Date
4-29-2026
Department
School of Communication and the Arts
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Communication (PhD)
Chair
Andrea Towers Scott
Keywords
content analysis, death, end-of-life messages, entertainment-education, family communication patterns, films, qualitative, social learning theory
Disciplines
Communication | Film and Media Studies
Recommended Citation
Gordon, Vanessa A., "Life Lessons in Goodbye: Exploring Family Communication and End-of-Life Depictions and Messages in Disney and Pixar Films Through a Content Analysis" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8320.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8320
Abstract
Death is a friend of ours said Francis Bacon, and Hargarten stated that death has an inevitable arrival. This research aimed to explore the depictions and messages of death in Disney and Pixar films. The qualitative content analysis research methodology coded 267 deaths in Disney films (1937–2003) and Disney and Pixar Films (2003–2024). The study centers on replicating the scholarship of three prior works, while extending the research by incorporating more recent films into the analysis. Additionally, this current study applies a new theoretical framework, family communication patterns, to all films, including those previously reviewed solely for depictions of death, thereby broadening the understanding of familial dynamics in cinematic portrayals. The findings are surprising and open new avenues for academic examination. The study replicates the content for the portrayal of death, concentrated on five categories: character status, depiction of death, death status, emotional reaction, and causality.
