Hi there,
I'm a Media Studies student actually working on my thesis about body positivity but I'm having a hard time designing my project. I'm considering using two different documentaries : "Gracious Curves" (or Naisenkaari), directed by Kiti Luostarinen and from 1997 and "Embrace" by Taryn Brumfitt which was launched in 2016. Nearly 20 years are separating the two productions so I think it could be interesting to tackle the representation of this (original) movement, far away from what it is mainly known on Instagram, how it changed through a sociocultural perspective and what changed in its reception. Do their different sub-genre (the former, fluid and artistic, the latter, mainstream and educational) could be a problem here ? But, mostly, which method could I use ? Would a content analysis be more doable than a discourse analysis here?
I'm very very lost...
Thanks a lot!
You certainly could do content analysis, by creating a codebook that would allow you to do a systematic comparison of the two sources. This approach usually emphasizes manifest rather than latent content, so discourse analysis would definitely take you in the other direction.
I wonder if there is some creative way to combine these two methods?
Nadira Khanum Thanks a lot for your feedback, I really appreciate it ! I see what you mean (I'm very new to research so struggling a bit ahah).
So I'm thinking of asking "How the body positive movement is represented through the documentaries Gracious Curves and Embrace", my subquestions are "how did the body positivity movement change over time ?" and "How are viewers reacting to it?". I'm considering using the concepts of representation of Stuart Hall and Foucault's theory on body politics, knowledge and power. But also the Stuart Hall's theory on encoding/decoding regarding the reception of viewers.
As a result, I feel like a discourse analysis would be more appropriate but I don't know how to actually analyze the discourse produced in these two documentaries. Should I go with recurrent and similar themes in the two docs, like for example, "a lack of self-love" or does it have to be more elaborate ?
Thanks a lot!
David L Morgan thanks for your feedback David, it is indeed really helpful!
I feel like a discourse analysis is more appropriate here. As asked to Nadira earlier, how the discourse analysis can be organized from a documentary ? Does it have to be thematic ?
Thanks a lot!
Marie
The references you cited definitely point in the direction of discourse analysis, but that is not one of my areas of expertise. I hope someone can give you some good examples of what that method looks like in practice.
Discourse analysis, in general, entails looking at language beyond the linguistic form to examine how it reflects and is shaped by socio-cultural values. Documentary analysis often involves critical discourse analysis. The following could serve as examples.
Jackson, D., Davison, I., & Brady, J. (2022). Institutional influences on the supervision of GP trainees: A documentary analysis. Education for Primary Care, 33(1), 13–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/14739879.2021.1888661
Li, J. (2020). Political TV documentary subtitling in China: A critical discourse analysis perspective. Perspectives, 28(4), 554–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2019.1609533
O’Connor, P., & Barnard, S. (2021). Problematising excellence as a legitimating discourse. In P. O’Connor & K. White (Eds.), Gender, power and higher education in a globalised world (pp. 47–69). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69687-0_3
Good luck,
I think that you could also use a hybrid approach. You start with a codebook and add themes / codes that appear in movies but don't exist in theories (content analysis plus coding).
As I know, discourse analysis refers only to written or spoken language. I think you will have to add something visual, I guess you have to analyze images too.
lorentina Scârneci-Domnișoru There are two different types of discourse analysis. I think that in referring to written or spoken language, you are pointing to the version that is basically a form of conversation analysis. The other is much more interpretive and is often associated with Foucault.
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