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The importance of multiple perspectives in literature

Analyse how books with multiple character point-of-view enhances the reading experience. What are the benefits of having both female and male main characters? In what ways does having four different points of view aide the story's plot? As with real life, there is never one side to a story, there's plenty. How does this relate to real life situations?

  • I think this would be an interesting topic since it is not just multiple POVs that enhance the experience, when done properly, it is the realisation that each character will have their own view on events that have passed. The unreliable narrator trope can be more concisely illustrated when other perspectives are shown, letting the audience know the biases of certain characters more. It allows the world in which the story is taking place feel much more like reality since a person's perspective is never actually subjective. When one character tells a story from their perspective, so much of that story is influenced by their own biases. By allowing multiple POVs this can be more obviously pointed out so that novel feels more accurate to real life. – NayanaK 5 years ago
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  • The Rashomon effect. – T. Palomino 2 years ago
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The Political Impact of Science Fiction Films

From Star Wars and Star Trek to movies like Dune, there has always been either establishment affirming or anti-establishment views within these films. It would be interesting to compare and contrast science fiction films throughout the ages and how they take a look at the societies we grew up in within a detached viewpoint and how it has affected our own view on politics and ourselves.

  • Another film to look at would be Blade Runner. There are issues about free will, power and slavery. It is also interesting because Deckard is part of the political machine, enforcing the status-quo about how Replicants should be act and what the consequences are. – Sean Gadus 5 years ago
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  • I know, although a web search would be needed, that both actors and directors have talked about political issues they could address in science fiction movies, that were acceptable to be addressed, but they could not do, or were reluctant to address in a movie about life on earth. – Joseph Cernik 5 years ago
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Asian Americans in Films of the 1930s, '40s and '50s

I propose an article examining Hollywood's depiction of Asian American characters in the early years of American film. Such portrayals have long been a subject of controversy because they have frequently dealt with stereotypes rather than authentic representations of Asian culture.

  • Just watched Josef von Sternberg's Shanghai Express (1932); worth looking into regarding this subject. I never caught anything overtly racist but there are definitely moments that one might consider insensitive today. The culture and "political correctness" of the time period is always something to keep in mind. – dbotros 5 years ago
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  • Good topic, but I think there's an important distinction that must be made between "Asian Americans in films" and "representations of Asian Americans in films." The former would ideally refer to the ethnicity and/or cultural heritage of the actors who appear in the films (regardless of what type of character they are portraying), whereas the latter refers to the ways in which characters of that ethnic/cultural background are presented (regardless of the identity of the actor portraying that role). While these often go hand-in-hand, particularly in the former case, it is often the instances in which they do not coincide when controversies are more likely to arise. Surely there's a difference between someone like Anna May Wong needing to conform herself to Americans audiences' preconceived notions and stereotypes about Asian culture in order to ensure steady employment for herself, versus something like Mickey Rooney infamously donning yellowface to play Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Just some food for thought. – ProtoCanon 5 years ago
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  • A good idea, begin with Charlie Chan. – Joseph Cernik 4 years ago
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The Influence and Evolution of the B-level Horror Flick

Although B-movies have been around since the early years of cinema, they've taken on different connotations with audiences over the decades, even becoming their own respected genre. One might argue that Val Lewton, a writer-producer who worked in the 1940s-50s, is the tipping point in low budget horror. Films like Cat People (1942) and its sequel The Curse of the Cat People (1944) took financial restrictions and turned them into an advantage. Their use of sound is particularly effective in creating a psychologically disturbing atmosphere. Instead of the make-up and costume blockbusters that profited Universal (Dracula, Frankenstein, and their respective franchises), Lewton and director Jacques Tourner reinvented the genre. Use Lewton's work as the fulcrum to describe how B-horror came to be a modern-day cult favourite.

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    How video games may have influenced the way movies are made, and vice-versa?

    After watching Sam Mendes’ movie 1917, I heard someone saying that the movie reminded him of a video game. I don't know if he was referring to the story itself, to the way the movie was shot, or to both, but it had me thinking. To what extent video games may have influenced the way movies are shot and stories built? (In the case of 1917, or in general.) And, vice-versa, some video games like The Last Of Us or Red Dead Redemption 2 can almost be watched like movies. So, to what extent movies have influenced the way video games are designed and built?

    • God of War 2018 did something similar and even boasted about being "1 continuous shot" for the entire game, so some game makers are thinking about some of the same ideas as film makers. – Sean Gadus 5 years ago
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    • I think this is a great topic and also a topic of much discussion in cinema and video game studies. The film Run Lola Run can also be a good source to start thinking about around this theme. – Srijita 5 years ago
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    • I think Spielberg's Ready Player One is a good movie for reference. Video game is the theme of this movie and the film is structured according to a game's mode. – XiaoYang 5 years ago
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    The Usage (or Lack Therof) of Page Layouts in Calvin and Hobbes

    Calvin and Hobbes is a widely well regarded comic that is liked by the young and old alike. While the comic has much to say about art and philosophy, it can also be noted for it's deliberate usage or occasional abandonment of a standard layout of it's panels. While a good deal of the strips adhere to a more rigid and standard layout and let their content shine through, as the comic went on Watterson began to explore more novel layouts, allowing the interweaving of Calvin's fantastic imagination his mundane world together in new and compelling ways, or creating strips that exist in a much more dynamic fashion with very few actual panels at all.

    An article could discuss how these panels and strips make use of both the traditional and the irregular to better serve the comic's storytelling and narrative capabilities.

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      Sonic the Hedgehog/Bird of Prey: The Entitlement of Film Audiences

      This February a slew of both bad and good movies came out. However, two of them have been talked the most and those films being Sonic the Hedgehog and Bird of Prey.

      What should have been a feminist success turned out to a downright misogynistic disaster at the box office. While the other that gain a truckload of backlash for the C.G.I abomination that supposed to represent the beloved Sega video game character Sonic, turned out to be a box office success, beating Detective Pikachu as the newest adorable, expressive C.G.I character to date.

      These two films are where they are now because one decided to listen to the fans, while the other kicked them to the curb, thinking their message was far more important than actually adapting the source material.

      At the end of the day, one wonders should fans have a say in terms of the creative process in films when it comes to adapting a popular product or should fans leave it to the paid artists to take liberties with it?

      • I like this idea a lot! I didn't realize Sonic had been so successful at the box office. I saw Birds of Prey and I actually really liked it. I'll admit I'm not a huge comic book fan myself so I don't know everything about what they got right or wrong in that particular film, but I personally really enjoy Margot Robbie as Harley which is why I went to see it. I feel like the marketing of both films, especially Birds of Prey, could have been a lot stronger. This story is along the same lines as the female Ghostbusters-reboot. I can't help but lean towards a feminist argument here. It seems like perhaps Sonic performed better in theaters because it was not a female-focused film. Comic book fans seem to have trouble with female narratives, which is alarming. I'd love to see this story tackled with that in mind. I'd also be interested to hear about what things fans would have changed in Birds of Prey. Is there anything that could have been done there to make people come out to see the film? Or is a story driven by a female cast doomed to always fail in a presumably male fan's opinion? – StephanieKocer 5 years ago
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      • @StephanieKocer, Thanks for the note! I don't mean to promote myself But to answer your question about female films and failure check out an article I wrote months back called the paradox of the strong female character – Amelia Arrows 5 years ago
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      Machiavelli on Republic states and Hereditary Lineage

      Machiavelli spent much of the second half of his life concerned with regaining a governmental position in Italy following their political coup. For a statesman, ironically, Machiavelli was a quiet and shadowy individual, though his opinions on political rule are strong and controversial. He believed that a prince must always present himself as perfect and that all countries out to have a constant cavalry in order to have a fortress of sorts(though he disapproved of most stone fortresses). This made sense in his time due to the roaming barbarians that would eventually take over his country. Machiavelli believed no man can hold power without a knowledge of tactics and to trust no one. Such a Prince has only few advisers and admirers are brushed off, otherwise the Prince will lose respect, a ruler he says must be simultaneously generous, holding festivals, and mean or brusque, occasionally cruel without reason. Do you agree with his philosophy? Do you find it hypocritical?

      • I read Machiavelli's writings, and I'm confused about what an essay would focus on from what I read here. Maybe just focus on whether Machiavelli is still relevant and, if so, why. – Joseph Cernik 4 years ago
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      Morality and Adaptation

      When adapting old stories that included prejudice or other unfair products of its time, to what extent should the adaptation be altered? Should the adaptation include the biases of the original (even if they are critiqued or showed to be flawed), or is it better to remove the biases altogether? On one hand, including the biases may be seen as a confirmation of them. However, it may also be seen as a way to renounce the flaws of the past while still valuing important stories. Avoiding the biases altogether may imply that the biases were not important, but it may also be viewed as a way of 'updating' an outdated story. Does the decision to include (or exclude) biases change depending on the original story's context (e.g. how well known it is today, how old it is, etc.)?

      • Super interesting topic! I think, perhaps unhelpfully, it ends up being a creative choice that ultimately depends on the adapted work and the intentions of the adaptation. Naturally, any adaptation process will involve changes. Some "flaws," as you say, can be "updated" without changing the original context. For example, the language may be updated (though I also acknowledge certain vernacular may be characteristic or plot-driven). The way we are first told a story shapes our impression of it, and an adaptation that changes too much (even if for moral reasons) can be severely disappointing. Moreover, the idea of morality often spirals into issues of censorship—which is another fraught topic because it demands who has the right to decide what can (or cannot) be censored? Furthermore, while I am in favour of honouring the original work and its creator's intentions, I believe that ultimately every adaptation must diverge from the original and become its own iteration. Each adaptation, after all, is an interpretation of the original work. Within this context, "updating" ensures that the work is relatable and may enable it to reach a wider audience. However, I waffle again, with the contention that every work is in and of itself a cultural artifact, and changing them simply for the sake of "updating" risks devaluing cultural values and mores that original creators may have wanted to preserve or speak to. In conclusion, I am obviously torn, but this topic is really thought-provoking and relevant given the number of adaptations that are coming out. Hopefully, I've given some more ideas to consider—happy writing! – carmenxbd 5 years ago
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      • An interesting idea for an essay. I am of the mind that any adaptation of an old story is a reflection of the time in which the adaptation is produced rather than the one in which the original material is situated. So, in that sense, it is reasonable to take liberties to update or revise material as necessary to make it relatable and accessible to modern audiences of the day. – John Wilson 5 years ago
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      The Heroes Journey: A self isolating adventure

      We are living in difficult times, and many of us are dealing with the five stages of grief. The initial excitement of change, the political reassurances, the cancellations, and finally what could mean an 18 month quarantine. No matter your living situation you are allowed to grieve. And should this continue, we all need to learn how to be alone. Museum and library connections are available online, universities are offering free classes, gardening and cooking all the things you never had time for are here. If you’re anything like me, this quarantine is a blessing and a curse, for as much as I miss my friends, my mental illness was severely effecting my stress levels back home- not one to quit I refused to give up, so to me it feels like the universe sent me home. I’m doing better than ever and graduate next week, what are your quarantine journeys?

      • I will definitely revise this to include a broader and not so personal narrative guide to handling isolation – chloedubisch 5 years ago
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      • This is a great topic, but I would agree to make it a little less personal and more broad Perhaps navigating the quarantine: drawbacks and strengths? Or you could focus on resources or activities that are blossoming during quarantine. – birdienumnum17 5 years ago
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      • I personally like the idea of making it a personal topic. I would used the sentence, "No matter your living situation you are allowed to grieve" as the title and create a series of stories around it. – amberflynn93 5 years ago
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      The Exotic Food in Shokugeki no Soma

      In the Shokugeki no Soma anime, we can see a diversity of delicious dishes from around the world with exotic ingredients, in one chapter they prepared "Causa Limeña" a famous Peruvian dish prepared with potatoes and seafood. Do you think this anime encourages you to cook and learn about international cuisine?

      • Whoever writes this should compare the "exotic" foods, as well as look at who the chefs are (are they international chefs? Why did they choose this dish?). Also, see if any interest in international cooking was sparked in Japan when this anime aired. – OkaNaimo0819 5 years ago
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      The Female Gaze

      Discussions around the male gaze (in art and elsewhere) are present within the Western socio-political, cultural and artistic milieu since a very long time. What about the female gaze – something which is becoming more and more powerful and evident in the 21st century? I would like to leave this topic relatively open so that writers can choose their own angle from which to hadnle it. I would be interested to see whether people examine this issue from a certain political stance, from a gender studies' perspective or from a more traditional pathway of looking into painting and photography, for example. I believe there is a lot to be said regarding the representation of women nowadays – in art, in films, on TV, in literature…the female figure is becoming more independent, having agency over her own body and her own gaze. What changes (if any) does this bring into the mechanisms of production, and consequently consumption, in pop culture?

      • Love this topic! I think there's a lot of room for different analyses and perspectives depending on the angle, like you say, and media type. Looking at different waves of feminism could also be cool if you wanted to understand how we arrived at the 21st-century female gaze. – carmenxbd 5 years ago
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      • Such a great idea! In my college film classes, we discussed the male gaze frequently, but the female gaze was not brought up. I think that in an increasingly feminist society that this topic definitely has relevance. I would be interested in discussing it from a cinematic perspective and how the female gaze does or does not objectify a male character in the way that male creators objectify their female characters, even from a camera lens. – lstraub 5 years ago
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      • I think a relevant movie here would be Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, since it was a film that was purely framed through the female gaze. It showed love and affection and women supporting women without objectification or misogynistic undertones. By allowing the women in this film to simply Exist, without the necessity that they be consumed by a man, it is incredibly unpopular with many people. However, it very poetically manages to capture the unique experience of the love between women - both romantic and platonic. In the way the romance between the women progressed, the ways in which they fall in love with each other and the ways in which every shot is framed, is completely unaffected by the usually ever-present male gaze. All I'm really saying is that I think there would be a lot to say about how this film captures the female gaze exceptionally well. – NayanaK 5 years ago
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      • Two sources about the male gaze in media could be Jeff Wall who is a Canadian artist who created photographs such as 'Picture for Woman' that explored the idea of the male gaze. Laura Mulvey was the theorist who coined the 'male gaze theory' so she might be an interesting source to compare the female gaze to. – Erika 5 years ago
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      The figure of the Devil in TV shows

      Popular culture, and TV shows, in particular, are prone to use and revisit mythical figures, religious allegories, and biblical references, and, among, them, the Devil. Whether he is called Lucifer or Satan, the one who rebelled against God and have incarnated evil ever since seems to be an everlasting source of inspiration for screenwriters, creators, and showrunners. However, in recent shows like Supernatural, and, even more, in Lucifer, the Devil is – to a degree at least, especially in Supernatural where he is and stays an antagonist – humanized. His so-called evilness is – once again, to a degree – nuanced, and there is more to his psychology than evil for evil’s sake. It is especially flagrant in Lucifer, as Lucifer is the main character. He is a hero with flaws and qualities, a hero confronted to very human dilemmas, to fear, to loss, to love, a hero we are rooting for.
      How Devil-like characters have been written and treated? As it evolved? Can we discern a tendency, in recent TV shows, to develop, or even humanize, the Devil? How is it done? How could such a tendency be related to the evolution of the “Good vs Evil” trope? And, potentially, what are the exceptions to the recent transformations – or lack of transformation, if we can’t discern a real tendency – and how can we explain them?

      • Great topic. Other shows to consider covering: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina; Reaper; 666 Park Avenue; Good Omens. – Emily Deibler 5 years ago
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      • Definitely an interesting topic for discussion! However, it bears pointing out that the idea of the Devil not being pure evil isn't new. It actually goes back to John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was written in the 1600's. – Debs 5 years ago
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      • Very good topic! I would suggest, if you can, looking into South Park's Satan, who is very much confronted with the human dilemma of love and sexuality. Some films that I would suggest would be the Ghost Rider films and The Devil's Advocate. I believe that there is a Paradise Lost reference in Advocate. – tolkienfan 5 years ago
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      • Also include a reiteration from anime. They have some pretty weird stuff there. (Devil is a Part-Timer, Blue Exorcist, Devilman Crybaby) – OkaNaimo0819 5 years ago
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      • I'm wondering if this topic can be approached in an historical way: How the devil was seen in 1930s movies versus now, for example. – Joseph Cernik 4 years ago
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      Repositioning the Other

      How have contemporary writers repositioned the term “Otherness” in literature? In Toni Morrison’s article “The Color Fetish,” she describes how modernists like William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway employed colorism and racial stereotypes when writing their characters. How do contemporary black writers portray their characters, as celebrating the “Other” and perhaps manipulating the Jim Crow caricatures. Consider, for example, Octavia Butler’s characters in the novel Kindred, Toni Morrison's characters in her short story Recitatif, and many others.

      • Would really like to read this. Susan Willis's Specifying and Bell Hooks, Black looks are brilliant source material for an article like this. Highly Recommend 😬 – Lousands 5 years ago
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      Is the content of mentally-ill writers and artists always more disturbing?

      People who live with mental illnesses spend their lives in a state of heightened anxiety and stress, and if they're creative, this often comes through in their work. Arguably some of the greatest contributions to horror, particularly in literature, were written by people with really severe mental health problems, among them Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, and Caitlin Kiernan. Even works made by artists who don't want their mental illness to be so obvious can be darker than they first appear. For instance, many of the deep cuts of the famous rock star Jon Bon Jovi, who struggles with depression, are much more disturbing than the songs that made him a household name. So, are all mentally-ill creatives fated to create dark, creepy, or depressing content? What specific aspects of a creator's mental illness might inform the darker aspects of their work? Are there any mentally-ill artists whose art remains entirely untouched by their illness?

      • This is a super interesting idea. I'd also be interested in how we prognosticate mentally ill creators and whether we should attribute that to how they write, particularly with horror, which is fraught with messy portrayals of mentally ill people. I think about this especially about EAP and HPL. I don't know what Kiernan's mental health issues are, but she tends to be able to represent mentally ill characters very well. But because EAP and HPL were never formally diagnosed, it can be hard to attribute that label and therefore the extent to which it influenced their work. HPL's severe neurosis and illnesses could be attributed to his mother convincing him he was sick (psychosomatic) and emotionally abusing him, anxiety, some have suggested he was autistic, some combo, etc. His anxieties do seem to come through on the page, but I'd also suggest his philosophical thoughts on mechanical materialism also influence the bleakness of his work. – Emily Deibler 5 years ago
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      • I think this needs perhaps a psychologists perspective. Not all mentally troubled people focus on darker work. There are notable exceptions such as Robin Williams, Owen Wilson and Stephen Fry for instance that have excelled in comedic endeavours. It would be interesting to look at what makes certain individuals create the façade of happiness and what allows other to really embrace their troubles. – AshleyStevens 5 years ago
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      • The conflation of Poe with his work is extremely problematic. Poe is not his narrators. Nor was he clinically mentally ill. There is no clear record of that. Poe had a difficult life and his reputation was damaged by the jealous editor Rufus Griswold, who was not even one fragment the writer or critic that Poe was. – rockandrollbob 5 years ago
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      • It also seems a bit problematic to not only lump every single artist or creative that has any form of mental illness under one umbrella but your thesis that they are only capable of creating works of art that is disturbing is somewhat offensive. To say that someone suffering from mental illness can only create art that is worrying seems diminutive to an entire section of society. Vincent van Gogh was clearly disturbed and yet created beautiful painting such as The Starry Night or Almond Blossoms. You need to rework this whole idea or at least remove "always" from the title. I'm sure this is coming from a place of genuine intrigue but please be considerate of the community in which this represents. – FarPlanet 5 years ago
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      • This is a challenging topic to discuss, but that's what makes it so very intriguing. As FarPlanet stated, it can be problematic with generalization if not written/discussed carefully. With that being said, I'd like to offer up my own thoughts on the matter. As someone who struggles with mental illnesses and is studying to be a psychologist, I think the writing CAN be more disturbing, but it is nowhere near always. From where I stand, a handful of mentally ill artists/writers write with a specific emotional depth that many people don't feel for themselves. Sometimes, the depths can be scary... Take psychological thrillers, for example. The mind is a scary place, and the ways in which it can be manipulated are far more terrifying. I would love to write extensively about this topic. I like that it can be approached by the audience, artists/writers themselves in addition to psychologists. It might be a good idea to first isolate the root question here before naming well-known artists/writers in order to keep the discussion open and relevant so as not to rub anyone the wrong way. – Abie Dee 5 years ago
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      Analyzing C.S. Lewis's whole body of work

      Everyone knows C.S. Lewis as the writer of the Chronicles of Narnia series, as well as (to a lesser extent) The Screwtape Letters. However, he's written a lot of other works too–both fiction and nonfiction–that don't get as much attention. Throughout his body of work, what recurring patterns and themes emerge? How have they changed over time? Is there anything he wrote that doesn't get the attention it deserves?

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        Is shelter-in-place helping to define "dress for yourself"

        During these uncertain times, it seems that the things we do for ourselves– without any exterior motivations– are becoming clearer. The phrase "dress for yourself" has gained a lot of momentum amongst those who actively appreciate fashion as well as those who do not give it much thought. Without the complicating factors of social validation (whether that is conformity or aiming to stand out), this article will analyze whether or not quarantine is allowing people to truly dress for themselves.

        • Hm, I think it would be interesting to analyze how fashion is/will be impacted by quarantine. There are many on social media who rely on taking pictures in their backyard to be okay, while others have given up entirely and stay in pajamas. In the sense of fashion, which is ever-changing, what would quarantine mean for style and what do you make of these effects on the public? – Scharina 5 years ago
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        • I think this could be an interesting topic if it considered how quarantine will impact fashion afterwords. I only say this because many of us are not really dressing at all(pajamas). – BriLeigh 5 years ago
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        • I don't think it's quite as simple as "not going out" leading to a lack of concern about peer pressure and social norms. The conventional wisdom, as I understand it, is that people should strive to maintain as many aspects of their "normal" routine as possible to maintain a sense of purpose and fulfillment--and this includes dress. One angle to explore, then, would be whether the clothes that people choose to wear at this time reflect their degree of coping. – Debs 5 years ago
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        • Pyjamas=Prison Chic – Amyus 5 years ago
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        • I recently completed a uni course on the body in society and think this topic would benefit from some research into social science theories of aesthetic embodiment and Cartesian dualism. I personally rely on clothing to express myself and during quarantine have both seen how little it actually matters what I wear, and how important it is to me to construct the perfect outfit for my mood, errand, environment, etc. I was also wondering about the cosmetics industry. If people aren't going out, are they buying less makeup or wearing less makeup? Are they realising the ways makeup oppresses them in their daily life? I find makeup ads so funny now because they act as if "the right foundation can help a woman tackle the world", but now that we're working from home, what use does it have? What use did it ever have? – Tylah Jackowski 5 years ago
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        The value of ‘bad’ art

        Explore the notion of creativity for creativity’s sake. With Covid-19 isolation, we are seeing a lot of people filling time by making things, from banana bread to paintings. What is the value of making stuff, even if it’s not ‘good’ aka. not pretty, or moving, or delicious. You could also explore what makes people identify as ‘creative’ or not – what is the difference between an ‘artist’ v. ‘someone who makes art’?

        • Interesting topic! Creating is therapeutic in itself. It does not have to be pretty, or yummy--the process of creating is in our own human nature and within the process we find things out about ourselves. Instead of the value of bad art it could be The value of the process of creating. The artist and someone who makes art is a whole other debate and topic--that makes something "art" and something just a creation. I think that depends on your training. Anyone can pick up a drum or some kitchen utensils and play a beat or sing to make music, but a musician is someone who studied and trained in music for years---but everyone and anyone can make music. The same with art. The title of an artist and musician comes with level of education I believe, but that does not mean you can't be an artist by just drawing at home. Anyone and everyone can be a creator and an artist of some sort. Maybe narrow down the topic to either the benefits or what makes the difference between an artist and someone who makes art. – birdienumnum17 5 years ago
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        • Well, the advantage of "bad" work (whether so-bad-it's-good or just plain bad) is that it provides an example of what not to do. For instance, the example of the Twilight series shows that if you want to write a supernatural romance, you should NOT make the supernatural partner abuse or lord it over the more "ordinary" one. More generally, for someone who is creating just because they want to, an initial work, for all its faults, provides a jumping-off point that they can use to refine their craft, by learning from their prior mistakes. – Debs 5 years ago
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        • In order to get good at anything we have to go through the initial stages of learning. Writing off the abilities of people in the initial stages of harnessing their craft will stunt their growth. How about an article about the importance of amateur creativity, which is is so often undermined in the bid for commercial success. Not everyone will "make it" big in the industry but that dosent de value the joy in the embodied experience of the creative process. Let's move away from the neoliberal obsession with perfectionism and embrace humanity. – MayWoods 4 years ago
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        • I like this topic, because I'd argue that bad art is very important. You have to accept it as part of growing and improving, and being committed to any kind of art practice at all. This quote from Vonnegut is particularly relevant to the argument that I'd make: "Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow." Also worth mentioning is the Museum of Bad Art in Boston. There's a lot of directions you could go with this article :) – Cleo Newling 3 years ago
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        Is Hollywood and the Oscars as relevant as they used to be?

        We've just seen history in the making last weekend when, for the first time ever a foreign language film won the Best Picture Oscar. Has Hollywood finally learned that there are other countries outside of the US where brilliant and talented people tell fascinating stories? Does this mark a new era for Hollywood in which we'll see more international talent celebrated or a last attempt of a dying branch of the film industry to stay relevant and "woke" in an increasingly globalised and diverse world?

        • You could also look at 2016, which seemed to be the start of a new, diverse era in Hollywood, with more people of colour and LGBTQ stories, and see why that failed to make an impact (or, at least, as much of an impact as everyone believed it would). – OkaNaimo0819 5 years ago
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        • I would still argue that many "problems" that critics have brought up about Oscar voting and the landscape of voters still rings true for many watching the event. I would suggest looking at the Oscar campaign surrounding Greta Gerwig's "Little Women". It was a film that resonated with many viewers of all different ages and received critical reception, but was snubbed in a key category like Best Director. While Parasite's win was an exciting surprise, it feels like the Oscars have not changed as much as they have been touted to change. – Sean Gadus 5 years ago
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        What’s the hook of Korean romance dramas?

        Korean romance dramas span a variety of sub-genres that generally entice old and new audiences but romance narratives typically and expectedly end one of two ways: the protagonist and love interest end up, or not. Even if predictable, why does it sell to the audience? What aspects make Korean romance dramas addicting?

        Further topic: the heteronormative themes and couples of Korean romance dramas and its underlying effect on the audience

        • Good question As a K drama addict myself I think it has to do with good development of the characters. It could be high fantasy, a crime drama but the characters are what makes us love them – Amelia Arrows 5 years ago
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        • It would be interesting to compare similar dramas, comparing story structure and characters. – kerrybaps 5 years ago
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