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Hi everyone I'm back with another blog post! In case you're just joining my research journey now or if you just need a refresher, let me remind you of the basic elements of my project.
My research question is, "Which demographic’s narratives are most prevalent in recent films about World War II from the major countries involved?"
I am conducting a conceptual content analysis on 12 movies made about World War II from 6 major countries involved: the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. My goal is to determine which demographics are most often portrayed by quantifying main characters based on sex, race, nationality, and occupation.
These are the movies I'm watching:
Midway (USA), Unbroken (USA), Dunkirk (GB), Churchill (GB), Female Agents (France), The Roundup (France), Downfall (Germany), Land of Mine (Germany), The Duck Hunter (Italy), Miracle at St. Anna (Italy), The Fighter Pilot (Japan), and Hanagatami (Japan).
Progress:
Since my last post, I have begun conducting my actual research (filming my movie!). At this point, I have either finished or at least started watching half of the films: Midway, Unbroken, Dunkirk, Churchill, Female Agents, and The Roundup.
I first compiled background data on the movies. I noted the release dates and locations, directors and casts, a synopsis, revenues, and IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Then, I began actually watching the movies.
I have assigned characters to their respective categories and taken qualitative notes on how characters of different demographics interact and treat each other.
Here is a photo of me watching Female Agents.
Here's another photo of me watching Midway.
As I have conducted my research, I have noticed that in all of the movies that I have watch so far, the categories that appeared most often were white and males. This supports my hypothesis.
The movies that I have watched so far were all made in countries that were part of the Allies during World War II. This means that they all had common enemies that were portrayed as such. The movies I watched featured Germany and Japan as the "enemies." I expect that as I begin to watch the films from Germany, Italy, and Japan, I will see different countries portrayed as the enemies.
Here is a section of my data table so far. The whole thing is too long to fit, so I just included a section of it.
Table 1
Setbacks:
I have run into some setbacks while conducting my research. After beginning the first movie, I realized that it is not feasible for me to quantify all background characters, especially when they are part of large units of soldiers. I had to change my research to only focus on the more main characters who have more lines and screen time.
I also struggled with keeping track of all of the characters. I made lists of as many possible characters as I could before watching a movie, but I found it difficult to determine which character was which in the film itself. This made it difficult to assign them to categories.
Despite these setbacks, I have been able to generate some data, and I hope to finish watching the movies and begin my statistical tests in the next couple of weeks!
Here's some visuals of the movies I'm watching in case you're interested!
Thank you to all who have been with me throughout this process so far! Check back in soon for another update!
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