Research Proposal

    My topic for my research includes further analysis of the movie "Finding Nemo." I have picked this topic as a cultural artifact because it is well known and extremely popular. I have seen this movie as a young child, and recently the sequel "Finding Dory" has been released. This movie may hold more importance to other people, but it was a huge hit when it came out in 2003. Finding Nemo is the 4th most successful pixar movie, but Finding Dory came in first place. This movie is popular because of the emotional appeal is leaves on the audience.
     Some possible ways to analysis this artifact is through the message it teaches and the qualities involved with the characters. For example,  in the beggining of Finding Nemo, there was a mass murder. The larger fish swoop into their home and ate Nemo's mother, and all of his siblings. Now, his father is an overprotective single man left to raise his son alone. Because of the incident, Nemo's had been deformed. His one fin is shorter than the other and this is another reason why his father is overprotective of him. This also makes Nemo ostracized and difficult for him to fit in with the other kids. Other than this, the movie shows the danger of strangers and young children being alone. Nemo gets kidnapped and this sends his father on a crazy chase for him. During this chase he runs into another fish who has a mental disability. Her name is Dory and she has short-term memory loss. Together, they swim through dangerous waters and even run into the mafioso. While this is happening, Nemo is locked up in the fish tank. Aside from not being a criminal, the fish tank represents a jail. All the fish in the tank with Nemo have become crazy from being trapped in it. While inside the jail, they are aware death is coming. The death that they are afraid of is a human girl named Darla. In regards to all of this information, I have chose to pick out three things and anaylisis them into further detail. I will be choosing the single father household, the deformity of the child, and the kidnapping that occurs.

     I believe this artifact shows young children the dangers of the world, and the importance of having someone who loves/cares about you. It teaches many lessons to children, as well as adults. So far, I have found some research regarding this.  According to the the 2000 census, in 2.2 million households, fathers raise their children without a mother. That's about one household in 45.(Armas). Along with this information about single fathers, I have also researched the effects of overprotective parents on a child. This goes hand in hand with stranger danger and the kidnapping of Nemo because of the message that overprotective plays in the child's mind. Being overprotective makes the child think that the world as a whole is not a safe place. This may lead to further problems within the child.  I have more research to do in order to further analysis the artifact.

ARMAS, GENARO C. "Single-Father Homes on the Rise." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. 

 

 

"Pixar." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. 

 

 

"Overprotective Parents Effects on Children." Overprotective Parents Effects on Children | 2KnowMySelf. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

 

 

Bagner, D. M. (2013). Father’s role in parent training for children with developmental delay. Journal of Family Psychology, 27(4), 650-657. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033465 

 Brussoni, M. and L. L. Olsen. "The Perils of Overprotective Parenting: Fathers' Perspectives Explored." Child: Care, Health & Development, vol. 39, no. 2, Mar. 2013, pp. 237-245. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01361.x.