“Because us weirdos stick together”: A critical discourse analysis of representations of “weirdness” and kinship in Disney's animated kids tv-series The Owl House

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines the discourses and experiences of what it means to be “weird” through representation of the phenomenon in the popular Disney kid’s cartoon The Owl House. By following Fairclough’s five-step model and theoretical framework for critical discourse analysis, the analysis reveals that discourses within the fictional world are woven around a tightly hegemonic system of ideology and identity formation, which works to exclude denizens who do not “fit in”. The analysis mainly utilizes Stuart Hall’s understanding of stereotypes and hegemony, Foucault's panopticism, and bell hooks discussions of othering and kinship that characters in The Owl House who experience these exclusions are then drawn to one another, forming new bonds of kinship, and are able to, despite the othering they have faced, resist the oppressive power system together. The results chapter concludes that representations of “weirdness” in The Owl House are linked to practices of othering though stereotypes that are encouraged in the fictional society. The response of kinship then becomes an act of counterhegemonic rebellion. Additionally, the thesis discusses what it means for a markedly progressive show like The Owl House to still engage with topics that have otherwise been neutralized as too controversial for Disney.