Movies I watched in 2023

A Year of Women on Screen

feb 2023

feb 2024

This visualization employs a unique approach to explore the distribution of movies I watched throughout the year (February 2023 - February 2024). Each month (13 in total) is represented by a bar, and movie posters are stacked within them. Notably, the posters for films I consider feminist favorites (based on gender representation) are colored and positioned at the bottom of their respective bars.

This unconventional placement serves a specific purpose:

Subverting Expectations: Traditionally, data visualizations position "positive" or "desired" outcomes at the top. By placing feminist favorites at the bottom, I challenge the notion that strong female representation is the norm in mainstream cinema. This visual disruption encourages viewers to critically examine the data and potentially question the current landscape of gender portrayal in film.
Unearthing Trends: The stacked posters, regardless of color, provide a visual representation of the overall volume of movies watched each month. This allows for a quick comparison of movie consumption habits across the year. More importantly, by observing the distribution of colored posters, we can identify potential trends:
- Concentration: Are feminist faves clustered in specific months, suggesting focused searching?
- Fluctuations: Do colored posters appear consistently or sporadically throughout the year?

Tracking My Emotional Landscape: A Change in Direction

This project initially aimed to capture things (material and immaterial) that triggered strong emotions in me. For ten days, I meticulously mapped these experiences. However, I soon realized the data lacked the depth needed to continue on this path. Interestingly, most significant emotional responses stemmed from the media I consumed. While I explored using Spotify data beyond recently played tracks, retrieving past listening history proved time-consuming. Shifting gears, I decided to analyze the movies and series I watched.

Unearthing Data from Streaming Services

Since I couldn't recall all the movies I watched on traditional TV, I focused on media accessed through streaming platforms and movie theaters. I examined my watch history on Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu accounts. Additionally, I checked my browser history for content streamed on third-party sites (like fmovies.com).

The compiled data, organized in an Excel sheet, included details like genre, platform, watch time (by month), and location (home, airplane, theater). As I explored patterns in my viewing habits, a tendency towards specific tropes emerged, sparking my interest in analyzing gender representation within these tropes.

Here's the challenge: Shows often introduce new characters or evolve existing ones over multiple seasons. For instance, in programs like Suits or The Big Bang Theory, female characters initially served primarily as accessories to the male leads. Their own storylines and agency only developed later in the series. Given the complexities of character development across seasons, I decided to concentrate on movies. This allowed for a more focused analysis of gender representation within a single, self-contained narrative.

My Feminist Lens: The Mako Mori Test and Bechdel Test

Informed by the Mako Mori Test (does the movie have a female protagonist with her own story?) and the Bechdel Test (do two named women converse about something other than a man?), I evaluated the portrayal of women in the films and series I watched. Furthermore, I considered these qualities in identifying strong female characters:

Agency: The ability to make their own choices and influence the story.
Independent Arcs: Stories that revolve around their own goals and motivations, not solely tied to a man's journey.
Equal Power Dynamics: Relationships where women have influence and decision-making power comparable to male characters.

Thus, the design incorporates several data feminist principles:

Examine Power: By analyzing gender representation in film, it challenges the power dynamics often depicted where men hold dominant roles.
Rethink Binaries and Hierarchies: The Bechdel Test and Mako Mori Test go beyond the traditional focus on male characters and narratives, elevating the importance of female characters with independent stories.
Consider Context: The project acknowledges the subjectivity of film interpretation and the influence of social norms on how women are portrayed.

Process

My exploration began with playful concepts (see design workbook). One idea stood out - a massive movie poster composed of individual posters from the past year (images attached below).

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The next iteration delved deeper into categorization. Movies were grouped by genre, rewatch status, location viewed, and, most importantly, gender representation. This embraced the principle of data pluralism from data feminism, acknowledging the multifaceted nature of film experiences.

While I found this approach visually striking, valuable feedback from peers highlighted the potential for clutter.

So, I went back to the drawing board and streamlined the visualization by arranging movies in a bar chart, categorized by time, successfully reducing the clutter. However, the excessive categorization remained overwhelming.

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Shifting gears, I embraced the "less is more" design philosophy - emphasizing clarity and allowing the data to speak for itself. Ultimately, the final design represents the culmination of this iterative process. By removing all categories except time (month) and highlighting feminist favorites (colored posters), the visualization prioritizes the most important aspect of this exploration to me: gender representation in the movies I watched over the past year. This final design embodies the data feminist principle of "elevate emotion and embodiment" by focusing on the emotional connection I have with films that portray strong female characters.

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final design

Debatable Interpretations

I acknowledge that some of my classifications as feminist favorites might be open to discussion. Film interpretation can be subjective, and what resonates as a strong female character for one viewer may differ for another.

Conclusion

Overall, this visualization is a personal exploration of gender representation in the movies I watched over the past year. It highlights the diversity of films available and my search for stories that empower women.