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Analyse the extent to which art institutions remain male dominated. Some institutions actively aim to promote and encourage female artists, but others, particularly state and national galleries consistently show blockbuster male artists. This can be seen as discouraging for women and girls aspiring to work in any kind of art field, but can also just be a reflection of the underrepresentation of women in the art industry.

Is the new Chronicles of Narnia film doomed for failure? Discuss the struggles of making the film slated to reboot the franchise almost 7 years after the last movie (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) and 3 studios later (was Disney then Fox and now the new studio). Will it do as well as the original trilogy or has it lost its momentum?

Virginia Woolf was a declared feminist, although critics find it a struggle to claim her works for feminism. Her writing style—the multiplicity of perspectives and her stream of consciousness technique—were argued to be presenting a “denial of authentic states of mind, namely the ‘angry and alienated ones’” (Elaine Showalter). Woolf has also been accused of simply subscribing to the “separation of politics and art” because she refuses to “describe her own experience,” instead always relying on shifting points of view (Moi 3). However, it may be possible to reclaim Woolf's works for feminism by reevaluating these same aspects of her work. Is she demonstrating a new way to grapple with language to suit the needs of the woman in the modern age?

Time travel is a frequently revisited topic in both popular and literary fiction. What is the philosophical appeal of time travel? Does it simply speak to our personal regrets or to large global/political/social issues that we wish to undo? Is it egotistical to think that 'hight sight is twenty-twenty'; that to know the negative outcome of one event/one decision would allow us to course correct and thereby find success? Can humanity (globally or personally) only learn or develop compassion through disaster?

Jane Austen is well-known for her witty dialogue, back-and-forth banter between characters, and free-indirect discourse; yet, Persuasion is a complete departure from all of her previous works. Persuasion is a more 'adult' novel, with the female protagonist as a 27-year-old unmarried woman. Her once betrothed, whom she denied due to his lack of wealth and societal stature after persuaded by her aunt, has returned to her life seven years later. The lack of dialogue that ensues between these two characters throughout the majority of the novel creates a level of excruciating passion and anticipation that is palpable, and unmatched in any other work by Austen. Focusing on the sensory capabilities of the two characters creates a sensual environment where the body remains in the foreground. When reviewing Austen's breach from the traditional overload of dialogue and new reliance on body language, the power of perception and keen sensual prowess, do we in fact have a more 'adult' geared book, matching her own age, and possible longing for more sensuality, and less games?

Known as the "maverick" or "auteur" era of American film, the 1970's represented a unique era of American film-making, perhaps the most experimental since early silent ear. Traditional musicals, melodramas, and epics were no longer drawing in audiences, and, desperate, studios began giving money to fledgling directors often fresh from the brand new film schools cropping up, leading to far more daring and unusual films, such as Taxi Driver, the Godfather, and Star Wars. Well documented as this period is, take some time to examine the period just preceding, and how it enabled these films to exist at all.
That is, look back, first at the Paramount Decision in 1948, which ended the studios monopolies on theatres and film distribution and enabled independent filmmakers to gain foothold in the American film landscape, and the rise of television in the 1950's, which forced to make going to the movies far more of an event, with big-budget epics, full color, and features such as 3-D and widescreen. By the late 1960's, the mediocre performances of the anachronistic Hello, Dolly! and plodding Cleopatra rendered tried and true money makers impotent. Examine how changing audience expectations, over saturation of the market, and other such factors allowed movies like Bonnie and Clyde to set the scene for the New Hollywood of the 1970's. If the studio system hadn't failed, would the 1970's era of film-making ever been allowed to happen in the first place?

Traditional art is based upon faultless technique, well-defined subject matter and definitive notions of beauty, while modern art is based upon personal expression, vision, originality and innovation. Analyse the idea that traditional art is more focused on portraying a theme or suggestion that is attractive or realistic to the eye, while modern art is more intent on conveying a theme or idea that is relevant to everyday life.

Based on this response, do individuals who prefer modern art over traditional appreciate artwork on a deeper and more meaningful level?

Despite its popularity in the written world, fairy tales are notoriously difficult to adapt to the big screen, especially live-action film. While the fantasy epic can see great success (though even that took decades of box-office failure), why is it so rare for a live-action fairy tale film work while animated fairy tales are among the best movies studios like Disney have ever made?
Analyze both the successes and failures, and discuss: why do fairy tales fare better in animation (such as Disney films) then they do in live-action? How is that a fantasy epic like Lord of the Rings succeeds while the Hobbit, by and large, fails? Address the curious case of the Narnia films, beginning strong with the relatively faithful Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, before crashing and burning with Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Is there something about animation that lends itself better to the relatively smaller scope of the fairy tale, as opposed to the more expansive world of an epic?

There have been several productions of the same genre or universe in the past years. Be it superhero movies, the stretched out story of the Hobbit, or the current bombardment of Star Wars films. When does a genre or a story overstep its zenith? How do the financial aspects of the film industry interfere with storytelling (profit vs quality)? What are some of the counterexamples? What makes a franchise become successful in the long run?

Consider how mythology-based stories that articulate the hero's journey are presented in classical literature. Compare and contrast this with present day literary genres and how older and more modern texts can impact upon a person's everyday life. Some contemporary examples could include: The Lord of the Rings; The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; Harry Potter; and His Dark Materials.

Write an article about "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House," a Netflix original. It's format and creative choices in story telling, narration, and cinematics, leaves viewers surprised. It isn't what most expect to find, as many have become accustomed to jump-scare and gore films when it comes to entering a movie with the mentality "this will be scary."

Someone please write an article that not only examine the director's choices and how it differs from other modern films (more resembling the re-telling of an old abstract horror short story) but an article that will also contextualize it. Does it have literary ties to another work or was it made simply to resemble such? How and which literary elements did it adopt and to what effectiveness?

Judging by volume, it seems easier to write morally ambiguous screenplays. Such screenplays also seem to benefit from the default of events being meaningless or random in a meaningless or random existence (e.g., Tony Soprano's series-ending "dirt nap"), while works regarding morality as objective, ala Breaking Bad, must convincingly explain actions and repercussions without the easy shrug of "stuff happens." If we set the Way Way Back Machine to say, a century ago, the bar of acceptance for atheistic works was high, but today, its bar for justification seems awfully low. Whaddya think about that, my friend?

Analyze the issue of the show's main characters being involved in law yet acting above it (i.e. through murders, blackmailing, theft). What are the implications of this hypocrisy and how can this form a commentary on modern society or human nature? How is the show so appealing despite the characters going against simple black-and-white laws most people have been raised to instinctively follow? How can we condemn real-life criminals, yet root for these fictional ones as they do the exact same thing? Do the characters' backstories inform and alter our perspective of them, humanizing them so it becomes more difficult to see them as villains?

Surrealism was introduced into the U.S. through a series of exhibitions in the early to mid 1930's at the height of the Great Depression. For the most part Surrealism existed in the popular consciousness as a sideshow act, a cartoonish form of entertainment. Discuss some of the works shown at these early Surrealist exhibitions and compare them to American cartoons of the time. Do they actually mirror elements of the Surrealist aesthetic? What is it that is potentially surreal about cartoons in the first place? Paintings by Dali can be compared to Walt Disney, etc.

Analyse the way David Simon's 'The Wire' (2002) and Vince Gilligan's 'Breaking Bad' (2008) portray the War on Drugs and the efficacy of policing. Would be interesting to compare representations of surveillance, public policy and drug communities (i.e. how the centrality of drug trading affects social, economic and cultural structures in Wallis's neighbourhood in 'The Wire' v. Jesse's town in 'Breaking Bad'). Might also be useful to look specifically at the first seasons and compare the way policing is represented as a response to political zeitgeists in each show and how methodologies have changed. For example, 'The Wire' came straight off the back of 9/11 which is cited heavily in the first season as the reason behind the lack of police resources and subsequent thriving of illegal drug pedalling.

Studio Ghibli's films, even in their English dub, incorporate subtleties about Japanese customs. For example, When Marine was there presents a Japanese festival scene and Spirited away and Princess Mononoke both present ideas of gods and spirits. Even though all of Ghibli's films are fiction, to what extent are true Japanese customs presented ?

Compare and contrast the Other/Alien and the Human. What is a human? Is there such a thing as a "superior race"? Texts to consider: Ursula Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness", China Mieville's "Embassytown" and A. E. van Vogt's "Black Destroyer".

What picture does Steinbeck draw for us in The Grapes of Wrath of the world in terms of God’s place in it, nature, human nature, and the artifices in place before the Great Depression and the artifices that needed to be changed in response to the Great Depression?

Most of what we see to see in the media relating to VR technology seems to all come back to videogames. Certainly it's one of the most obvious applications for the technology, having been brought up in numerous futeristic sci-fi scenarios, but what about outside of that? What are its other uses, perhaps in museums, cinema, or even the classroom? The 'Scotland VR' app might be a good place to start.

Be it Coca Cola in Jurassic Park or FedEx in Cast Away, product placement is an important component of the advertisement and film industry. It might be interesting to look at the effects such product placement has on the production of a movie. How are the products placed? Does it change the storyline? Has the production team compromise creativity for the product?