre-production meeting. Meeting on zoom with my classmates helped me to practice collaboration because I had to work with my group to come up with roles, ideas for podcasts, and so much more!
In this picture to the right, is a screenshot from a Youtube video I watched for class. Learning this term helped me develop my ideas for my podcast because I was able to speak about the way movies construct how a man and a woman should be and act.
Pre-Production:
Preparation and Planning
Weeks 1 through 7, my professor gave us assignments in which we will grow our understanding of social construction in Disney films. The three screenshots I included are what helped me most in answering the prompt for my group's podcast. For example in the image below is an example of one of my first annotations. Not only did this help me develop habits for engaged reading (in this case it was a video), but it helped open my eyes to how much media tells young girls what is considered "beautiful."
​In my podcast, I talked about how princess movies make young girls develop insecurities at a young age. This annotation helped me develop the idea because Kilbourne speaks about the things young girls see on television. To the left are other things I have worked on this quarter to help me in my planning for my podcast.
Production
Creating and Podcast and Microsite
The main role I had in my group was to research the music and images used in the podcast and website. Since I had one of the "easier" tasks, I contributed other ways as well so that my group and I had an equal amount of work. Ways I contributed were:
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The top photo is a screenshot of a message I sent to my group. I always made sure to schedule the meetings. This is an example of how I showed responsibility.
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The middle photo is a screenshot from my group's website. I contributed to decorating/ helping the microsite editor make the website look nice. This helped bring out my creativity. At the end of this paragraph is a link that will directly take you to my group's website!
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The last screenshot was one of my examples I talked about in the podcast. In the highlighted text, I talk about how Snow White wishes for a man the whole movie and I believe this makes young girls think they need to fall in love to be happy.
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Looking Ahead
Learning from Mistakes
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Through this podcast, I learned so much, especially considering I had never recorded a podcast. My group's goal was to try and make our podcast sound like a conversation, rather than sounding scripted. I always like to have a script in hand because I get very nervous when it comes to having the spotlight. I tend to blank out a lot because I am focusing too much on what I am going to say. For example, towards the end of my group's recording, I got nervous even though I was fine with the whole podcast (and every practice run-through). This caused me to blank out and nothing was coming to mind. I felt extremely horrible for my group because it was the final words and I didn't want to start over. Thankfully, I was able to do my own recording and the podcast editor was able to edit it into the recording. From this, I have learned I should practice much more but this exercise also really helped me practice my communication skills/ public speaking skills.
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What did you learn from collaborating that you can take into your future?
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My dream career is to become a physician assistant (PA). Just like I did with my groupmates, as a physician assistant, I will be working with a team. Practicing collaboration in this project has helped me in my communication and working with team skills. Ways I had to collaborate will my group were: agreeing on topics, being open to new ideas, being flexible with my time, and being curious. With a team, one has to be willing to brainstorm as a group (which my group and I did) and the reason why being flexible with your time is important is that it is not only your schedule. Meaning, when a group has to meet you have to be willing to come to an agreement on a time with everybody else.
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What ideas from the podcast will you put into the essay?
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In my podcast, I spoke about both princesses and superheroes. In my essay, I would like to focus on just princesses. More specifically, I would like to write about the way old Disney princesses were portrayed versus how they are now portrayed. Two Disney female characters I would like to compare are Snow White and Mulan. I believe Snow White is a great example to show how older films mainly focus on a female finding a man and her main duties in the movie are to clean. With Mulan, it is different because the story of Mulan is focused on her trying to protect her family and standing up for what she believes in. This shows young viewers that anyone is capable of doing anything they want. Gender doesn't define who is a hero and who isn't. It takes courage and bravery to be a hero.
