Scroll down to visualize each of the three themes; From Skirts to Sweats: Changes in style over time, Boys, Books & Babysitting and Reimagining Femininity, and their evolution over the course of twenty years. The two themes From Skirts to Sweats: Changes in style over time and Boys, Books & Babysitting, are highlighted in the images by the yellow stars and red exclamation points. Both of these themes along with latent content analysis contributed to the final theme of Reimagining Femininity which refers to the characterization of each female lead.
Lizzie McGuire (2001)
This picture from one of the episodes highlights some of the major themes concluded in my research. First, From Skirts to Sweats: Changes in style over time; in this image, you can see hair accessories, make-up, jewelry, and her skirt. Second, her interests are shown in this particular scene as she is having a sleepover with her best friend. They are reading teen magazines and doing each other’s hair and make-up. Both of which can be seen as stereotypically ‘girly’ things to be doing at a sleepover. Which supports her characterization as a ‘girly girl’.
Screenshot from Lizzie McGuire Season 2 Episode 24 “Magic Train” DisneyPlus+
Hannah Montana (2005)
This screenshot from one of the Hannah Montana episodes highlights themes that exemplify shifts of female leads over time. The first theme; From Skirts to Sweats: Changes in style over time, is represented in this image as she has styled hair, is wearing make-up, jewelry, and nail polish. She is also wearing a tight shirt and a short skirt. Her mannerism in this scene with her hand on her hip emphasizes her characterization as a ‘princess’ as she is also styled as her pop-star persona.
Screenshot from Hannah Montana Season 3 Episode 1 “He Ain’t a Hottie, He’s my Brother” DisneyPlus+
Jessie (2011)
This picture highlights two of the themes found in my research. Jessie (on the right) is nannying. This picture also highlights her ‘girly’ style as she is wearing jewelry, a dress, and styled her hair. She also is exemplifying her characterization in this scene by standing up to the mean nanny at the park and being dedicated to her work. Both of these elements lead to her characterization as a ‘girly girl’ however shows more interest in work and standing up for what she believes in which was not present in earlier shows like Lizzie McGuire (2001) and Hannah Montana (2005).
Screenshot from Jessie Season 1 Episode 14 “World Wide Web of Lies” DisneyPlus+
Girl Meets World (2014)
This is a screenshot from the show Girl Meets world in which the main character Riley is represented. One of the major shifts of this female lead’s character was her interest in school and being a good student. Riley was the only character out of the sample of shows that displayed an interest in school. However, the theme From Skirts to Sweats: Changes in style over time, represents minimal change as she is still dressed in stereotypically female clothing. She does though have less styled hair and is not wearing make-up. She is wearing pink and has pink painted nails, as shown in the image. With these elements taken into account, Riley was characterized as ‘nerdy’, but also was styled as a ‘girly-girl’.
Screenshot from Girl Meets World Season 1 Episode 1 “Girl Meets World” DisneyPlus+
Gabby Duran and The Unsittables (2020)
This picture from one of the Gabby Duran episodes captures a few main themes that I found in my research. First, From Skirts to Sweats: Changes in style over time is depicted as she is wearing sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and sneakers. Her hair is not styled, and you can see she is not wearing any jewelry either. Another important part of this screenshot is to notice what is going on. At her sleepover, she wanted to be a prankster and cause trouble, so she did all of this to her house. Her mother in the scene is reprimanding her. The elements of this scene capture her characterization as a ‘tomboy’ because of her style and rebellious nature.
Screenshot from Gabby Duran and The Unsittables Season 1 Episode 10 “Sky’s First Youth Overnight Sleeping Event” DisneyPlus+
