Senior Thesis & The Art of Watching Films

Topic: The discrimination of minorities Focus 1: The United States was founded on the basis of racism. Despite the strides taken to make the lives of Americans equal, there are still countless ineluctable stigmas surrounding the minorities that are especially prevalent. In the novels "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas and "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, both authors depict the struggles of being a minority in today's America. They discuss the the society surrounding them and the inability to walk the streets without the constant fear of potential police brutality and hate crimes. (this focus is more active racism) Focus 2: In the novels "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas and "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the authors not only depict the violence taken against them, but also the covert racism that affects the everyday lives of the minorities. They express the oppression of blacks through the subliminal suppres

Topic: Isolation and Phoniness Texts: Catcher in the Rye and Breaking Bad Focus 1: In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden often brings up how "phony" adults are and that they usually don't recognize it. In Breaking Bad, Walter is diagnosed with cancer and uses his knowledge of chemistry to cook meth in order to fund his treatment. He hides this from his family which shows his phoniness. His reasoning for cooking the meth is to protect his family from being poor however he doesn't consider the fact that he's allowing people to harm themselves. Throughout the show, you begin to realize that Walter is also doing this for his own enjoyment as well as paying for his treatment. Focus 2: Another thing that both Holden and Walter have to deal with is isolationism. Holden's isolation causes him to have bad interactions with people around him which puts him into deeper isolation. Walter Forces himself into isolation because of his cancer in order to protect his family a

My topic is going to be about the mental side of sports and the mastery of it. My foci are going to be Kobe Bryant and his autobiography "The Mamba Mentality", Tom Brady and his autobiography "The TB12 Method", and possibly Roger Federer.

Topic: Go Down, Moses , and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Focus 1: Throughout both of these novels, characters are forced to contend with the corrupt legacies of their fathers. Huck's father is an abusive, racist alcoholic, who epitomizes negative stereotypes about white southerners. In Go Down, Moses , Ike McCaslin's grandfather owned a large plantation, which he acquired by cheating natives out of their land, and fathered children with several of his slaves. Both characters are also forced to address the legacies passed on to them through the heritage of the south. Miss Watson attempts to civilize Huck, and force him to conform to southern society, which is deeply racist. Ike is expected to inherit the McCaslin plantation and manage sharecroppers as his father and grandfather managed slaves. Huck and Ike both reject the legacies of their fathers and of the south, Huck by running away and assisting Jim in his escape to freedom, and Ike by repudiating his inheritance. E

Topic: How people impact the environment, specifically through our diets Texts:  "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer, (a look at why we find it acceptable to eat certain animals and not others, the morals behind veganism, and how it benefits the environment). "Cowspiracy"- film on Netflix, (explains how factory farming is decimating the planets natural recources and how this issue is being ingored by major environmental groups). "Rotten" -film on Netflix (exposing the lies of the food industry and how poorly they are treating both people and animals). Focus 1: Lack of accurate nutritional knowledge and the common misconceptions people make regarding diet. Example: How much protein does a human need? The answer is not that much. Yet, people worry. Can you name one protein deficiency? Have you ever met someone who has a protein deficiency? My guess is no. If you get your protein from meat, your suggested daily intake of protein amounts to about o

Topic: The representation and misrepresentation of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in popular culture and media through examining Turtles All the Way Down and Monk (and possibly a minor focus on The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B & Friends).   Focus 1:   A theme that is present in both works is the idea of the “OCD Super-detective.” This image of a person with OCD displays OCD as a sort of superpower, wherein their hyper-focus on obsessions allows them to see and understand details of a case or situation that a neurotypical person would not have. The television show Monk accepts and amplifies this idea of the OCD super-detective, where Monk’s obsessive compulsive disorder is somewhat of a punchline to the people around him. In Turtles All the Way Down, John Green’s character challenges the idea of the super-detective and shows a realistic view of OCD wherein the disorder is shown truly affecting the life of the character and the lives of the people around her.   Focus 2:  

Focus #1 Why is it that Chris McCandless ends up over his head at the end, and Hig not only survives but “lives happily ever after”? - In both texts, Into the Wild and The Dog Stars , the main characters, Chris McCandless and Hig respectively, must survive for a long period of time in the wild. In the end of Into the Wild Chris dies as he was “in over his head”. At the end of The Dog Stars , Hig “lives happily ever after”. What about the two character’s differences determined their fate? Focus #2 What happened to the characters mentally throughout their journey? - In Into the Wild and The Dog Stars , both characters find themselves living in the wild. Throughout both works the characters develop with different mindsets as to what they need. For example, in The Dog Stars , Hig starts looking for more people to be around, whereas in Into the Wild Chris McCandless tries to get as far away from people as possible. Why is it that the two main characters react so differentl

Texts: American Gods  and The God Delusion Topic: The Evolution of Religion and the Different Forms It Takes Focus 1: This would focus on the difference between The God Delusion ´s message of the very idea of God or gods existing being a ridiculous notion and American Gods ´ message of thinking, seeing, or experiencing some aspect of our lives being a form of worship towards said aspect, making it a deity. The God Delusion ´s message stands firm in the belief that there are no higher powers, but Neil Gaiman has a different idea. The message that American Gods  preaches is that we don´t need to be constantly praying or even acknowledge the existence of deities, but by simply living our daily lives and experiencing everyday aspects of it, such as the media or technology, we are unintentionally worshiping them and therefore forming some sort of religious following around them. Focus 2: Focusing on the evolution of religion throughout human history and how it constantly changes in or

Nick Spina READY PLAYER ONE VS STRANGER THINGS Focus: Comparing and Contrasting the positive and negative effects these alternate universes have on the characters - how does their involvement with the worlds affect them? Does it make their relationships stronger? Weaker? OR READY PLAYER ONE VS BLACK MIRROR (Play Test and USS Calister Episodes)  Focus: Comparing how their virtual relationships evolve to affect their real world ones - How does Wade’s consistent contact with Sam progress their relationship when they meet in person? Does that help? One the other hand, how does Robert Daly’s obsession with the show and desire to control his workers affect his real world relationship with Cole? What do Cooper’s striking reactions to the visual illusions reveal about him? How does the game affect him and give him a new perspective on his relationships and ways to deal with them? I personally think the section option would be a more interesting take, but let me know wha

Topic: Chaos theory, alternate timelines, and lack of free will; using "Slaughterhouse V" (novel) and Mr. Nobody  (film) Focus A: Every single single choice we make in life results in a different set of future events than if we had chosen the other option. Sometimes these differences are minor and other times they are substantial. Where do these separate sets of events go once we have made our choice? Alternate timelines contain each possible universe that stem from each choice we make, and branch off into multitudes. The law of entropy states that the universe errs towards chaos and randomness-- no set of events is better or worse than another, just different-- and gets bigger with each passing moment. Chaos theory and the butterfly effect both express the ability of seemingly minor events to have a major impact on the future, so how does one navigate life knowing that these exist? Mr. Nobody  explains these theories in detail, and shows how different Nemo's life could

Topic: Rivalries in sports and in literature Focus #1: Rivalries will be explored in the novel,  The Outsiders and the documentary, 30 for 30 Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies. In both of these works, the creators explore what fuels these groups to continue these rivalries. In The Outsiders  the Socials and Greasers are two groups of kids who come from opposite sides of town. The Socials and Greasers have fueled their rivalry on their very different backgrounds and socioeconomic status'. The Celtics and Lakers have started their rivalry in the beginning of the 1960s and was founded again in 1984 and ever since has been one of the biggest rivalries in sports. This rivalry has been fueled through various components but died for a period of time; however, the rivalry was reborn the rookie year of Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Focus #2: Rivalries will be explored in the tragedy, Romeo and Juliet and the documentary, 30 for 30 Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies. Thes

Hey everyone! I'm super excited for thesis, but my thoughts are currently all over the place. I'm intrigued by time travel and alternate timelines/the chaos of entropy and lack of free will, a la Mr. Nobody  and Slaughterhouse V. Another path that I might follow may be flipping the script on ancient epics and examining works like the Ramayana and The Odyssey to examine the roles of queens and loyalty from a feminist perspective. I can't wait to get started!

For my thesis I was thinking of writing about sports, specifically tennis, or the current media coverage in the United States

For my thesis I was thinking of exploring the books/movies Forest Gump, Great Gatsby, Slumdog Millionaire or Berlin Boxing Club. I was thinking of using the theme of thriving when the odds are against you. Not sure though, any advice is more than welcome, please help.