Transformation of heroines' character design: semiotic analysis of Walt Disney animated films after 2000

This thesis aims to reveal the relationship and change of the characters' designs in the films made by Walt Disney, one of the biggest studios in the animation sector, after the 2000s, with the social movements and waves of the era. In the thesis, these change processes were explicitly examined in relation to character design, with a primary focus on the presentation styles of heroine characters in post-2000 animated films. In this context, the study examines how narratives in Walt Disney cinema have reflected the evolving social roles over time. These narratives are analyzed in relation to social waves and broader societal movements, with particular attention to transforming storytelling attitudes across different periods. In addition, the design language applied to ensure that the designed characters establish a suitable relationship with the stories in this new structure, the approaches they applied to develop this language, and the techniques they used were examined. In this context, to analyze female characters in animated films, firstly, social movements (such as the third and fourth feminism movements, Black Lives Matter and the Body Positivity Movement), character design and heroine concepts were discussed and a literature research covering the relationships/changes of these concepts over time was conducted. Then, the selected scenes were examined with semiotic analysis, a qualitative research method, and then interviews were conducted with expert designers.