Category: Researcher’s Reflection Space

Writing this extended essay was an exciting learning experience for me that wasn’t as laborious as it initially seemed. One of the most important yet hard decisions was choosing a film from each phase of Disney cinema to analyse. Limiting the number of films, as well as choosing films that were well received in their respective Disney eras, provided me with the opportunity for in depth analysis that had a clear link with my research question. While this did not allow me to analyse as many movies as I had initially wanted, it allowed me to optimise the balance between analysing films from different phases while still being able to explore each phase thoroughly. Hence, I am happy with how the essay went and would not do it any differently.

 

So far, my research has been successful. I have managed to find adequate research for the topic of gender inequality in Disney princess movies. I have come across a couple of psychological studies as well that may aid in supporting my research. I have however, faced some challenges in terms of how to specifically write an English category 3 essay that fulfils all the required criteria. After conversing with my EE supervisor, I have realised that I need to use more appropriate terminology that links my essay with the category. Hence, I have changed my approach towards how I write the extended essay by shifting my focus to the stylistic devices used in the movies. I now have a better understanding of how to write the essay and am working on writing it through the lens of the subject area that I have selected.

 

One thing I’ve learned:

I have learned how to structure my introduction well as well as what to include while writing it. I also did some more research on the historical context of my topic as well as why it is important to write about the issue I am addressing.

 

What I’m proud of:

I am happy that I successfully managed to complete most of my introduction. I also got a clearer idea of how to structure the body paragraphs. After speaking to my EE supervisor I was able to understand the key things to include in the different parts of my essay.

 

What I’ll be doing next:

I will be completing my introduction and then do some more research about the language used as well as other features that propagate gender stereotypes in Disney films. I will then move on to doing my body paragraphs.

 

#EE Day

The topic that I have chosen to explore for my EE is the portrayal of gender stereotypes in Disney animated movies, and how this has evolved over the years. After conducting some initial research and analysing it, I realised that animated Disney movies can be segregated into three distinct phases based on their time period of production. I have selected some movies to focus on within each of these periods and am currently working on analysing them. The biggest problem I faced so far was identifying which movies I wanted to focus on. However, once I analysed my research more thoroughly, I found that there were some movies that were more relevant to my topic than others. I find this topic extremely interesting and am very passionate about gender equality. Hence, I have been enjoying the process of conducting research for my extended essay. I look forward to further developing my ideas.