Dr Robyn Muir
Academic and research departments
Sociology, Innovations in methodology, Inequalities and diversities, Families and the life course.About
Biography
Hello! I am a Lecturer in Media and Communication in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey.
I am a feminist media scholar, interested in how identity is constructed and interpreted within cultural phenomenon. Currently, my research focuses on the images of femininity in the Disney Princess Phenomenon and consumer meaning making. Through my book, The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis, I have explored princess films, merchandise and consumer experiences through facet methodology and a range of methods to provide a holistic understanding of the princesses and their wider representations within society.
I am the founder and director of the Disney, Culture and Society Research Network, an international and interdisciplinary space for Disney Studies scholars.
Areas of specialism
University roles and responsibilities
- Academic Integrity Officer
- Member of the Department of Sociology Athena Swan Committee
- Member of the Department of Sociology Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
My qualifications
News
ResearchResearch interests
My interdisciplinary expertise lies within exploring images and constructions of femininity within cultural phenomenon. Currently, I am focusing on the images of femininity within the Disney Princess Phenomenon, however my interests span across the entire Walt Disney Company from Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Theme Parks, Merchandising and Marketing.
More widely, I am interested in media literacy, feminist media studies, media and communication theories, feminist theory, sociological understandings of identity and youth culture, and politics.
My methodological expertise spans across qualitative methods including interviews, focus groups, autoethnography, participant observation, content analysis, film analysis, textual analysis and social media analysis. As a facet methodologist, I am interested in how methods can be creatively combined to shine a light on unseen elements of a complex phenomenon. More specifically, I use facet methodology to explore multiple facts of the Disney Princess Phenomenon to widen our understanding of the role of Disney Princesses in girl culture, focusing on the facets of film, merchandising and consumer experiences as ways for consumers to make meaning.
In my public engagement work, I focus on using my research on the Disney Princesses to facilitate and co create media literacy tools with consumers of princess culture. I use online tools such as Padlet, as well as drawing to explore how consumers interpret the Disney Princesses.
Research projects
Images of Femininity in the Disney Princess PhenomenonIn my first monograph, The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis, I explore the image of femininity within the $1.686bn Disney Princess Phenomenon, mapping the representation of women onto feminist cultural history and providing an original contribution to Disney Studies, Feminist Media Studies and Media and Communications by closely analysing marketing, merchandising and consumer experiences. I use facet methodology to holistically investigate different elements of the phenomenon and provide an innovative methodological contribution through a transferable film analysis framework. Overall, the book provides a holistic understanding of the Disney Princess Phenomenon.
Influencer Culture in the Digital Age: From Princesses to 'Post' Envy (PI)Funded by UKRI eNurture Network
Together with Emily Setty, this project explore girl's and young women's negotiations of influencer culture in the digital age, and the opportunities and risks that come with it. We will be co-creating media literacy resources as a new practice model to empower girls and young women's critical engagement with influencer culture through age-stratified insights.
Dream Big Princess? Consumer Meaning Making of the Disney Princess Phenomenon (PI)Funded by BA/Leverhulme Small Grant
This project takes a life course approach with children, tweens, young adults and adults, exploring consumer meaning making of the Disney Princess Phenomenon.
Research interests
My interdisciplinary expertise lies within exploring images and constructions of femininity within cultural phenomenon. Currently, I am focusing on the images of femininity within the Disney Princess Phenomenon, however my interests span across the entire Walt Disney Company from Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Theme Parks, Merchandising and Marketing.
More widely, I am interested in media literacy, feminist media studies, media and communication theories, feminist theory, sociological understandings of identity and youth culture, and politics.
My methodological expertise spans across qualitative methods including interviews, focus groups, autoethnography, participant observation, content analysis, film analysis, textual analysis and social media analysis. As a facet methodologist, I am interested in how methods can be creatively combined to shine a light on unseen elements of a complex phenomenon. More specifically, I use facet methodology to explore multiple facts of the Disney Princess Phenomenon to widen our understanding of the role of Disney Princesses in girl culture, focusing on the facets of film, merchandising and consumer experiences as ways for consumers to make meaning.
In my public engagement work, I focus on using my research on the Disney Princesses to facilitate and co create media literacy tools with consumers of princess culture. I use online tools such as Padlet, as well as drawing to explore how consumers interpret the Disney Princesses.
Research projects
In my first monograph, The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis, I explore the image of femininity within the $1.686bn Disney Princess Phenomenon, mapping the representation of women onto feminist cultural history and providing an original contribution to Disney Studies, Feminist Media Studies and Media and Communications by closely analysing marketing, merchandising and consumer experiences. I use facet methodology to holistically investigate different elements of the phenomenon and provide an innovative methodological contribution through a transferable film analysis framework. Overall, the book provides a holistic understanding of the Disney Princess Phenomenon.
Funded by UKRI eNurture Network
Together with Emily Setty, this project explore girl's and young women's negotiations of influencer culture in the digital age, and the opportunities and risks that come with it. We will be co-creating media literacy resources as a new practice model to empower girls and young women's critical engagement with influencer culture through age-stratified insights.
Funded by BA/Leverhulme Small Grant
This project takes a life course approach with children, tweens, young adults and adults, exploring consumer meaning making of the Disney Princess Phenomenon.
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
I am happy to consider research proposals in the following areas:
Disney
- Disney Princesses
- Franchises: Star Wars, Marvel
- Disney Animation
- Pixar
- Disney Channel
- Disney+
- Disney Merchandising
- Disney Theme Parks
- Disney Consumer Experiences
- Disney Audiences
Representations within Popular Culture
Representations within Children's Media
Media Audiences
Consumer Experiences
Merchandising
Teaching
I teach on both undergraduate Media and Communications and Sociology programmes, in addition to supervising undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.
This academic year, you will find me teaching on:
Semester 1
Living Sociology (SOC1053)
Semester 2
Current Issues in Digital Societies (SOC1045)
Public Relations in the Digital Age (SOC3081)
I use a range of teaching methods and tools to enhance my student's learning experience and understanding. My sessions include Padlet, polls, group posters, debates, case studies, role play, group discussions with employability and transferable skills embedded throughout.
I am very passionate about research led teaching, and regularly use my research to situate concepts and ideas, as well as popular culture to enhance further engagement and understanding. In 2022, I was the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Early Career Teacher of the Year, and received the Vice Chancellor's Award for Early Career Teacher of the Year.
Publications
Highlights
The Disney Princess Phenomenon
A Feminist Analysis
The Disney Princesses are a billion-dollar industry, known and loved by children across the globe.
Robyn Muir provides an exploratory and holistic examination of this worldwide commercial and cultural phenomenon in its key representations: films, merchandising and marketing, and park experiences. Muir highlights the messages and images of femininity found within the Disney Princess canon and provides a rigorous and innovative methodology for analysing gender in media.
Including an in-depth examination of each princess film from the last 83 years, the book provides a lens through which to view and understand how Disney Princesses have contributed to the depiction of femininity within popular culture.
The Disney Princesses are a billion-dollar industry, known and loved by children across the globe.
Robyn Muir provides an exploratory and holistic examination of this worldwide commercial and cultural phenomenon in its key representations: films, merchandising and marketing, and park experiences. Muir highlights the messages and images of femininity found within the Disney Princess canon and provides a rigorous and innovative methodology for analysing gender in media.
Including an in-depth examination of each princess film from the last 83 years, the book provides a lens through which to view and understand how Disney Princesses have contributed to the depiction of femininity within popular culture.
The Disney Princesses are 18 royal characters featured in Disney and Pixar animated films, merchandise, marketing, and consumer experiences, marketed towards young consumers. Whilst much research has focussed on the representation of gender in Disney Princess films, there has been little focus on the rest of princess culture. This article argues that to understand the Disney Princess Phenomenon in its entirety, a new methodology must be introduced to the field. The article introduces Mason’s facet methodology as a methodological innovation to the fields of Disney and feminist media studies. A creative and innovative approach that allows researchers to ‘play’ with different methods to explore cultural phenomenon. Facet methodology imagines the selected phenomenon as a gemstone, where each ‘element’ or ‘part’ of the phenomenon is a facet of the overall gem. By using different methods to explore each facet, researchers can use findings to refract and reflect ‘light’ on each of the different elements of the phenomenon, demonstrating its entwined nature. The paper firstly outlines Jennifer Mason’s facet methodology. Secondly, it introduces the facets identified in the Disney Princess Phenomenon: films, merchandising and marketing, and consumer experiences. The article then focuses on how facet methodology enabled a creative and holistic approach to studying each facet of the princess phenomenon through a variety of research methods: textual analysis, interviews, content analysis, and autoethnography. The paper then reflects on the approach of facet methodology for research on the Disney Princess Phenomenon and in feminist media studies and media and communication, arguing that facet methodology provides researchers with insights to phenomena we would otherwise not uncover due to its holistic approach.