Qualitative Research

Myles Egan

Direct Reference
I made my focus group participants fill out a questionnaire as they
watched The Six Dollar Fifty Man:

Did you notice any issues or problems?

Grace (18 years old)
Bullying, violence, isolation and unusual behavior from the
protagonist.
Katie (17 years old)
Neglect you can see that he cant read yet but isn't looked after
by his piers or teachers.
Charlotte (24 years old)
The teachers are seen as the enemy towards the young boy who
cant read. But he needs their help and lacks attentions towards his
difficulties. Also, the teachers are over-looking the clear bullying
from the other students.

Do you think any characters have been

unfairly represented?
Charlotte (24 years old)
The protagonist is unfairly represented as he is just a child
and children arent that dumb however, if they explored
him being disabled, then this would make more sense and
would explain him biting the bully and his slow learning.
Bob (27 years old)
No, because it seems authentic (towards their stereotypes).

Richard (52 years old)

No, each character is represented quite fairly. The story
explains how each character reacts with the boy.

Do you think any characters have been

unfairly represented?
Leah (18 years old)
The bullies have been unfairly represented. They dont
understand how to act towards him.
Mr Parsons (28 years old)
Representations between the absence of the protagonists
parents as we dont ever see them, but we feel theyre doing
a bad job as the boy seems unclean, troubled and maybe has
health issues.

Do you agree that the perspective used (from the protagonist)

was a good technique to represent someone with difficulties?
Leah (18 years old)
Yes, when you look at someone with difficulties, you are not able
to fully understand their outlook on life. Showing the audience his
perspective allows us to understand better.
Grace (18 years old)
Yes because he is young and vulnerable and so it is easy to explore
this. Also young kids are very imaginative and creative which this
film uses to its advantage through the way the boy is seeing things
to what is actually happening (in his mind).
Richard (52 years old)
The perspective used makes you appreciate his feelings so this is a
good technique to use.

Is it true to life? (Social Realism)

Katie (17 years old)
At the beginning, yes; but then it becomes unrealistic with the setup of the bullies arriving to hear the boy being beaten and also with
him winning the competition at the end.
Grace (18 years old)
It can be seen as true to life due to the people in society suffering
with these disorders and mental health issues.
Richard (52 years old)
It feels true to life in respect of the boys feelings and his reaction
to the others in the film.
Bob (27 years old)
Yes, because the characters seemed realistic.

Do you feel sympathy towards the protagonist?

Leah (18 years old)
No, he can come across as irritating and hard to connect with.
Grace (18 years old)
Yes, you do feel sympathy towards the protagonist as his
difficulties are isolating him.
Jordan (17 years old)
Yes, because he seem vulnerable/unable to hold his own
ground/make proper connections with other people.
Bob (27 years old)
Yes, because he was being bullied.

Comparative and Discrete Analysis &

Conclusion and Action Statement

Did you notice any issues or problems?

Comparative and Discrete Analysis
Bullying was a problem in the film that all participants noticed.
Other issues/problems noticed were:

Rebellion
Disability
Strong vs. Weak
Jealously
Independence
Neglect

Conclusion and Action Statement

These results tell me that bullying and ideas that stem off of this problem
can be understood and relatable to a wide audience. Therefore this will
help my product as I will try to involve relatable/common problems into
my film so that the audience can relate to characters, as this creates a
sense of intimacy between the audience and product.

Do you think any characters have been

unfairly represented?
Comparative and Discrete Analysis
The majority of participants believed that some characters had been
unfairly represented, although the results were fairly even. What seemed
to be the problem for the yes-voters was that it seemed as though the
protagonist was receiving too much sympathy and there characters
around him were left with the repercussions.

Conclusion and Action Statement

To conclude, although audiences like to feel sympathy or relate to a
character, this shouldnt be executed in a way that will compromise other
characters. This will help my product as I will not create favoritism towards
one character and will provide even arguments in the situation for them
all - equally allowing my audience to decipher their own opinion.

Do you agree that the perspective used (from

the protagonist) was a good technique to
represent someone with difficulties?
Comparative and Discrete Analysis
The majority of participants answered yes to this question and the
common reason was that it allowed them to understand more details
about the protagonist and his difficulties.

Conclusion and Action Statement

Therefore this tells me that this perspective creates a sense of intimacy
between the protagonist and the viewer. This enables the audience to feel
sympathy for the protagonist and create a deeper more personal
relationship with him. This will help my project as

Is it true to life? (Social Realism)

Comparative and Discrete Analysis
The majority said yes because the story and characters seem authentic
and also they have represented his difficulties well.
Although, a few participants felt there was a problem with how the
problems resolved and the film ended, as they said it was too happy and
described it fairy tale-like with the set-up of the boys listening to the
beating and him winning the competition.

Conclusion and Action Statement

To conclude, the participants wanted the ending to be less
mainstream/Hollywood as it seemed unrealistic, especially for the social
realism genre.
Therefore this helps my product as I need to focus on how my problem(s)
unfold and how they are resolved, as I still want to keep it realistic.

Do you feel sympathy towards the protagonist?

Comparative and Discrete Analysis
The majority said yes because he is unable to connect with others and is
bullied because of this. It was also mentioned that Yes because the film
was geared this way. Finally, one participant said No, he can come off as
irritating and hard to connect with. this shows that the set up of the film
could work both ways.

Conclusion and Action Statement

To conclude, this shows it is very easy to provoke emotion throughout the
audience with issues such as bullying and learning difficulties or difficulties
in general etc.
This will help my product in two ways, as by creating characters that the
audience can connect with emotionally; it will firstly be easier for them to
relate and seem more realistic and secondly, if they can create a
relationship with a character it will be more likeable for the consumer.

Applying Theory

Todorov
Theory
Todorovs theory follows a narrative structure of:
Equilibrium Disequilibrium New equilibrium

Application
This applies to The Six Dollar Fifty Man as it starts with the equilibrium of
Andy showing off his super powers to a girl his age (a potential love
interest) but then reaches a disequilibrium by getting bullied by his piers
and told off by his teacher and finally a new equilibrium of him over
coming his bullies, winning a competition and impressing his potential
love interest.

Propp
Theory

Propp analyzed the basic plot component of Russian folk tales to identify their
simplest irreducible narrative elements and his conclusion from this were two
factors:
The narrative structure would follow a sequence 31 functional elements that would start with
a disequilibrium and slowly evolve into and end in a state of equilibrium.
The other is that it involves seven key characters:

The Villain
The Hero
The Mentor (Guides the hero)
The Dispatcher (The character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.)
The Helper (Helps the hero)
The Father Figure (Authority figure)
The Donor (Prepares the hero)

Application

Although it doesnt follow the first conclusion, it does the second:

The Villains = The teacher and the bullies.

The Hero = Andy
The Mentor = Mary
The Dispatcher = The teacher
The Helper = Mary and Mr. Hannah
The Father Figure = Mr. Hannah
The Donor = Mr. Hannah