A multimodal study on locations and inter-circumstantial relations in picture books with challenge gender stereotypes

Abstract

The aim of this article is to identify the inter-circumstantial relations and locations where the female characters of six picture books that challenge gender stereotypes evolve. To this aim, we analyzed whether the female characters always appear in the same settings in successive illustrations or, on the contrary, whether new locations, which determine the characters’ personal and social statuses, are introduced in successive illustrations. Kress and van Leewuen’s (2006) and Painter, Martin and Unsworth’s (2013) Social Semiotics are the approaches adopted to carry out this research. The results of the analysis show that in the six picture books women’s emancipation is often associated with a specific context or location. Although illustrations with the same degree of detail at circumstantial level predominate, sometimes there is a variation in the degree of circumstantial elements. In these cases, the female characters are given greater prominence, as the reader’s focus is almost exclusively on them. This contributes to their being empowered in the situations where they were hitherto undervalued.