1. 0Content Analysis
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Familial Analytics
Zack Reese
COM 401 Professor Smith
Abstract
A constitutive report analyzing quantitatively how a group of people can become a “family.”
Due Date: 4/13/15
2. 0Content Analysis
Table of Contents
Section Page #
Part I: Objectives, Methodology and Logistics……………………………………………………..1
Part II: Operationalizing………………………………………………………………………………3
Coding Pages…………………………………………………………………………………5
Part III: Findings………………………………………………………………………………………14
Appendix A: News Release……………………………………………………………………………16
Appendix B: Personal Evaluation……………………………………………………………………17
References………………………………………………………………………………………18
3. 1
Content Analysis
Part I: Objectives, Methodology and Logistics
The entire purpose of this specific content analysis is to really decipher what makes a
family, just that, a family. This was done by watching and analyzing the six Fast and Furious
movies. This led to the question behind this analysis, the research question. This question is:
How has the series’ main characters grow to be the family they are currently. To a lesser degree,
the question could also be: how exactly is this group of people a family?
This of course led to the creation of a list of objectives having to do with this question.
1. To calculate how many occurrences of key themes appear in each of the movie and how
many times. This will give key insight in how the characters grow and change and grow
together throughout their character arcs.
2. Comparing where the franchise began to where it is currently. This would involve a deep
comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences in the six films.
4. 2
Content Analysis
3. After having all the statistics based on the chosen categories and themes, figure out how
that all plays out in the grand scheme of things. What exactly do my findings actually
mean?
4. The important part is to present all of these thoughts into a cohesive understanding.
5. What the main objective boils down to is to understand how the “family” depicted in the
Fast and Furious movies became a family. Coupled with that is a look at how the series
has evolved since its conception in 2001. Finally, the findings will be applied to the real
world and what the films’ views of family means in the vein of reality.
In order to conduct the research necessary for this content analysis, I watched the six Fast
and the Furious films over the course of four days. Within these four days all six films were
watched to completion. I own all six as downloads on my iPad as well as having a Blu-ray
copy of each.
The next thing I had to do was come up with a group of themes of which to analyze while
watching the films. This led me to a group of 20 themes. These 20 encapsulate many of the
key elements of the movies as well as how the group of people depicted in them became a
family. Everything compiled together will provide a great answer to the research questions
and fall in accordance with the objectives.
Logistics:
Time Period: 4 Days
Movie Duration:
“The Fast and the Furious:” 107 minutes
“2 Fast 2 Furious:” 108 minutes
“The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift:” 104 minutes
“Fast and Furious:” 107 minutes
“Fast Five:” 132 minutes
“Fast and Furious 6:” 131 minutes
5. 3
Content Analysis
Part II: Operationalizing
The following list of themes used for the purposes of this content analysis is presented in
alphabetical order.
1. Adding members to the family: This would be anytime someone joins the movie
group’s current roster. (i.e. helping with heists, “hanging out” with other
characters, heavy interaction)
2. Friendly Banter between characters: Anytime one member of the “family” has a
light, humorous conversation, or teases another family member.
3. Bonding over working on a car: Anytime two characters are working on a car and
grow closer by sharing stories, etc.
4. Cliché line about going/being fast: This series is known for its sometimes cliché
lines or lines that would make a critic slap their palm to their forehead.
5. Cliffhanger endings: Any ending that leads either to the next film or has the
viewer wanting more.
6. Different city: Any time the predominant location for the film series changes.
7. Family meals: Anytime the “family” is together and eating and bonding. (These
always result in one character saying grace. These have become a staple in the
series.)
8. “Family” member killed: Whenever somebody from the “family” dies. (All deaths
are murders)
9. “Family” rescue: A grandiose rescue scene for a family member in peril.
10. Fight scene: Any scene between two characters who both throw a punch. A two-
sided fight. (One character attacking another without retribution doesn’t count.
11. Flashbacks: Any time a previous scene from one of the earlier films is played.
12. Joining forces against a villain: Any time the family joins forces either within
their group or another group against a common enemy, usually the film’s
overarching villain.
13. Kidnappings: Any time someone close to the family or within the family are
kidnapped or taken against their will.
6. 4
Content Analysis
14. Old friends return: Whenever a previous character with ties to the main group
returns to the forefront.
15. New protagonist: Whenever one of the series staples isn’t the protagonist and new
one is in place.
16. Self-sacrifice: Any scene when a person from the main group does something
sacrificial and self-harming in order to rescue or protect another.
17. Sex Scenes: Any scene depicting sexual intercourse.
18. Street Race Scene: The street race scenes the series became iconic for. Any
official street race with a wager of some sort on the line.
19. Vin Diesel “badass” line: Any one-liner delivered by Vin Diesel’s character, Dom
that clearly has an impact on another character, either within the family or against
it.
20. The word family: Whenever this word comes up in any of the films. Even in
casual conversation.
I created all twenty of the themes within this coding list based on my own knowledge of
the movies and what happens to be in most of the movies. The ones I chose also help to
distinguish the similarities and differences between each of the films and how they grew and
change as time went on. The films themselves changed immensely from the beginning to now.
Thoroughly analyzing each of the films the statistics for each was placed into 1 of 6
different coding sheets. (One for each of the films) and then those results were taken and further
analyzed into my findings. These were then placed into pie charts to exemplify how much of
each movie a certain theme was in. This complete separation of results was applied to reduce
confusion between the 6 movies as well as in order to effectively compare all of the movies by
putting the sheets side by side and comparing the differences.
The twenty different list items were met with a varying degree of differences throughout
the tenure of the 6 movies. Watching the 6 in quick succession was the perfect way to show just
how deep the contrast is from “The Fast and the Furious” to “Fast and Furious 6.”
7. 5
Content Analysis
Coding Pages
The Fast and the Furious (1)
Theme Occurrences
Adding a new member to the family | (Brian)
Friendly banter between main characters ||||
Bonding while working on a car ||
Cliché line about going/being fast | (“I live my life a quarter mile at a time.”)
Cliffhanger endings 0
Different city | (Los Angeles)
“Family” meals |
“Family” member killed | (Jessie)
“Family” rescue mission | (Mia/Brian rescuing Vince during truck heist)
Fight Scene ||
Flashbacks 0
Joining forces against a villain | (VS Johnny Tran)
Kidnappings 0
Old friends return 0
New protagonist 0
Self-sacrifice | (Brian giving Dom his keys and letting him go)
Sex scenes | (Mild sex scene)
Street Race Scene ||||
Vin Diesel Badass Line ||||
8. 6
Content Analysis
The word “family” | (Said by police)
2 Fast 2 Furious (2)
Theme Occurrences
Adding a new member to the family | (Roman, and to a lesser degree Tej)
Friendly banter between main characters ||||
Bonding while working on a car 0
Cliché line about going/being fast 0
Cliffhanger endings 0
Different city | (Miami)
“Family” meals 0
“Family” member killed 0
“Family” rescue mission | (Roman goes back to save Brian)
Fight Scene |||
Flashbacks 0
Joining forces against a villain | (VS Carter Verone)
Kidnappings | (Brian’s love interest, Agent Monica Fuentes)
Old friends return | (Roman)
New protagonist 0 (Technically Brian because this is his solo film)
Self-sacrifice 0
Sex scenes 0
Street Race Scene ||
9. 7
Content Analysis
Vin Diesel Badass Line 0
The word “family” 0
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (3)
Theme Occurrences
Adding a new member to the family ||| (Brand new group – Sean, Twinkie, and Han)
Friendly banter between main characters ||
Bonding while working on a car | (Twinkie and Sean post-Han death)
Cliché line about going/being fast 0
Cliffhanger endings 0
Different city | (Tokyo)
“Family” meals 0
“Family” member killed | (Han)
“Family” rescue mission 0
Fight Scene ||||
Flashbacks 0
Joining forces against a villain 0
Kidnappings 0
Old friends return | (Dom, technically Han (chronologically))
New protagonist | (Sean)
Self-sacrifice 0
Sex scenes 0
10. 8
Content Analysis
Street Race Scene ||||
Vin Diesel Badass Line |
The word “family” |
Fast and Furious (4)
Theme Occurrences
Adding a new member to the family |||| (Han, Cara, Leo, and Santos)
Friendly banter between main characters ||||
Bonding while working on a car |
Cliché line about going/being fast |
Cliffhanger endings | (Mia, Brian, Leo and Santos about to intercept Dom’s prison
bus)
Different city | (Chicana, Mexico)
“Family” meals |
“Family” member killed | (Letty)
“Family” rescue mission | (Family going to save Dom)
Fight Scene |||
Flashbacks ||
Joining forces against a villain | (VS Braga and Phoenix)
Kidnappings 0
Old friends return |||| (Dom, Letty, Mia, Brian, Han)
New protagonist 0
Self-sacrifice ||| (Dom leaving Letty, Dom jumps in front of car for Giselle,
Brian leaving police for Dom.)
11. 9
Content Analysis
Sex scenes 0
Street Race Scene |
Vin Diesel Badass Line |||| |||| |
The word “family” |
Fast Five (5)
Theme Occurrences
Adding a new member to the family | (Giselle, officially Tej and Roman; also joined forces with
Hobbs and Elena)
Friendly banter between main characters |||| |||| |||
Bonding while working on a car 0
Cliché line about going/being fast ||
Cliffhanger endings | (Letty is alive)
Different city I (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)
“Family” meals |
“Family” member killed | (Vince)
“Family” rescue mission | (Dom’s rescue from the prison bus)
Fight Scene ||||
Flashbacks |
Joining forces against a villain || (Dom’s team vs Hobbs, and Hobbs and Dom’s teams VS
Reyes)
Kidnappings 0
Old friends return | (Vince)
New protagonist 0
12. 10
Content Analysis
Self-sacrifice | (Dom telling Brian to go and taking on army of police
officers)
Sex scenes 0
Street Race Scene |
Vin Diesel Badass Line |||| |||| ||
The word “family” ||||
Fast and Furious 6 (6)
Theme Occurrences
Adding a new member to the family ||| (Hobbs, Elena + Letty let back in)
Friendly banter between main characters |||| |||
Bonding while working on a car 0
Cliché line about going/being fast |
Cliffhanger endings | (Owen Shaw’s brother kills Han and comes for Dom and the
“family.”)
Different city | (London, England)
“Family” meals |
“Family” member killed || (Giselle, Han)
“Family” rescue mission | (To rescue Mia from Shaw)
Fight Scene |||| ||||
Flashbacks |||
Joining forces against a villain | (Joined government VS Owen Shaw)
Kidnappings | (Mia)
Old friends return ||| (Letty, Hobbs, Elena)
13. 11
Content Analysis
New protagonist 0
Self-sacrifice || (Brian “checks” himself into prison; Dom jumps out of a
moving vehicle to save Letty)
Sex scenes | (Mild)
Street Race Scene ||
Vin Diesel Badass Line |||| ||
The word “family” |||| ||
Results in percentage form:
4%
15%
7%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
7%4%
4%
4%
15%
19%
4%
The Fast and the Furious
Adding new members to the family
Friendly banter between main characters
Bonding over working on a car
Cliché line about going fast
Cliffhanger endings
Different city
Family meals
"Family" member killed
"Family" rescue
Fight Scene
Flashbacks
Joining forces against a villain
Kidnappings
Old friends return
New protagonist
Self-sacrifice
Sex scenes
Street Race Scenes
Vin Diesel badass line
The word family
14. 12
Content Analysis
6%
31%
6%
6%
19%
6%
6%
6%
13%
2 Fast 2 Furious Adding new members to the family
Friendly banter between main characters
Bonding over working on a car
Cliché line about going fast
Cliffhanger endings
Different city
Family meals
"Family" member killed
"Family" rescue
Fight Scene
Flashbacks
Joining forces against a villain
Kidnappings
Old friends return
New protagonist
Self-sacrifice
Sex scenes
Street Race Scenes
Vin Diesel badass line
The word family
14%
10%
5%
5%
5%
19%
5%
5%
24%
5%
5%
The Fast and the Furious:TD
Adding new members to the family
Friendly banter between main characters
Bonding over working on a car
Cliché line about going fast
Cliffhanger endings
Different city
Family meals
"Family" member killed
"Family" rescue
Fight Scene
Flashbacks
Joining forces against a villain
Kidnappings
Old friends return
New protagonist
Self-sacrifice
Sex scenes
Street Race Scenes
Vin Diesel badass line
The word family
15. 13
Content Analysis
9%
12%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
7%
5%
2%
12%
7%
2%
26%
2%
Fast and Furious Adding new members to the family
Friendly banter between main characters
Bonding over working on a car
Cliché line about going fast
Cliffhanger endings
Different city
Family meals
"Family" member killed
"Family" rescue
Fight Scene
Flashbacks
Joining forces against a villain
Kidnappings
Old friends return
New protagonist
Self-sacrifice
Sex scenes
Street Race Scenes
Vin Diesel badass line
The word family
2%
27%
4%
2%2%
2%2%
2%8%2%4%
2%
2%
2%
25%
10%
Fast Five Adding new members to the family
Friendly banter between main characters
Bonding over working on a car
Cliché line about going fast
Cliffhanger endings
Different city
Family meals
"Family" member killed
"Family" rescue
Fight Scene
Flashbacks
Joining forces against a villain
Kidnappings
Old friends return
New protagonist
Self-sacrifice
Sex scenes
Street Race Scenes
Vin Diesel badass line
The word family
16. 14
Content Analysis
Part III: Findings
As evidenced by the coding pages, the findings were pretty conclusive. As far as the
overarching direction of the films, they began as movies detailing the excitement of illegal street
racing, and the racers. This was the entire theme of the first and third movies with movie 2 being
more like the later movies, but with a lot more street racing. Starting with the fourth movie the
series went through a “soft reboot.” This means that without completely restarting the franchise,
the old way of the films was thrown out the window and the films became more about
international, high speed crime. It was also brought back after almost 6 years of no activity from
the franchise after the box office failure that was Tokyo Drift.
Curiously enough another thing that happened was that as the movies progressed, (Tokyo
Drift aside, as it was its own spinoff story with entirely different characters) the group grew and
expanded every movie and everybody involved grew close enough to refer to one another as a
family. The plot thickened with every movie and grew more and more grandiose to the point that
this ragtag group of people brought together and led by Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian
O’Connor (Paul Walker) took on and destroyed a tank AND a plane with a fleet of cars.
5%
15%
2% 2%
2%
2%
4%
2%
18%
5%
2%
2%
5%
4%2%
4%
13%
13%
Fast and Furious 6 Adding new members to the family
Friendly banter between main characters
Bonding over working on a car
Cliché line about going fast
Cliffhanger endings
Different city
Family meals
"Family" member killed
"Family" rescue
Fight Scene
Flashbacks
Joining forces against a villain
Kidnappings
Old friends return
New protagonist
Self-sacrifice
Sex scenes
Street Race Scenes
Vin Diesel badass line
The word family
17. 15
Content Analysis
When “The Fast and the Furious,” began the family consisted of Dominic Toretto, his
sister Mia, his girlfriend Letty, Vince, Leon, and Jessie. They then welcomed in police officer
Brian O’Connor who would butt heads with Vince and end up falling for Mia. By “2 Fast 2
Furious,” Brian had parted ways from the others following Jessie’s murder and relocated to
Miami where he met his old friends Roman and another friend Tej. Tokyo Drift brought on Sean,
Twinkie, and Han. Unbeknownst to most, Tokyo Drift ended up being the sequel to 4, 5, and 6,
so despite being killed in Tokyo Drift, Han was in the three subsequent movies. “Fast and
Furious,” the fourth entry, set 5 years after the first movie, and bringing back the return of the
original cast, brought on Leo, Santos, and Cara who joined Dom’s crew. (Cara fell into the Fast
and Furious black hole along with Leon, Suki (a girl from 2 Fast), and Sean, (who is set to
appear in 7) and eventually Leo and Santos – none of them were ever heard from or seen again,
with little to no explanation.) “Fast Five” was the first film to call in the “family” to pull off
something big. Roman, Tej, Leo, Santos, and Giselle from “Fast and Furious” were all brought
into the family and together along the family stole $110 million dollars from the country of
Brazil. Due to their expertise, in “Fast and Furious 6” they were joined by Hobbs and Elena who
were enemies of theirs in the previous instalment in order to take down a fellow international
criminal and his fine-tuned team. The stark differences were apparent in the fact that the rival
group was not a family when compared to Dom’s.
Throughout the movies, specifically 5 and 6, with robbing the entire country of Brazil
and taking down an international criminal organization, the group became a true family. They
had family meals, the always had each other’s backs. Their undying loyalty was evident within
all of their self-sacrifice for the good of their friends. They fought together. They fought for each
other. Their motto is “ride or die.” The films became more about family in the later installments
and that can be seen wholly in the simplicity of how many times the word family is uttered in the
later films. It’s mentioned well over four times more in 5 AND 6 respectively.
Family is a lot more than blood. Family is exemplified entirely by the people in these
movies. The results presented in the coding sheets and resulting pie charts should be more than
enough to evidence this truth. Every family is unique and there’s a reason this family has
captured America’s hearts as surely as they have.
18. 16
Content Analysis
Zack Reese
Public Relations Director
(716) 345-0915
zackarytreese@gmail.com
Reese Incorporated
1234 Hypothetical Avenue April 13, 2015
Buffalo, N.Y. 14222 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reese Inc. Releasing Research Analysis
Study Shows how the Fast and the Furious Movies Relate to Familial Traits
Buffalo, N.Y. ---Reese Inc., a local public relations firm will be releasing the results of its latest
research study based on the Fast and the Furious movies Thursday, April 30 at 12 p.m.
The study details a deep look at the first six films in the Fast and the Furious film series and
serves as a cohesive content analysis on what makes a family a family. Looking at different themes
enraptured within the six movies, the study compares and contrasts each film.
The study is described as follows by the corporation: “What constitutes a family exactly? Is it
blood or is it something more? This study will explore that very question by looking at the first six
Fast and Furious movies and breaking down how that “family” grew and what it truly means to be a
family.”
President of the firm, Zack Reese, commented on the study "these movies have become
something of a staple in the country and have seen so much commercial success. As a company we
are constantly thinking of ways to appeal to different publics for our clients and this study undeniably
carries with it knowledge on what a modern day family consists of and how we can appeal to that
demographic."
The study will go live at noon on April 30. The public is welcome and encouraged to read the
study and comment on it as well.
For more information contact Zack Reese at (716) 345-0915 or by email at
zackarytreese@gmail.com. You can also visit www.reeseinc.com for news articles and blog posts
about the contents of the study.
#######
Appendix A: News Release
Reese Inc.
19. 17
Content Analysis
Appendix B: Personal Evaluation
As was the case with many of the projects this semester for 401, this was my first time
writing/conducting a content analysis. I chose this series of movies because they are one of my
favorites and I thought that this idea that a family isn’t just tied together by blood but by a
mutual respect and admiration for one another. The idea that loyalty and the trials you go
through could be thicker than blood was extremely intriguing to me.
Of course, the series is generally about the “family” coming up and succeeding in their
endeavors despite being underdogs, and who doesn’t love a good underdog story? The struggles
they went through to get to where they are further prove my point.
I do believe that this analysis is pretty thorough without being overly so. The themes
weren’t too difficult to choose because I am an avid fan of the series so I knew what to look for,
for what I was researching. The only issue I ran into and I noticed this pretty early on was the
fact that I hadn’t seen movies 1-4 in a really long time so I had forgotten a lot of the things that
happened in these 4 films. I remembered the big events, but most of the smaller stuff was out of
my head. Fortunately this only effected maybe 2 or 3 of the themes out of the twenty. It’s pretty
obvious which one’s those were too. So I suppose if I had a “do-over” I would maybe think more
critically about which factors I chose to capitalize on even though for the most part what I chose
worked out in my favor and served its purpose of bringing the answer to my research question to
fruition.
One thing to note is that it is pretty evident that the people in the entertainment world
would be the most likely candidates to use a content analysis. This type of research is long and
tedious, but nonetheless it would be absolutely beneficial for marketing. This kind of research
would be viable to even analyze current audiences and markets and how they respond to certain
stimuli. It would just make sense to employ the use of something like this.
It was an enjoyable and enlightening experience. A lot of time and effort was put into
making this analysis clear and concise. Along with what was in my coding sheets, I took
additional notes to further solidify my ideas. My coding sheets are of my own creation. I actually
enjoyed that part quite a bit.
