"The Final Stretch"

Results: Throughout this entire journey, many conclusions were found and much data was discovered. By watching the 20 gendered horror films, I found, as I hypothesized, that the 10 male horror movies were more realistic by 17%. The male movies averaged a score of 66% on how lifelike they were, however, the females averaged a score of 49%. I was able to discover these findings by watching each movie and comparing to the list I made about real life serial killer cases. When each movie had a score, I was able to average by gender and compare each movie as well as each gender.

Discussion: These results prove that there is continuous misogyny within film, especially horror films. My research question touches base with these specifities as it mentions the different genders and how they are portrayed within movies. By developing this data, it helps further the conversation in shedding more light on female serial killers and giving them the attention and portrayal to not allow them to get away with such things easier since media and movies display the idea that there are no female serial killers. Some limitations within my project though, were It took a long time to get special access while on the school wifi in order to watch some of my movies, as most were rated R. Another limitation I had was time. Most movies are around 1 hour, 30 minutes - 2 hours, meaning I could barely finish one movie in the span of a class period. Therefore, I had to do much of my data collection outside of class while still balancing a healthy school lifestyle. Another limitation that presented itself was the fact that there were very few female movies that fit into my project's requirements, making it harder to generate better data as the random movies, were not as random as they could have been. Meaning my data may be skewed into one direction, and may not be as replicable. Finally the last limitation within my research involved a problem within a movie. the movie Silence of The Lambs, had two serial killers, and when comparing each one to the distinction list they both came out with a 50% score, which has a 50% average, therefore I put that as the score. However, I did not do this with any other movie making it a limitation.

Conclusion: Finally...I am headed home. After a long and adenturous year, I have accomplished much and am so glad I risked it all for the one moment experienced at the Center of The Earth, I couldn't have asked for more. The data collected within my project touches on the implication of gender roles and the way they play a part in our everyday lives. Misogyny has been around for a very long time, and it being further displayed within the media does not help. It only further strengthens this issue, which is why this topic needs to be further researched. Some future steps that people can take in order to fix or mediate this situation are to stop giving serial killers media and fame. Not only is it dismantling the severity of the situation, but it is giving others who want the fame the same ideas. People could also prevent the misogynistic side of this problem, by doing more research on more than just males. While this is obviously easier said than done, I believe that with enough time we can learn more about these killers and implement new ways to prevent them from continuing to be in the media. 

Reflection Throughout the Inquiry Process: 

If you could revisit your research process, what would you do differently and why? If I could revisit my research project I would make sure I gave myself more time to watch the movies as I had wanted to rewatch some parts of the movie to clarify information however did not have time to do so. I would also create more graphs and compare specific movies based on time and compare how movies have changed over time to create more data. 

How did your expert adviser facilitate your deeper understanding of the research process? My expert adviser, Special Agent Debby Michaels helped facilitate my deeper understanding of the research process, because she led me the right direction to find past case knowledge that I needed in order to create some of the biggest aspects of my research. Since this knowledge is typically gained by being an expert within this field, having Agent Michaels there to answer question or clarify any confusion helped me feel more solid within my direction as well as findings.