Från chick flicks till TikTok : En multimodal kritisk diskursanalys

This study examines whether there is a correlation between micro-trends on the social media platform TikTok and the portrayal of female characters in chick flick films from the 1950s to 2010s. While earlier research has seen TikTok’s micro-trends as more of a unique phenomenon for the platform, this study views the micro-trends as part of a broader context regarding femininity and norms. The study investigates two femininity ideals: normative femininity and alternative femininity, exploring how the selected micro-trends and their portrayal of femininity compares to the portrayal of female characters in film. The study aims to answer the following research questions: How do chick flick films and TikTok’s aesthetics-focused micro-trends visualize ideals of normative and alternative femininity?How do TikTok’s aesthetics-focused micro-trends reflect and differ from feminine characters in the chick flick film genre? The method used is a three step multimodal discourse analysis. By using the concepts denotation, connotation and grammar it will help collect and analyze the material on a surface level, deeper cultural level and the visual elements in relation to one another. After analyzing the collected material, Young Wives' Tale (1951), Grease (1978), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and Easy A (2010) and 20 selected TikTok-posts, it was concluded that there is a pattern between how characters are portrayed visually between film and TikTok but they differed in the personality, especially the normative femininity. In conclusion further research is needed to explore the relationship between the two media forms.