Topics

You can focus on the hype around Civil War – Spoilers included for anyone who has not saw the film yet (I have). So Easter eggs, Spider-Man, and Black Panther!!!! Focus on how Civil War led up to the hype, or it didn't. Were all the good parts of the film in the trailers? All the really good fight scenes as well, considering most of them were in the trailers for the most part. The awesome Spider-Man scene with his Aunt and Tony – How Tom is going to change the MCU (if at all).

1. Focus on the hype of Civil War, did it lead up to the hype and expectations?
2. Did the trailers prove to tell too much?
3. Will this lead into another Spider-Man film that will be different? Did this show something different about the Spider-Man character?
4. The prequel to Black Panther and how he will evolve in the MCU
5. Easter eggs that will lead to other films, or even hints to what will happen in the future of MCU as well

With the development of new and more intricate technologies, artists seem to be turning more and more to creating art through the use of their computer. Do you think that modern art that is produced this way lacks the same emotional overtones as older pieces that were developed by the artist brush-to-canvas, so to speak?

The Victorian Gothic genre is known for its haunting tales served with a side of rich prose, grand settings, dramatic characters, and a dash of ambiguity. I believe that it is no coincidence that the genre started gaining popularity during the Industrial Revolution – a time of excess and instability. The most unstable class at the time appeared to be the emerging bourgeoisie and the genre can be interpreted as the class’ self-analysis. Popular Gothic novels such as The Castle of Otranto, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula reflect aspects of the middle class’ interactions with their current economy and share themes of heavy loss and monstrous gains. Along with this, analyse some additional aspects and what that says about the genre and its contributors.

Movies are an escape from reality or sometimes an unfriendly (but sometimes friendly) reminder of it. They are so good at this because unlike books, unlike songs, unlike paintings, they are about as close as we can get (ignore virtual reality for now) to recreating the experience of life as we know it. There is movement, depth, sound, setting; to be frank, movies just look a lot like life. But with the freedom that comes with the film form to create anything you can imagine, comes the freedom to make films that are horrendous, poorly constructed, overly acted, inauthentic, terrifying, incoherent, you name it. Now, we all know that movies can be good to some and bad to others. Some people like horrors, some people can't stand them. Some people love sci-fi, some people find them intolerable. But some movies are just bad! When we watch them we want to, or even have to vomit. We have to leave the theater. We have to rave about in on social media. Some films we have to hate until the day we die because they leave such a bad taste in your mouth you can simply never forget it. Some films promote hatred, propaganda, or worst of all a sappy love story that will never happen. But I wonder, is there actually something that should be deemed as unacceptable, or are we, as Sartre puts it regarding life, condemned to be free… to experience any film that gets recorded, distributed, and passed through our corneas?

Young adult novels are a definite force to be reckoned with. Some books are completely timeless, such as The Giver, anything Judy Blume, Series of Unfortunate Events, and soon to be (if not already) anything apart of The Hunger Games and Divergent series. These books are made into movies and fall into the hands of generations following their primary release. Some are even then instilled as required reading. How do young adult novels withstand the demands of time and generations? What keeps them so relevant and readable? What books can you think of that have done this well? Explore that.

House of Cards, Scandal, Veep and many before them have focused on The White House and what it means to be in power. Take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to portraying American politics on television. Is it a fair representation? Is it too sensationalized or is it brutally honest?

So let's face it, "nerd" culture has become pop culture. Superhero movies are the biggest movies every year, The Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular shows on television right now, and virtually everyone plays some sort of videos games. With that being said I would love to see an article discussing how the stigma of social outcast has, or hasn't, changed with the popularization of Nerd Culture.

Analyze the changes made to the character of Steve Rogers in comic book history, and the recent story line presented in "Captain America: Steve Rogers" issue #1, that Steve Rogers has been a secret Hydra agent all along. Analyze the character's past actions in comic book history, whether or not this story line gives us whiplash by attempting to create a shocking conundrum, and what it means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

American TV shows tend to stay on the air for as long as they can get renewed. Could the stories be better if the shows were written with the intention of only being on the air for X number of seasons? Broadchurch, for example, is filming it's third and final season currently. If it went on to a fourth season just because it had the audience for one, there isn't much the story could go on to do in order to follow the characters it's introduced along the same tone as the show has set thus far (and I already don't know how they're going to manage a third season. The second season seemed a good place to wrap it.)

How would TV change if we signed shows up for a story arc instead of by season? Would we get fewer sudden cancellations of shows (say, how Firefly ended abruptly?) How would we deal with the departure of beloved characters at the end of well-wrapped stories that end before the viewers are necessarily ready for them to (instead of having a show go on for too long and have viewers drop off as the storyline gets convoluted or watered down)?

Is Kink or BDSM becoming more popular in television and film? Considering popular films such as Fifty Shades of Grey, and The Secretary among only a few, what kinds of kink is deemed acceptable in our broader cultural conscience? What does kink within these formats teach us about consent, sexuality and more?

With web series like Carmilla and the Lizzie Bennet Diaries both being very successful, what does it say about how these shows are visually created? These stories are usually told from one room, looking into a camera. By directly addressing the audience and only being able to retell events occurring outside of the room does it enhance the story telling or hinder it? How does it shape how the stories are told? Why are they so popular?

ME!ME!ME! is not a new video but I recently stumbled across it and was taken away by it's imagery and symbolism. Normally watching such blatantly sexual animation is deterring, but it's underlying message shone through. Other critiques have been made on the video but I feel the Artifice's community especially would appreciate another thorough analysis. Pick apart ME!ME!ME! as a warning for the destructive powers of the protagonist's lifestyle (becoming overly obsessed with anime characters). You can find a light analysis on youtube by Gaijin Goombah, but he also makes it quite personal in the end. Write a more professional and organized article on the theory, hopefully starting with something close to his main thesis, followed by specific imagery in the video to solidify the stance. Perhaps address various case studies on the reality of being addicted to such fantasies; statistically how many lives are ruined by this fascination and is there such thing as rehab?

Look into the psychological effects of modern television and see if there is any scientific evidence to suggest if TV can influence human behavior, and if so then to what degree and in what ways.

With all of the metaphorical language in poetical writings, is there a line to be drawn when it comes to interpreting said writings? English classes go into great detail about a Freudian style psychoanalysis of a single word in a passage or verse, often extracting a five-page essay's worth of details from the arrangement of fewer than ten letters – is this extreme?

Due to the controversy surrounding the new Ghosbusters film, what does it say regarding our society and the relation of fandom to changes in existing franchises and fictional properties? Many recent film examples could be used to explore the current state of film and other media.

Discuss how Hollywood films employ propagandistic tactics in order to overtly or covertly influence their audience. Although this is especially prevalent in 'war dramas' such as American Sniper, propaganda does operate in many films on many levels, unbeknownst to most of us viewers. Who is designing and delivering these messages, and for what purpose? (This could be tackled from several different angles – specific areas of focus or suggestions for narrowing things down would be greatly appreciated!)

Almost all of the big anime shows (e.g. One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto) have filler episodes. These filler episodes are met with groans from many fans, especially those who also read the original manga that these shows are based on. Most of the time, these filler episodes are made without any input from the original creator of the source material. Lots of fans will simply skip these filler episodes and jump ahead to the episodes where the canon story resumes.

For this topic, the author will argue in defense of these filler episodes and attempt to point out their merits. Do any filler arcs from certain anime stand out as quality content despite not being canon? Why shouldn't fans be so quick to dismiss filler content?

Losing a loved one is a life-changing event. In comics, it's common that the death of a parental figure is the catalyst for becoming a superhero. Batman, Spiderman, and Daredevil are just a few examples. Is there a reason that this plot point continues to be reused? Has it become overused, or is it just an accurate representation of the extremes to which the death of a loved one can push you? (Obviously, we don't tend to become superheroes, but I'm speaking metaphorically.)

Analyze the diverse spectrum of female characters in video games. First, how exactly do we define femininity? What makes these female characters and their femininity unique? How is their femininity addressed or portrayed? How has femininity in video games evolved over time? Can certain characters fall into more than one "type" of femininity (for example, Lara Croft, who has been both sexualized and emasculated on different occasions and through different games in the series)? It might be helpful for the writer to condense his/her list into a "top five" of female characters that best represent this varying spectrum of femininity in gaming.

User-generated photographs or videos regularly dominate television bulletins and the front pages of newspapers, while opinionated blogging also gains significant traction in redefining the field of journalism. Analyze the impact of participatory action on social media in steering journalism, and the implications of this shift in control towards the individual consumer.