Taylors College Petaling Jaya

Name: Ong Siew Lee Jade Lynn Ng Mei Jin Justina Yong Phuey-Mun Tan Shiow Qi Student ID: 0503K53583 0503K53756 0503K53729 0503K54093 Communication Research Method (KST 231) Research Project: Group Assignment (25%) Lecturer: Dr. Lean Mei Li Title: Electronic Media Fairy Tales: The Significance of Physical Appearance in Young Female Audience Deadline: 7 April 2006

Table of Contents
Title Abstract 1.0) Introduction 1.1) Introduction 1.2) Research Problem 1.3) Research Questions 1.4) Research Limitation 1.5) Operationalization of definition 2.0) Literature Review 3.0) Methodology 3.1) Research Method 3.2) Instrumentation 3.3) Data Description 3.3.1) Choice and Selection of Data 3.3.2) Data Collection 3.3.3) Data Presentation 4.0) Data Analysis and Discussion 4.1) Data Analysis 4.2) Discussion 5.0) Conclusion 5.1) Overview 5.2) Major findings 5.3) Implications for further research 6.0) Reference 7.0) Appendix Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Page 1

2 2 4 4 4 5

7 7 8 9 9 9 11

13 13 13 15

17 18 27

ABSTRACT Electronic Media Fairy Tales: The Significance of Physical Appearance to Young Malaysian Female Audience Lily Ong Siew Lee, Jade Lynn Ng Mei Jin, Jolene Tan Shiow Qi and Justina Yong PhueyMun This study aims to discover the effects of viewing electronic media fairy tales to young Malaysian female audiences perception of physical appearance. The theory used for this research is the cultivation theory. The researchers firstly distributed surveys to discover the audiences basic idea of beauty and its connection to fairy tales. Next, the researchers conducted a focus group to discover if there was an immediate effect in the audiences concept of physical appearance after watching electronic media fairy tales with different beauty concepts imparted within: Shrek and Cinderella. For the surveys, the surveys were distributed to 100 random female samples in the Klang Valley. The focus group was attended by 13 female students of Taylor's College. It is discovered from the research that the young female audiences in Malaysia do believe the reality of physical appearance in fairy tales, but only applied the reality to how they view themselves, like how they want to be beautiful like fairy tale heroines. However, the reality is not applied to how they differentiate between friends and villains. They do not believe that ugly people are villains and that beautiful people have a beautiful personality most of the time so fairy tales have no effect on majority of the audiences on how they differentiate between villains and friends based on physical appearance. It is also discovered that the audiences will not succumb easily to the reality of electronic media fairy tales on physical appearance if the audiences see a flaw that overwhelms the factor of physical appearance. For example, Cinderellas submissive attitude prevented the audience from believing the reality of how beautiful she was.

1.1 Introduction Fairy tales are these wonderful magical tales that have been told since the dawn of time. According to Kenny Fong in his article The Effect of Classic Fairy Tales On Readers and Society, fairy tales seems to be a favorite, intimate and indispensable companion of children, and for many generations, children are delighted to be in the enchanted world of fairy tales - the timeless kingdom of fairies and goblins, elves and trolls, princes and princesses. According to Wikipedia (2006), a fairy tale is a story featuring folkloric characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants and others, and a fairy tale is considered to be a sub-class of the folktale. Folk tales however, are not necessarily fairy tales, and the simplest way to explain this is to think of fairy tales as a subgenre of folklore along with myths and legends ("SurLaLene", 2002) The popular and classic 'Once Upon a Time' opening words sets the fantasy world of fairy tales apart from the real world, and readers, children alike can release their spirit from the materialistic real world to the happy, vivid and innocent world of fairy tales ("The Effect...", 1997). The innocent, fantasy world of fairy tale has a significant character, physical attractiveness. To illustrate, physical attractiveness is often portrayed vividly to children in stories such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ("Fairy Tales: Influences...", 2003). To substantiate, Liz Grauerholz, associate professor of sociology at Purdue University in Indiana, says stories such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella concentrate on looks, particularly female beauty ("News.telegraph" 2006) Also according to News.telegraph (2006), from early childhood, girls are reading fairy tales about princesses who achieve vast riches simply because their beauty makes them special. The central idea in most of these fairy tales, though it is not necessarily explicit, is that a "good", innocent and pure, beautiful and youthful woman must conquer the bad, wicked and deceitful, ugly and old witch in order to win the prize that is being with a man ("Honors Program, 2003). According to News.telegraph (2006), Liz Grauerholz mentioned that the whole idea is a powerful message which can inhibit young women who feel they do not meet society's expectations of what it means to be attractive. Despite the apparent connection, many researchers have yet to venture into examining whether physical attractiveness depicted in fairy tales has an effect on children's perceptions and preferences in the society. Thus, this study proposes to fill that gap and examine the significance of physical appearance and attractiveness in fairy tales on young Malaysian female audiences. 1.2. Research Problem This study will be an important tool to locate a link or pattern between fairy tales in terms of reference to physical appearance. Fairy tales plot and story differ from each other, but all fairy tales consist of similar pattern and links that bind them together in a traceable pattern. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, defines fairy tales are similar from each other in terms of references to dwarves, goblins, fairies or any magical creatures. In modern fairy tale, Wikipedia noted that all of the fairy tales ends with a happy ending; a unifying, common theme notably clear in Disney versions of fairy tales. But a true, hardcore study of pattern of physical appearances that could link fairy tales

together has yet to be done. Based on the researchers pure scientific curiosity, the research was proposed. Once approved, the public can roughly see the pattern and links between one fairy tale and another when it comes to emphasis on physical appearance. This study will assist young female Malaysian audience to understand themselves and be secured with their personal principles and standard of beauty. Even in our modern era and increasing women independence, women still tend to value beauty and appearance. (Patterson-Neubert, 2003) This studys findings, once carried out and approved, will be the key of understanding of young female Malaysian audiences standard of beauty, rooted in their principles. Fairy tales could be that basic roots of their principles and perception on beauty. Therefore, researchers of this proposed study believe that this study will benefit those who wants a delve understanding on how they view their own personal perception on physical appearance and why they view it as such. This study will encourage aspiring fantasy or fairy tale writers to be aware of the messages they may construct and transmit to the public. Although fairy tales are hereditary, there is no denying that young children are mostly familiar with Brother Grimm or Hans Christian Andersens versions. It is a strong children media, a powerful mechanism for children to learn cultural values and ideas as said by Western Illinois University (2003). That is why, through the proposed study, the researchers could produce pure, solid findings that could assist writers to be more aware of the messages on physical appearance that they are sending out to the public. The writers must be aware of how if successful, their stories will be a cultural artifact that the future generation will refer to on their study of the current era. To nurture positive images for the future female audience, he researchers of this proposed study strongly believes that the research will be an important reminder to aspiring writers to be careful while conveying impressions on physical appearance, depending on the results. This study will be a tool to dig deep on the mystery and wonders of fairy takes, a cultural artifact from one generation to another. Until today, fairy tales remain as a mystery and a miracle of a cultural heritage. Scholars see it as a pre-scientific attempt to explain the workings of the universe; some theorizes that fairy tales are remains of pagan rituals, while some think of them as symbolic portrayals of a societal norm in certain times prior to the current era. (Windling, 2000). Popularized by Disney and famous worldwide, the workings of fairy tales fascinated the researchers so much that this research proposal was born from that fascination. They want to strip and deconstruct the fairy tales to their utter core in the electronic media and analyze it thoroughly from all aspects. Although physical appearance is the main pursuit in this study, the researchers are curious to understand the fairy tale as a whole, complete picture. The objectives for this study are: 1) To investigate how fairy tales in the electronic media influences young female audiences perception of physical appearance and beauty in Klang Valley. 2) To test if young female audience in Malaysia are aware of inner beauty as well as outer beauty when it came to their own judgments.

1.3) Research Questions:To narrow down the focus of the study, the researchers for this proposed study outlined questions to be answered at the end of this research. These two questions are the focus points of this research. This study is proposed after these questions are thought out. Only when these research questions are answered will the objectives of this proposed study can be fulfilled. The researchers hope to answer the following questions: 1) Do the young female audiences in Malaysia really believe the reality of physical appearance as portrayed in the electronic media fairy tales, consciously and unconsciously? 2) What other qualities in electronic media fairy tales do these young Malaysian female audiences admire in fairy tales characters other than beauty? 3) Is the audiences perception on physical appearance immediately affected by watching electronic media fairy tales? 4) Are the audiences affected by fairy tales concepts of physical appearance in differentiating between villains and friends? 1.4) Research Limitation The perimeters for this research have been drawn to limit its sample fairy tales to those that are accepted worldwide in all cultures and not merely of cultural myths or legends. The media used for this research is the electronic media. This research is confined to the Malaysian female audience consisting of young samples with age ranging from 13 to 30 years old in the Klang Valley.

1.5) Operational definition The definition of beauty, according to an article by The Neighbourhood Voice (2005), varies from one person to another; beauty as defined by scholars is the quality that is attributed or present in a person or a thing which pleases or arouses the sense of the mind. This would arise from sensory manifestations from a design or pattern (such as shapes, lines, proportions, colours, rhythmic motions, tones, etc). According to an article Womens Health Matters (2004), females believe in a narrow physical definition of beauty a definition closely linked to physical attractiveness. The definition of beauty and the ideal of beauty have changed over time, it is apparent that today's culture prefers thin over fat and tall over short (Bloom, 2001). The article The Body and Cosmetics by Heather Eaton (1998), states that society defines beauty as having white skin, blond hair, red lips and cheeks, black eyebrows and blue eyes, as well as being thin and big-breasted; all of which do not defy the true meaning of beauty. Not being able to fit into the formed idea of the typical blonde hair, blue eyed character would probably mean that a person is not beautiful. The meaning of the word ugly, as defined by scholars is something or someone that is unpleasing to the eye or horrible to look at, or unattractive (Websters New World Dictionary, 1991). According to Eaton (1998), it is stated that society sees beauty as virtuous and pure, while ugliness is connoted as wickedness. Fairytales are delineated as stories that grow out of the lives and imaginations of the people, or folk,

according to Carl Tomlinson and Carol Lynch-Brown in the article by Stacy Carney (2006). These folkloric stories would typically include characters such as fairies, elves, goblins, trolls, giants, and of course, the ever important prince charming and damsel in distress (the princess) waiting to be rescued. According to Wikipedia (2006), the word significance would come to mean importance. The word Female, as defined by Websters New World Dictionary (1991), is the sex or gender that produces ovum and bears offsprings or gender that has characteristics that are more feminine. Audience is defined as a group of people who gather or assemble to see or hear or tuned to a channel, according to the Websters New World Dictionary (1991).

2.0) Literature Review The theory selected for the basis of this proposed research is the cultivation theory. One of the books used in aid to research the relevance of the Cultivation Theory is Mass Communication Theory-Foundations, Ferment and Future by Baran Davis. According to Gerbners Cultural Indicator Project, in which they conducted regular periodic examinations of television programming and the conceptions of social reality that viewing cultivates in child and adult audiences, it is said that television is essentially and fundamentally different from other forms of mass media. It does not require literacy, as do newspapers, magazines, and books. It combines pictures and sounds, unlike radio. It requires no mobility, as movies, and theatres. (Baran and Davis, 2006, p. 332) A First Look at Communication Theory by Em Griffin explains that because of televisions accessibility and availability to everyone, an assumption flows logically from this shared reality: the substance of the consciousness cultivated by television is not so much specific attitudes and opinions as more basic assumptions about the facts of life and standards on judgments on which conclusions are based. (Griffin, 2002, p. 14) The Cultivation Theory forms as idea that television nurtures the development of a worldview that, although possibly fractured and inaccurate, become the reality simply because society believes it to be the reality and base our judgments about own everyday world on that reality. Although the televisions effect on the society might be small, that impact is, nonetheless, present and significant. Just as childrens fairy tales might be perceived as harmless, the effects are subtle and indirect on the development of a childs mentality, and in this case, the fractured perceptions most young girls have about the significance of physical appearances. In Malaysia, a study like this proposed research has never been documented while around the world; research on fairy tales is scarce and little. The groundwork for this proposed research is based on a journal featured in October 2003s edition of Gender and Society entitled The Pervasiveness of Feminine Beauty Ideal in Fairy Tales. The research was conducted by Professor Liz Grauerholz from the University of Purdue and Lori Baker-Sperry from the University of Western Illinois. This research uses the content analysis method whereby the researchers observed 168 Grimm fairy tales (Patterson-Neubert, 2003). They discovered the direct correlation between the number of times fairy tales was mentioned and the number of times the story was published. Their analysis showed that 43 of these fairy tales were reproduced into a movie or video. The tales that the researchers discovered to be reproduced more than a

hundred times were Snow White, Cinderella, Briar Rose(Sleeping Beauty), Little Red Cap(Little Red Riding Hood) and Hansel and Gretel. A majority of the Grimm fairy tales featured beautiful heroines while 17 percent of the ugly people in Grimm fairy tales were somehow or rather associated with evil. Their study also revealed that 94 percent of the Grimm fairy tales acknowledged physical appearances in women and the average references were 13.6 per story. However, there were only 35 references at most in reference to a mans physical appearance. In a particular story, there was an average of 114 beauty references for women. The research for this literature was carried out efficiently, which is why their study was selected as the basic reference to the proposed research. Unlike Grauerholz and Baker-Sperrys research, the researchers of this proposed study will focus on the effects of the fairy tales as opposed to the beauty acknowledgement in fairy tales. However, Grauerholz and Baker-Sperrys experiment will be used as the main literature reviewed. Researchers believe that cultural norms and the society have dictated the significance of beauty and physical appearances and attractiveness. So literatures on the electronic medias effect on womens self-perception were reviewed as well. According to Martin and Gentry in Taking Sides (1999), the emphasis on being physically attractive begins in infancy and continues throughout childhood and adolescence. In the society today, to be considered as physically attractive, one has to be physically thin. In the book Media Effects Research (2002), researchers Greogory Fouts and Kimberley Burggraf studied 18 situation comedies from primetime TV where the findings of the study were striking. They discovered that the females in these programs were far more likely to be judged as being below average in weight as opposed to average or above average and these findings were consistent with the results of other similar researches that shows that media images of females tend to place a heavy emphasis on idealized, overly thin standard compared to males (Sparks, 2002). In a society of such, young females have a natural tendency to engage in social comparison, especially comparing physical attractiveness and physical beauty. If young girls have internalized the idea that females should be thin, then the media might have some role in creating body dissatisfaction or boy-image disturbance among females (Sparks, 2002). According to Studying the Media (1994), the female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide erotic pleasure known as voyeurism, and ultimately a sense of control over her. She is rendered as a passive object, and one of the strongest cultural values concerning gender differences is that women are judged by their looks more than men (O Sullivan and Rayner, 1994). To further substantiate this, Emanuel Levy did a comparison on the social attributes of the male and female Hollywood film stars between 1932 and 1984, and has concluded that physical looks and youth were far more important for the female stars (O Sullivan and Rayner, 1994). Studies have shown that the media has long portrayed women to be objects of beauty and all too often, only the thin and physically attractive female images are portrayed. Stereotype labels of media representations can be seen through a consideration of one example: the dumb blonde (O Sullivan and Rayner, 1994). A list of the main ingredients for a dumb blonde stereotype might include: blondeness, seductive body language, strong make-up, innocence and naivety, childlike voice, humor and wit, illogical thinking and so on (O Sullivan and Rayner, 1994). There are further researches to substantiate the fact that the media sets the image that physical attractiveness and

physical beauty simply means to be below average in weight. According to Studying the Media (1994), in one of the published experiments, two researchers, Eric Stice and Heather Shaw, randomly assigned 157 female college students to view pictures in magazines that contained either thin models, average models or no models and immediately after viewing the pictures, the students responded to a number of items on a questionnaire. The results revealed that the students who had viewed the thin models were more likely to report a variety of negative emotions like stress, shame, guilt, depression and insecurity and they also indicated higher levels of body dissatisfaction (O Sullivan and Rayner, 1994). Another finding of the study was that, in general, students who reported high levels of body dissatisfaction were more prone to report that they suffered from the symptoms associated with bulimia (Studying the Media, 1994). As stated in Tasking Sides (1999), one of the methods in carrying out a study of such context was to use female pre-adolescents from different grades ranging from the fourth grade to the eighth grade. Although the sample is not representative of all pre-adolescents and adolescent girls in the United States, it does however, represent a segment of girls that are susceptible to problems linked to physical attractiveness such as eating disorders (Alexander and Hanson, 1999). Fourth, sixth and eighth graders were chosen for their study because research suggests that the period between the fourth and eighth grades were important in girl development of positive perceptions of the self and it is a period when the female bodies are drastically developing and adult definitions of beauty are becoming relevant social norms (Alexander and Hanson, 1999). From the study, researchers Martin and Kennedy found, in an experiment with fourth, eighth and twelfth grade girls, that self-perceptions of physical attractiveness start to become particularly important during fifth grade. 3.0) Methodology 3.1) Research Method: The researchers have decided to adopt a combination of both quantitative and qualitative method to accomplish the objectives of this study. Since both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, both methods have been combined to accomplish the objectives of the study. Between these two methods, a good balance can be struck so that the research findings could be interpreted taking into different considerations of angles and aspects. 3.2) Instrumentation: First of all, surveys will be distributed to the samples randomly selected from the female population of Klang Valley. The survey questions will be basic questions which refer to the samples perception on physical appearance in fairy tales. (Refer to Appendix C)This survey research method is a convenient method of obtaining insight of opinions from people all over Klang Valley and not only in a fixed location. The results of this survey will then serve as the basic groundwork for the other method for this experiment, which is the focus group. The focus group represents the qualitative method of the research, although the quantitative method will be used in the focus group as well, where questionnaires will be distributed to the participants of the focus group to fill up along with discussion.

These two methods are chosen for this research because it is more reliable and quite convenient for the researchers. The questionnaires are descriptive surveys rather than analytical ones because the purpose of the survey attempts to describe the effects of fairy tales on young female audience rather than analyzing why the effects happened when the female audience watches fairy tales. The survey questions contain a mix of open-ended, close-ended and contingency questions to enable the audience to understand the questions better. The focus group also attempts to discover and describe how fairy tales have an immediate effect on the young female audience in Klang Valley. Using the focus group will enable the researchers to observe their participants instant reactions and feedback, while distributing questionnaires will provide substantiated data for tabulation. The experimental method was first to be considered for this research but due to red tape in the procedures, the plan was unable to be carried out. However, content analysis cannot be used for this research as well, because content analysis cannot be used to describe the effects of media on the audience. 3.3) Data Description 3.3.1) Choice and selection of data For this research, the researchers used the non-probability sampling method. For the questionnaires, the convenience sampling was used randomly on the population of Klang Valley. The researchers distributed 100 copies of the survey randomly to samples that available in the Klang Valley vicinity. For the focus group, the sampling method used was the volunteer sampling method, where the researchers used samples aged 17 to 19 who volunteered for the focus group. These methods were selected due to financial and information constraint to use probability sampling as the alternative sampling method. The survey respondents are girls aged from between 13 to 30 years old in the Klang Valley, while participants of the focus group are female volunteers from the students of Taylors College aged between 17 to 19 years old. In the focus group, clips from the movie Cinderella and Shrek, two different fairy tales with two different concepts of beauty and physical appearance could generate different reactions from the participants taking part in the focus group. The scene selected from Cinderella to screen to the participants was when she arrived in the ball and caught the princes eyes. This scene highlighted that Cinderellas beauty was so captivating the prince was interested in her at first sight. The researchers plan to see if the participants are affected by this conventional fairy tale scene where beauty is the factor of attraction. On the other hand, Shrek had a different way of portraying beauty in fairy tales. The scene chosen for the participants viewing was the one when the beautiful Princess Fiona transformed into an ogre in the end of the movie, rather than the standard ending where the princess stays beautiful to the end of the tale. The researchers plan to see if this scene, which their concept on beauty is unlike other conventional electronic media fairy tales, has an effect on the participants when it comes to their opinions on physical appearance.

3.3.2) Data Collection For the survey, it will be distributed to female samples that are aged between 13 to 30 years old. The questionnaires will be about fairy tales that refers to the research objective questions. 100 surveys will be distributed to the samples to collect the data. The focus group will be conducted by giving the participants picture of six men and six women to grade the participants standard perception of physical appearance and discover whether it matches the operational definition of beauty for this research. After that activity (which is graded based on the ordinal level of measurement), the participants are given the same questionnaires that are earlier distributed to 100 samples to fill out. After filling out the questionnaires, the participants are shown clips from the movie Cinderella and Shrek, in which after that the researchers will hand out questionnaires to answer based on the movies as well as conduct a discussion with the participants about the clips from the screened movies. 3.3.3) Data Presentation The data gathered from the survey method will be tabulated into the SPSS software and then presented in tables. The answers for the focus groups surveys will be also tabulated and formed into tables as well. This is the linear format. However, the focus groups data will be a summary of the focus group, what was said and discussed by the participants and the researchers. This summary is the non-linear format of the research presentation. 4.0) Data Analysis and Discussion 4.1) Data Analysis The first method of data collection for this survey is the survey research, where data is gathered from 100 respondents, including the 13 participants from the focus group. From the survey, the researchers discovered a few interesting findings, that are tabulated in the Appendix B, from table 4.1.1 to table 4.4.16. Among the tabulated results, it was interesting to discover that 33% of the respondents have watched 5 to 9 fairy tales in their lives up till now, while 24% have watched more than 15 fairy tales. Only 5% of the respondents have watched 1 fairy tale in their lives. From this survey, it is also learnt that 77% of the respondents want to be a fairy tale princess, while only 23% did not want to be a fairy tale princess. It is also discovered that 73% of the respondents of the survey admitted that their beauty perception are influenced by watching fairy tales while 27% denied that fairy tales had any influence over their perception in beauty. Those who are influenced by fairy tales stated that fairy tales caused them to long for beauty in the whole package as defined in the operational definition are the majority, with the percentage of 45%. 13% of the survey respondents are influenced in the sense that they want a pretty face like fairy tale princesses, while 8% wants the body of a fairy tale princess. 6% of the respondents stated that fairy tales caused them to easily stereotype others, while only 2% said that fairy tales influenced them to see inner beauty as well as external beauty. 46% of the respondents define beauty with a pretty face, 34% of the respondents defined beauty with a beautiful personality, while 20% define beauty as having an ideal body shape. Also, 36% of the respondents claimed that they are neutral with the

importance of outward appearance, while 33% said that outward appearance are very important. Only 2% see outward appearance as very unimportant. 95% of the respondents agreed with the statement There is more that meets the eye while 5% did not agree with it. 69% of the respondents do not believe that Prince Charming exists, while 30% do. 46% stated that the most prominent feature of a princess is that a princess is beautiful, 27% well-liked by others, 19% as kind, 5% as weak and 3% as hardworking. From the survey, it is learnt that 67% of the respondents disliked villains for their evilness, while only 16% disliked villains for their ugliness. 87% disagreed that all villains should be ugly, while 13% believe that they should. 34% of the respondents disagreed because they believe that beautiful people could be evil too as well. Also, the researchers learnt that 97% of the participants would befriend with ugly people while 3% would not. 95% of the participants would befriend ugly people because they prefer personality rather than looks in friendship, while 1% said it is so because looks can fade in time. Continuing on, from the focus group, there were four activities carried out. The first data from the focus group was from the activity in which the participants grade the pictures of six men and six women in their physical appearance. The pictures are presented in Appendix A, where the women are labeled A1 to A6 and the men are labeled from B1 to B6. Each picture has different element of attractiveness as set by researchers that links back to the researchers operational definition. The participants graded the pictures from 1 being very unattractive, 3 as normal, while 5 as very attractive. The tables presenting this data can be referred to in Appendix B, from Table 4.2.1 to Table 4.2.12. 47% of the respondents find the woman with blond hair and doe-like blue eyes to be just normal, while 23% found the woman to be attractive. 47% of the participants found the woman who is a plus-size to be unattractive while only 8% of the participants found her to be. 62% of the participants found the woman with the single eyelid and small eyes to be normal-looking while only 8% found her to be attractive. 31% of the respondents find the woman with the flat chest to be attractive. At the same time, 31% also find her to be normal-looking. For the men, 54% of the participants find the man with the bald head to be unattractive, while only 8% only found him to be attractive. 47% of the participants find the man with a bald head to be attractive, while 8% found him to be unattractive. 46% of the participants find the man with small eyes and single eyelid to be unattractive while 31% find him to be attractive. 39% of the participants find the man with a boyish face, firm nose and charming smile to be very attractive, while only 8% found him to be unattractive. The surveys distributed to the participants of the focus group have been tabulated along with the other survey respondents answer. There were two other questionnaires distributed to the participants, one was after the participants viewed a short clip of a scene in Cinderella, while the other was distributed after the participants viewed a short clip of Shrek. The findings for these two questionnaires were included in Table 4.3 and Table 4.4 in Appendix B. From Cinderella, 23% find Cinderellas significant feature to be beautiful, 23.1% find her to be kind and meek. 92% of the participants stated that Cinderellas stepsisters hated her because she was beautiful, while 8% stated it was because of the fact that she is

not their blood sister. 62% of the respondents do not want to be like Cinderella, while only 39% wants to be. 60% of those who wants to be like Cinderella chose so because they want to be kind, loving and gentle like Cinderella, while only 20% answered it are because they want to be as beautiful as Cinderella. 50% of the respondents did not want to be like Cinderella because they disliked her being a weak woman, while 38% just wants to be themselves rather than a fictional character that does not exist. From Shrek, 85% of the participants liked the ending while 15% did not like it. The ones that said that they did not like it all stated that they did not like the prospect of her turning to into an ugly ogre in the end. All the participants do not think that one needs to be pretty to have a happy ending. 77% of the participants think Princess Fiona is still pretty after turning into an ogre. The other 23% disagreed to the ending because she is now physically ugly. 4.3) Discussion It can be seen from the findings that majority of the sample have watched fairy tales. Majority of the respondents have watched more than 5 fairy tales in their lives until now. This implies that young female audiences in Malaysia are frequently exposed to fairy tales in the electronic media. This can be proven; because 77% of the sample idolizes the fairy tale princesses so much they want to be like one at a certain point in their lives. From the findings, it could be seen that electronic media fairy tales had a major influence on the target audience of young female audience in Malaysias beauty perception. These audiences are consciously aware of this influence sometimes. This is like when the majority of the respondents agreed that their beauty perception is affected by fairy tales. But most of the time, they are not aware of the unconscious influence of electronic media fairy tales. Although in the focus group, a large majority of the participants were resistant to Cinderellas beauty messages, before that, they had unconsciously displayed their ability to be susceptible to electronic media fairy tales in their grade of the six men and women in their physical appearance. If analyzed, it can be seen that the participants tend to grade the pictures of women who is connected to the researchs operational definition of a fairy tale heroine: big eyes, perfect figure with asymmetrical and Caucasian features higher than those with the opposite elements as stated in the operational definition; plus-size, flat-chested and small-eyed. It is also interesting to note that the focus group participants gave the grade of very attractive only to the pictures of women and men with Caucasian features rather than those with Asian features. These Asian men and women are graded as very unattractive by some of the participants, but the grade was not given to those with Caucasian features. These could be caused to constant exposure to fairy tale princes and princesses who have Caucasian features. From the findings, it is also discovered that the samples are not affected by fairy tales beauty concepts when it comes to differentiating between friends and villains. Most of the respondents disliked villains in fairy tales because of their ugly personality rather than their ugly face. Majority of these respondents do not associate evil to ugliness and would not mind befriending ugly people. Therefore, it could be said that fairy tales beauty messages have no effect to the samples differentiation of friends and villains.

From the focus group findings, it is discovered that majority of the participants are aware of Cinderellas outstanding beauty. However, most of them did not want to be like Cinderella because they were focused on Cinderellas other weaknesses, like her submissive attitude and lack of intellect that overwhelms her physical beauty upon viewing the clip. Shrek, on the other hand, managed to influence their viewers to think along its concepts of beauty. Unlike Cinderella, Shrek emphasizes on inner beauty. Majority of the viewers of the clips relate to Princess Fiona rather than Cinderella. Therefore it could be said that electronic media fairy tales do not have an immediate effect on its viewers. Rather, the researchers believe that the samples are affected if they are exposed to the electronic media fairy tales for a longer period of time rather than immediate exposure. It could be said that the cultivation theory works on these audience over time rather than immediately. The viewers would believe that the beauty concepts in electronic media fairy tales as reality if they view it more and more rather than once. Finally, it is also discovered that participants also noticed other traits of an electronic media fairy tale heroine other than beauty. Among the traits they participants noticed were kindness, diligence and popularity. Although almost all of the samples particularly noticed the electronic media fairy tales heroines beauty, they were not blind to other traits these heroines possess as well.

5.0) Conclusion 5.1) Overview Overall, the researchers have achieved the research objectives. It could be said that the cultivation theory had taken root into the female audience in Malaysia and that the audience do believe the reality of physical appearance if they are exposed to the tales for a very long time. The researchers also discovered that the female audiences in Malaysia are also aware of the fairy tale characters inner beauty as well as the external beauty. No doubt, the methods used for this research could be improved, although the researchers believe that the data collected with the proposed methods did provide valid information enough to answer the research question. 5.2) Major findings From this research, it could be said that the young female audience in Malaysia do consider the beauty messages of electronic media fairy tales to be a reality, particularly after being exposed to these tales frequently. These audiences apply the reality of physical appearance to how they view themselves, like wanting to be as beautiful as a fairy tale princess or heroine in the electronic media fairy tale. Most of the audiences are conscious of their susception to the reality of physical appearance while some are unconsciously affected. This answers the first research question. Cultivation theory does have an effect to the audiences when it comes to how they apply the reality of beauty to their own physical appearance. For research question 2, it is learnt that the young female audiences in Malaysia do notice other qualities of fairy tale heroines other than beauty, like kindness, diligence and popularity. Although majority of the audiences associated being beautiful to a fairy tale heroine and princess, the other qualities could be an important factor that prevents other beauty messages to take its effect. If the audiences saw an obvious flaw of the heroine that overwhelms the beauty of the heroine, the audiences will be less susceptible to the beauty messages that the fairy tale carries, as displayed in the Cinderella viewing in the focus group. This also answers research question 2; No immediate effect of electronic media fairy tales to the target audiences is recorded if the audience notices a an obvious flaw of a beautiful character (like submissiveness) that overwhelms the beauty. Finally, fairy tales in the electronic media do not affect the audiences selection of friends based on physical appearance. The audiences do not believe that all ugly people are evil and all beautiful people are good. To answer the final research question, the audiences do not always succumb to the cultivation theory. The reality that ugly people are villains as shown in electronic media fairy tales is rejected by the audiences in majority. 5.3) Implications for future research In the future, there is possibility that enough funds and time are allocated, it is best if a research like this is carried out with the experimental method instead. Experimental method will give much more solid findings that its validity is difficult to question. Not only that, perhaps, a research could be carried out to study the relationship between the amount of exposure audiences face to electronic media fairy tales and the effect that follows on the audiences perception of physical appearance.

In the end, this research is a new beginning for Malaysians to understand the effects of electronic media fairy tales to young Malaysian female audience. Since a research like this has not been done in Malaysia before, this research will open the floodgates for other researches on fairy tales and its effects to audiences in Malaysia.

Reference: Alexander, A., & Hanson, J. (1999). Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Mass Media and Society (5th ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill. Baran, S.J., & Davis, D.K. (2006). Mass Communication Theory Foundations, Ferment and Future (4th ed.). USA: Thomson Wadsworth. Bloom, T. (2001). Beauty is only skin deep. Retrieved February 12, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/dt/V142/N08/05-beauty.08v.html. Carney, S. (2006). Folktales: What are they?. Retrieved February 12, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/tradcarney.htm. Eaton, H. (1998). The Body and Cosmetics. Retrieved March 25, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.feminista.com/archives/v2n3/eaton.html. Fong, K. (1997). The Effects Of Classic Fairy Tales on Readers and Society. Retrieved February 10, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cs.siu.edu/~kfong/research/fairytales.html Griffin, E. (2002). A First Look At Communication Theory (5th ed.). USA: McGraw Hill. Harris, W.C. (2005). The Neighbourhood Voice. Retrieved February 16, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.hoodvoice.com/amerhist_isblack_beautiful.htm Heiner, H.A. (2006). SurLaLune Fairy Tale pages. What is a fairy tale?: Part of The SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages by Heidi Anne Heiner. Retrieved February 12, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/introduction/ftdefinition.html Lewis, B. (2005). Fairy Tale Princes turn into Beasts. Retrieved February 6, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.boloji.com/wfs3/wfs402.htm Neufeldt, V., & Guralnik, D.B. (1991). Websters New World Dictionary (3rd ed.). London: Prentice Hall. O'Sullivan, T., Dutton, B., Rayner, P. (1994). Studying the Media: An Introduction (2nd ed.). London: Arnold. Patterson-Niebert, A. (2003). Experts say fairy tales not so happily ever after. Retrieved February 11, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://singleparents.about.com/cs/familyhealth/a/fairytales.not.htm

Salvas, C.M. (2003). Fairy tales: Influences on childrens perceptions of physical attractiveness as displayed through social perceptions and social preferences. Retrieved February 10, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.anselm.edu/internet/psych/theses/sr2003/salvas/Thesis.htm#intro Sparks, G.G. (2002). Media Effects Research: A Basic Overview. Belmont,CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning. The New Womens College Hospital. (2004). Womens Health Matters. Retrieved March 25, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/news/news_show.cfm?number=376 Ward, S. (2003). Honors Program. Grim Fairy Tales: the Role of Rhetoric in Gender Roles and Sexuality. Retrieved February 10, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cbu.edu/Academics/honors/hj2k3_grim.htm Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2006). Fairy Tales. Retrieved February 10, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_tales Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (2006). Significance. Retrieved Febrauary 16, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significance Windling, T. (2003). Women and Fairy Tales. Retrieved February 11, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm.forwmnft.html WIU Professor Tackles Issues with Fairy Tales. (2003). Retrieved February 11, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.wiu.edu/release.sphp?id=2527 Womack, S. (2003). News.telegraph. Cinderella 'distorts girls' ideas on beauty'. Retrieved February 10, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/26/wfairy26.xml&sShe et=/news/2003/11/26/ixnewstop.html/news/2003/11/26/wfairy26.xml

APPENDIX A Please grade these pictures in the scale of 1-5(with 1 being VERY UNATTRACTIVE) and with 5 being VERY ATTRACTIVE) in terms of physical appearance.

A1

B1

A2

B2

A3

B3

A4

B4

A5

B5

A6

B6

Appendix B 4.1) Data from the survey tabulated

Amount of fairytales watched until now Cumulati ve Percent 5.0 22.0 55.0 76.0 100.0

Valid

1 fairy tale 2-4 fairy tales 5-9 fairytales 10-15 fairytales More than 15 Total

Frequency 5 17 33 21 24 100

Percent 5.0 17.0 33.0 21.0 24.0 100.0

Valid Percent 5.0 17.0 33.0 21.0 24.0 100.0

Table 4.1.1 Average of how often watch fairy tales Cumulati ve Percent 7.0 20.0 44.0 59.0 100.0

Valid

once 2-4 times 5-9 times 10-15 times more than all above Total

Frequency 7 13 24 15 41 100

Percent 7.0 13.0 24.0 15.0 41.0 100.0

Valid Percent 7.0 13.0 24.0 15.0 41.0 100.0

Table 4.1.2 Respondents who want to be a fairy tale princess Cumulative Percent 77.0 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 77 23

Percent 77.0 23.0

Valid Percent 77.0 23.0 100.0

100 100.0 Table 4.1.3

Have fairy tales influence the respondents beauty perception? Cumulative Percent 73.0 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 73 27 100

Percent 73.0 27.0 100.0

Valid Percent 73.0 27.0 100.0

Table 4.1.4

How has fairytales influenced respondents perception? Freque ncy 26 45 13 8 6 2 100 Table 4.1.5 Beauty definition Cumulative Percent 46.0 66.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 26.0 71.0 84.0 92.0 98.0 100.0

Valid

Did not influence Whole package beauty Pretty face Body Image Leads me to easily stereotype Appreciate inner beauty as well Total

Percent 26.0 45.0 13.0 8.0 6.0 2.0 100.0

Valid Percent 26.0 45.0 13.0 8.0 6.0 2.0 100.0

Valid

Pretty face Body Image Personality Total

Frequency 46 20 34 100 Table 4.1.6

Percent 46.0 20.0 34.0 100.0

Valid Percent 46.0 20.0 34.0 100.0

How important is the outward appearance to the respondents? Cumulative Percent 2.0 11.0 47.0 80.0 100.0

Frequency Valid Very unimportant Unimportant Neutral Important Very important Total Table 4.1.7 2 9 36 33 20 100

Percent 2.0 9.0 36.0 33.0 20.0 100.0

Valid Percent 2.0 9.0 36.0 33.0 20.0 100.0

Is there more that meets the eye? Cumulative Percent 95.0 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 95 5 100

Percent 95.0 5.0 100.0

Valid Percent 95.0 5.0 100.0

Table 4.1.8

Significance of inward traits compared to outward traits Cumulative Percent 8.0 12.0 20.0 46.0 69.0 100.0

Valid

Missing Very insignificant Insignificant Neutral Significant Very significant Total

Frequency 8 4 8 26 23 31 100 Table 4.1.9

Percent 8.0 4.0 8.0 26.0 23.0 31.0 100.0

Valid Percent 8.0 4.0 8.0 26.0 23.0 31.0 100.0

Does Prince Charming exists? Frequenc y 1 30 69 Cumulative Percent 1.0 31.0 100.0

Valid

Missing Yes No Total

Percent 1.0 30.0 69.0

Valid Percent 1.0 30.0 69.0 100.0

100 100.0 Table 4.1.10

Prominent feature of a princess Cumulative Percent 46.0 65.0 68.0 73.0 100.0

Valid

Beautiful Kind Hardworking Weak Well-liked by others Total

Frequency 46 19 3 5 27 100

Percent 46.0 19.0 3.0 5.0 27.0 100.0

Valid Percent 46.0 19.0 3.0 5.0 27.0 100.0

Table 4.1.11 What respondents dislike most about villains? Cumulative Percent 16.0 33.0 100.0

Valid

Ugly mean to heroines Evil Total

Frequency 16 17 67 100 Table 4.1.12

Percent 16.0 17.0 67.0 100.0

Valid Percent 16.0 17.0 67.0 100.0

Do all villains need to be ugly? Cumulative Percent 13.0 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 13 87

Percent 13.0 87.0

Valid Percent 13.0 87.0 100.0

100 100.0 Table 4.1.13

Villains should not be ugly Cumulativ e Percent 16.0 28.0 62.0 88.0

Frequency Valid Yes, should be ugly Just outward appearance Beautiful people can be evil too Some villains are beautiful Villains can disguise themselves as beautiful people Total Table 4.1.14 13 12 34 26

Percent 16.0 12.0 34.0 26.0

Valid Percent 16.0 12.0 34.0 26.0

12 100

12.0 100.0

12.0 100.0

100.0

Would respondents befriend ugly people? Cumulative Percent 97.0 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 97 3

Percent 97.0 3.0

Valid Percent 97.0 3.0 100.0

100 100.0 Table 4.1.15

Yes, they would befriend an ugly person Cumulative Percent 4.0 99.0 100.0

Frequency Valid No, would not befriend Personality Looks fade in time Total Table 4.1.16 4 95 1 100

Percent 4.0 95.0 1.0 100.0

Valid Percent 4.0 95.0 1.0 100.0

4.2) Participants Grade of Physical Attractiveness Table

A1 Cumulative Percent 7.7 53.8 76.9 100.0

Valid

2 3 4 5 Total

Frequency 1 6 3 3 13

Percent 7.7 46.2 23.1 23.1 100.0

Valid Percent 7.7 46.2 23.1 23.1 100.0

Table 4.2.1 A2 Cumulative Percent 23.1 61.5 84.6 100.0

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 3 5 3 2

Percent 23.1 38.5 23.1 15.4

Valid Percent 23.1 38.5 23.1 15.4 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.2.2 A3

Valid

2 3 4 5 Total

Frequency 1 4 5 3

Percent 7.7 30.8 38.5 23.1

Valid Percent 7.7 30.8 38.5 23.1 100.0

Cumulative Percent 7.7 38.5 76.9 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.2.3 A4

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 2 6 4 1 13

Percent 15.4 46.2 30.8 7.7 100.0

Valid Percent 15.4 46.2 30.8 7.7 100.0

Cumulative Percent 15.4 61.5 92.3 100.0

Table 4.2.4

A5 Cumulative Percent 15.4 30.8 92.3 100.0

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 2 2 8 1 13

Percent 15.4 15.4 61.5 7.7 100.0

Valid Percent 15.4 15.4 61.5 7.7 100.0

Table 4.2.5 A6 Cumulative Percent 15.4 38.5 69.2 100.0

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 2 3 4 4

Percent 15.4 23.1 30.8 30.8

Valid Percent 15.4 23.1 30.8 30.8 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.2.6 B1

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 1 8 3 1 13

Percent 7.7 61.5 23.1 7.7 100.0

Valid Percent 7.7 61.5 23.1 7.7 100.0

Cumulative Percent 7.7 69.2 92.3 100.0

Table 4.2.7 B2 Cumulative Percent 53.8 76.9 92.3 100.0

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 7 3 2 1

Percent 53.8 23.1 15.4 7.7

Valid Percent 53.8 23.1 15.4 7.7 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.2.8

B3 Cumulative Percent 7.7 38.5 84.6 100.0

Valid

2 3 4 5 Total

Frequency 1 4 6 2 13

Percent 7.7 30.8 46.2 15.4 100.0

Valid Percent 7.7 30.8 46.2 15.4 100.0

Table 4.2.9 B4 Cumulative Percent 15.4 61.5 69.2 100.0

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 2 6 1 4

Percent 15.4 46.2 7.7 30.8

Valid Percent 15.4 46.2 7.7 30.8 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.2.10 B5

Valid

2 3 4 5 Total

Frequency 1 3 4 5 13

Percent 7.7 23.1 30.8 38.5 100.0

Valid Percent 7.7 23.1 30.8 38.5 100.0

Cumulative Percent 7.7 30.8 61.5 100.0

Table 4.2.11 B6 Cumulative Percent 30.8 53.8 84.6 100.0

Valid

1 2 3 4 Total

Frequency 4 3 4 2

Percent 30.8 23.1 30.8 15.4

Valid Percent 30.8 23.1 30.8 15.4 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.2.12

4.3) Table for Cinderella

The most significant feature of Cinderella Cumulative Percent 23.1 46.2 61.5 84.6 92.3 100.0

Valid

Beautiful Kind Hardworki ng Meek Obedient Weak Total

Frequency 3 3 2 3 1 1 13 Table 4.3.1

Percent 23.1 23.1 15.4 23.1 7.7 7.7 100.0

Valid Percent 23.1 23.1 15.4 23.1 7.7 7.7 100.0

Why Cinderellas stepsisters hated her: Cumulative Percent 92.3

Frequency Valid Because Cinderella is beautiful Cinderella is not their real sister Total Table 4.3.2 12

Percent 92.3

Valid Percent 92.3

1 13

7.7 100.0

7.7 100.0

100.0

Participants who want to be like Cinderella Cumulative Percent 38.5 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 5 8 13

Percent 38.5 61.5 100.0

Valid Percent 38.5 61.5 100.0

Table 4.3.3 Reasons why participants want to be like Cinderella Cumulative Percent 61.5 69.2 92.3 100.0

Valid

No She is beautiful kind,loving and gentle Hardworking Total

Frequency 8 1 3 1 13

Percent 61.5 7.7 23.1 7.7 100.0

Valid Percent 61.5 7.7 23.1 7.7 100.0

Table 4.3.4 Reasons why participants did not want to be like Cinderella Cumulative Percent 38.5 69.2 76.9 100.0

Valid

Yes Weak Cinderella is not real I want to be myself Total

Frequency 5 4 1 3 13

Percent 38.5 30.8 7.7 23.1 100.0

Valid Percent 38.5 30.8 7.7 23.1 100.0

Table 4.3.5

APPENDIX C Excerpt from Cinderella Scene: The Princes ball, in the Palace. Characters in the scene: Cinderella Prince Charming King Duke Two stepsisters Excerpt: Two stepsisters approach the Prince as their names are called and curtsied King: (Gestures in disgust) I give up. Even I dont expect the boy. Duke: Well, if I may say so, Your Majesty, I did try to warn you but you, sire, are incurably romantic. *Chuckles* No doubt you already saw the whole pretty picture in detail. The young prince bows to the assembly. Suddenly, he stops and he looks up. *Scene shows the Prince looking up and stopping, his gaze on Cinderella wandering in the distance* For, lo and behold, there she stands, the girls of his dreams. Who she is, or whence she came from, he knows not nor does he care. *Prince walks past stunned stepsisters as if hypnotized. The King looks up and saw his son walking to Cinderella* for his heart tells him that here, here, is the maiden that is predestined to be his bride. *Prince grabs Cinderellas hand and bows to her. She curtsies in return. King rubs his fingers in glee* A pretty plot for fairy tales, sire, but not in real life. Oh no! It was foredoomed to failure. King: Failure eh? Take a look at that, you pompous windbag! *Points at the Prince and Cinderella* Who is she? You know her? Duke: No, sire, I have never seen her before. King: Thats one thing in her favour. Quick, the waltz! *Signals to the orchestra* The lights! *Whispering* The lights! The Prince and Cinderella walks to the dance floor hand-in-hand and starts dancing to the music *Scene ends*

Excerpt from Shrek Scene: In Dulac Church, where Lord Farquad and Princess Fiona are conducting the wedding Characters: Shrek Donkey Lord Farquad Princess Fiona The people of Dulac Dragon Excerpt: Shrek: Fiona, I need to talk to you. Fiona: Oh, how you want to talk? It is a little late for that but if you will excuse me. Shrek: *Grabs Fionas hand* But you cant marry him! Fiona: And why not? Shrek: Becausehe is just marrying you to be king! Farquad: Outrageous! Fiona, my dear, dont listen to him, I. Shrek: He is not your true love! Fiona: What do you know about true love? Shrek: Well, I.uh. Farquad: *Meanly* Oh, this is precious! The ogre has fallen in love with the princess! Oh, good lord! All except Shrek and Fiona erupts into mean laughter Fiona: *Tentatively* Shrek, is this true? Farquad: Who CARES? *Holds Fionas hand* Fiona, my dear, we are just a kiss away from our happy-ever-after, so kiss me.*puckers up lips* Sun sets in the distance. Fiona looks at the fading golden light Fiona: By day one way, by night another. *Steps back* I wanted to show you before, Shrek. Transforms into a female ogre in a short scene of magic

Shrek: Well..that explains a lot. Fiona smiles in relief Farquad: Ugh, it is disgusting! Guards! Guards! I order you to remove them out of my sight! *Bursts into rants of his victory being king, not noticing a shadow of huge dragon rising behind him in the stained glass* I am King! I will have Peace! I will have order! I will have order! I will haveARGHHH! Dragon storms in with Donkey on her back, swoops down and swallows Farquad as audience gasp in horror Donkey: Alright, nobody move! I got a dragon here and I am not afraid to use it! I am a donkey on edge! *Audience gasps again. Soldiers release Fiona and steps away. Dragon burps out Farquads crown* Celebrity marriages, they never last do they? *Audience cheers* Go get her, Shrek Shrek: Uh, Fiona? *Shyly* Fiona: Yes, Shrek? Shrek: I I love you. Fiona: Really? Shrek: Really Really. Fiona: *Smiles shyly* I love you too. Shrek and Fiona lean forward and kiss to the gushing of the audience. Transformation scene again when the curse on her breaks after her true loves first kiss. After the transformation scene, Fiona falls to the floor Shrek: Fiona, Can you hear me? *Lifts her up to reveal her in ogre form* Are you alright? Fiona: Well, yes. I dont understand. I am supposed to be beautiful. Shrek: But you are beautiful. They smile at each other happily *Scene ends*

SURVEY We, Lily Ong, Justina Yong, Jolene Tan and Jade Ng are students from the Fourth Semester of Taylor's School of Mass Communication and are conducting a survey to aid in our research entitled Electronic Media Fairy Tales: The Significance of Physical Appearances to Young Malaysian Female Audience for the subject of Communication Research Method. Your identifications and answers will be kept confidential, only for the use of the researchers. Your cooperation to fill out this set of survey questions as accurately as possible is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Age:____ Occupation:______________ Survey Questions: (Tick where necessary) 1. Did you watch Fairy Tales when you were young? __ YES __ NO (If answered NO, please proceed to question 5) 2. How many fairy tales have you watched until now? __ 1 fairy tale __ 5-9 fairy tales __ 2-4 fairy tales __ 10-15 fairy tales __ more than all above 3. On the average, how often do you watch fairy tales? __ once __ 5-9 times __ 2-4 times __ 10-15 times __ more than all above 4. Have you ever wanted to be like the Princesses in the fairy tales? __ YES __ NO

5. Do you think that fairy tales have, in some ways, influenced your perceptions on how beauty is defined? __ YES __ NO If YES, please briefly explain how on the lines below. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

6. How would you define beauty? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

7. How important is the outward appearance to you? (Rate the importance of the outward appearance on the scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being IMPORTANT and 5 being UNIMPORTANT) ____

8. Do you agree to the statement, THERE IS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE? __ YES __ NO (If answered NO, please proceed to question 10)

9. If YES, how significant are the inward traits compared to the outward traits? (Rate the significance on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being SIGNIFICANT and 5 being INSIGNIFICANT) ____

10. Do you believe in Prince Charming? __ YES __ NO (If answered NO, please proceed to question 12)

11. What is your idea of a Prince Charming? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

12. What is the MOST prominent feature of a Princess? __ BEAUTIFUL __ WEAK __ KIND __ WELL-LIKED BY ALL __ HARDWORKING OTHERS: _____________________

13. What do you dislike MOST about the villains in fairy tales? __ UGLY __ MEAN TO BEAUTIFUL HEROINES __ EVIL OTHERS:_____________________

14. Do you think that ALL villains should be ugly? __ YES __ NO Briefly explain your answer on the lines below. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

15. Would you befriend ugly people? __ YES __ NO Briefly explain your answer on the lines below. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Thank you for filling out our survey questions.

SHREK SURVEY We, Lily Ong, Justina Yong, Jolene Tan and Jade Ng are students from the Fourth Semester of Taylor's School of Mass Communication and are conducting a survey to aid in our research entitled Electronic Media Fairy Tales: The Significance of Physical Appearances to Young Malaysian Female Audience for the subject of Communication Research Method. Your identifications and answers will be kept confidential, only for the use of the researchers. Your cooperation to fill out this set of survey questions as accurately as possible is very much appreciated. Thank you. Age:____ Occupation:______________ Survey Questions: (Tick where necessary) 16. Did you like the ending for Shrek? __ YES __ NO (If answered YES, please proceed to Question 3) 17. If NO, why? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 18. Do you think only pretty people can be happy? __YES __ NO 19. Do you think that Princess Fiona is beautiful even though she is an ogre? __ YES __ NO 20. If YES, why do you think she is beautiful? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ 21. If NO, why do you think she is not beautiful? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________

CINDERELLA SURVEY We, Lily Ong, Justina Yong, Jolene Tan and Jade Ng are students from the Fourth Semester of Taylor's School of Mass Communication and are conducting a survey to aid in our research entitled Electronic Media Fairy Tales: The Significance of Physical Appearances to Young Malaysian Female Audience for the subject of Communication Research Method. Your identifications and answers will be kept confidential, only for the use of the researchers. Your cooperation to fill out this set of survey questions as accurately as possible is very much appreciated. Thank you. Age:____ Occupation:______________ Survey Questions: (Tick where necessary) 22. What in your opinion is the most prominent feature of Cinderella? __ BEAUTIFUL __ KIND __ WEAK __ HARDWORKING __ MEEK __ OBEDIENT 23. Why do you think Cinderellas stepsisters hate her so much? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 24. Do you want to be like Cinderella? __YES __ NO (If answered NO, please proceed to QUESTION 5) 25. If YES, why? __ Because she is kind, loving and gentle __ Because she is beautiful __ Because she is hardworking 26. If NO, why? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________

4.4) Tables for Shrek

Participants who like the ending Cumulative Percent 84.6 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 11 2 13

Percent 84.6 15.4 100.0

Valid Percent 84.6 15.4 100.0

Table 4.4.1 Why the participants did not like the ending Cumulative Percent 84.6 100.0

Valid

Liked it stayed pretty and turn into an ogre Total

Frequency 11 2 13

Percent 84.6 15.4 100.0

Valid Percent 84.6 15.4 100.0

Table 4.4.2 Participants who think that only pretty people should be happy Cumulative Percent 100.0

Valid

No

Frequency 13

Percent 100.0

Valid Percent 100.0

Table 4.4.3 Participants who thinks that Princess Fiona is beautiful even when she is an ogre Cumulative Percent 76.9 100.0

Valid

Yes No Total

Frequency 10 3

Percent 76.9 23.1

Valid Percent 76.9 23.1 100.0

13 100.0 Table 4.4.4

Why she is beautiful as an ogre Cumulative Percent 23.1 69.2 76.9 100.0

Valid

0 Great Personality Ogres are just cute She suits Shrek Total

Frequency 3 6 1 3 13

Percent 23.1 46.2 7.7 23.1 100.0

Valid Percent 23.1 46.2 7.7 23.1 100.0

Table 4.4.5

Why she is not beautiful as an ogre Cumulative Percent 76.9 100.0

Valid

0 Physically Ugly Total

Frequency 10 3 13 Table 4.4.6

Percent 76.9 23.1 100.0

Valid Percent 76.9 23.1 100.0