Investigating the Gendered Behaviours Displayed by Influential Disney, Marvel and Star Wars Protagonists and Examining the Link Between Children’s Engagement with these Franchises and their Play Behaviour.

Abstract

This thesis reports a programme of research that explored the gendered messages within influential Disney feature length animations, a Star Wars animated television series, and a Marvel animated television series. It also examined extent to which engagement with these franchises statistically predicted children’s gendered behaviour and weapon play. The first study of this thesis was a quantitative content analysis of thirty-nine Disney protagonists. The results showed that some of the ‘earliest’ female Disney protagonists were the most feminine analysed, although almost all were more feminine than masculine. The male Disney protagonists seemed to adhere to less stereotypes, and were, generally, more feminine than masculine overall. Study two investigated how gender was portrayed in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Star Wars Star Wars Rebels animated television series, utilising Thematic Analysis. This was important as the Walt Disney Corporation recently acquired these franchises. The results revealed that stereotypical masculinity was portrayed by the male protagonists within each series, however, the female protagonists in Star Wars Rebels seemed more genuinely valued than the female superhero in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble. The third study of this thesis utilised parent report methodology to investigate whether engagement with the Disney, Marvel and Star Wars franchises statistically predicted children’s level of gendered behaviour and weapon play, as well as whether parental mediation and exposure to television violence moderated any established relationships. The results indicted that although each franchise did predict gender stereotypical behaviour and weapon play, there were some unexpected gender differences in the relationships. It was concluded that the producers of Disney, Star Wars and Marvel media should be made aware of the relationship between the gendered messages within their content and children’s behaviour. Additionally, parents and children should be educated on this topic, with the aim to reduce the relationships that were found. Chapter seven summarises the results of each study and considers the implications of the current findings.