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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until May 01, 2030

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Arabs and Muslims in Disney Animated Films: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Film Content and IMDb Reviews

Elhersh, Ghanem Ayed
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6030-1356
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1646944210964682

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Mass Communication (Communication).
Media and representation of minorities have long been a focus of attention in communication and social science research. Media representation allowed scholars to move beyond understanding people in the mediated texts as just a portrayal or reflection of the existing reality. It saturated the media stream and established norms and common sense about minorities, cultures, and institutions in modern society. While a great deal of academic research has been conducted on the representations of Arabs and Muslims in Western media and Hollywood, little research which examines the representations of Arabs in Disney animated films were noticed. Therefore, this dissertation centers on the portrayal of Arabs in Disney animated films. It aims to identify the most prominent frames used by Walt Disney to portray Arabs, focusing on whether such films frame Arabs regarding their penchant for violence and terrorism and how they may exhibit sexist images. In addition, it seeks to explore a realization among Disney online audiences of possible negative depictions of Arabs and the story patterns assigned to them. The basis of this research was ten Disney animated films and audiences’ opinions and reviews on those films. A mixed-methods convergent parallel design was employed to attain a complementary set of results that would complement one another and, therefore, strengthen the research’s overall findings. Specifically, both framing analysis and quantitative textual analysis were used. Framing analysis findings revealed that the behavioral and violence frames were the most prominent frames of Arabs in Disney animation. Also, detailed explanations of Arab images in terms of violence, terrorism, and sexism were offered and discussed. The results on quantitative textual analysis of the IMDb dataset indicated that six main themes emerged, Aladdin, Original Disney, Disney Music, Disney Magic, Entertainment Production, and Animate. Also, the quantitative results illustrated the main concepts in the dataset and their relation to other terms in the corpus using Voyant-tools. The mixed-methods results enhanced the depth and breadth of knowledge regarding Arab representations in Disney.
M. Laeeq Khan (Advisor)
198 p.
Film Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media
Media representation; Arabs and Muslims; Disney animation; Hollywood films; IMDb; mixed methods research; social data analytics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Elhersh, G. A. (2022). Arabs and Muslims in Disney Animated Films: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Film Content and IMDb Reviews [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1646944210964682

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Elhersh, Ghanem Ayed. Arabs and Muslims in Disney Animated Films: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Film Content and IMDb Reviews. 2022. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1646944210964682.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Elhersh, Ghanem Ayed. "Arabs and Muslims in Disney Animated Films: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Film Content and IMDb Reviews." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1646944210964682

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1646944210964682
© 2022, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.