Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Fairchild, Emily

Area of Concentration

Sociology

Abstract

While sociologists have discussed everyday dress as costume and elements of the relationship between women and media representation, there has been very little discussion of women’s costumes in media. This thesis examines what is communicated about femininity and identity through costume directions by performing a content analysis of five female ensemble screenplays: The Women (2008), Whip It (2009), For Colored Girls (2010), Bridesmaids (2011), and Pitch Perfect (2012). Three main findings are discussed: the narrative judgments applied to women’s costumes highlight the invisibility of doing femininity appropriately unless there is something to which it can be contrasted, costumes act as vehicles for transformation by juxtaposing the expectations of group identities with the female character, and costumes act as primary identifiers for characters with little screen time. Costumes in screenplays provide a medium through which performances of femininity can be evaluated and compared to other performances of femininity in order to give them meaning, which is in agreement with the existing sociological literature on gender performativity and dress as costume.

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