Introduction
Hi! My name is Baiyu Wang.
I am a sophomore double major in Sociology and International Study.
Winter 2021
WR39A: Disney & Gender
About Writing 39A
This course is an introduction to writing and rhetoric. It focuses on improving students' writing ability, and help them to use "Habit in Mind" in the learning process.
We are going to discover and discuss how Disney films connect to social construction. Especially the question: "How do Disney films contribute to the construction of society's values and norms about gender roles? Have these values changed over time?"
Writing Showcase
Intro
This page reveals the process of how I completed an analysis essay around the course question:
“How do Disney films contribute to the construction of society’s values and norms about gender roles?”
Through reading academic articles, watching movies, and browsing websites, I learned how to apply readings skills to various kinds of texts. Completing the assignments of annotation, podcast script and exploratory writing also helped me improve my written literacy and overall communication ability across multiple media. In addition, Writing 39A made me realize the importance of peer review and let me practice how to give helpful peer review to others. Because getting feedback from others can help me understand problems I am not aware of and through the process of peer review, I can stand at different perspectives.
1. Planning and Exploratory Writing
Annotation
This screenshot shows an annotation of the main characters’ Dialogue, Does, and Lyrics in Beauty and the Beast (2017). I focused on the analysis of Bella’s lyrics. Bella is not satisfied with her present life and what she pursues I not just to marry someone in the future, which illustrates that women begin to have their own pursuit and start to break through the traditional gender role.
This assignment helps me to apply reading skills to various texts. Even though it’s not my first time watching the film Beauty and the Beast, I have never made such an in-depth analysis of the composition of its characters and I have never noticed how lyrics embodied the gender role.
Exploratory Writing
This is exploratory writing about “Killing Us Softly 4” and “Looking into the Magic Mirror,” which provides me with the basic concept of the social construction of gender roles and also gives me a general understanding of the specific performance of Disney in gender role building. Hass and Trapedo’s article let me know that Disney has a broader definition of love in Frozen, rather than pursuing the romantic plot between the prince and the princess.
The inspiration brought by this article also ultimately influence the theme of my analysis essay, which about the transformation of true love in Disney Princess movies. From this assignment, I improved “Openness” and “Curiosity” in Habit of Mind. “Looking into the Magic Mirror” opens my mind to how Disney portrays gender and raises my curiosity about how Disney defines true love at different times.
2.Peer Review
This is the best peer review I give, because she provides a clear concept for social construction, and explains in detail why Disney has made a significant contribution in shaping children’s cultural values. Before reading this student’s work, I have been puzzled about how to reflect the importance of Disney in the dissemination of social construction ideas and excessively discussed the theme of gender roles changing. This peer review assignment helped me to open up ideas, and by absorbing the advantages of others, my essay’s structure also got improved.
This is the best peer review I get, because her advice helped me clarify the thesis and revise my essay. She mentioned that there are not many arguments in my outline that ties to the definition of true love. I focus more on the change of romantic elements in the plot, however, this is not what I want to show in my analysis essay. Therefore, I readjust the emphasis of the argument and the selection of evidence. Her peer review made me understand the shortcomings of my essay from a more objective perspective, and also made me understand the importance of peer review in course objectives.
3. Self-Review
This sentence makes it difficult for readers to understand why Bella has her own personality and is different from her previous Disney Princess in shaping her gender role.
Therefore, the appropriate introduction of the movie plot and the relevant background can better construct the logical structure of the paper, so as to help readers better understand the changes in gender roles in Disney movies of different times. Through this time’s self-review, I can reconsider the logical structure of the essay from the perspective of readers, so as to enhance the continuity and readability of the article.
Although I quoted Camila Rojas' analysis of love in Beauty and the Beast to reflect Disney’s changes in the depiction of princess’s gender image in accordance with times, readers may still be difficult to understand. Therefore, I should join in my own more specific analysis.
The part in grey highlight needs to be integrated into my own words, so as to better connect with the embodiment of true love in Disney movies of different times. In the process of writing, the author combs the logic of the essay based on his or her own thinking, so it is easy to ignore the part that is not readable for readers. Therefore, it is important to do a self-review.
4. Revision
The part highlighted by gray is before the revision, while the part highlighted by yellow is after the revision.
This is the second paragraph of my introduction. According to the suggestions of my classmates in the peer review, I provide more background information about the development of feminism in the revision. And I associated the characteristics of feminism wave with three films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast and Frozen, so as to explain the reasons for the selection of these three films for my analysis essay.
This revision is made in the body paragraph of my analysis of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. To make readers understand why snow white is passive in love, I add a piece of evidence to illustrate women's social situation when Disney made this film. Connecting the social background with the movie's plot proves that Disney movies are the product of conforming to social values.
