Hello there,

I don't know if this is the sort of thing anyone can help with here but I'm running out of ideas and getting desperate! I'm trying to find an anlalytical framework for my dissertation - "Neo-malthusianism and it's depiction in film - the case of Disney's WALLE"
I'm a geography student not a media student. I've got a long list of examples, metaphors, symbols and evidence but am struggling to fit it to a methodological framework. I originally planned on using content analysis for its replicability and quantitative approach but this doesn't work with the more subtle plot developments and metaphors. Semiotics also doesn't encompass everything, neither does discourse analysis. I'm worried that it'll end up being 10,000 words of "Niall says this (thats me), Niall says that", but then the marker will just say "this is all just opinion"
I'd thought of breaking down neo-malhusian ideals then "searching" the film for evidence of these things (although I know they're there already) - could something like that work?

Sorry if this isn't the sort of thing I should be posting here, but I thought it was worth a try!

Regards, Niall

That's a hard one!

You say semiotics doesn't encompass everything but rarely is there a framework that has absolutely everything a person needs, surely? Would it be possible to take a 'nearly' suitable framework and adapt it to your work??? That could be your contribution to knowledge as it were. My understanding of your work is that it fits into cultural geography. Have you tried looking through the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography via ScienceDirect for ideas? There is a sub-section on Media which might help, or at the very least point you to some authors or frameworks worth investigating. If you don't have full access you should still be able to see the abstracts. I have full access if you need anything.