Nat's topic and foci

Topic: the different "masks" we put on in different environments

Foci 1: The difference between who we are in out personal lives is completely different than who we are in the virtual world. This is a little more undeveloped than my other foci. But based on the novel Ready Player One, Armada and The Matrix. I would form a thesis that who we are in the virtual world is completely different than how we display ourselves to our friends and family.

Foci 2: I have a lot more examples for; I was thinking of doing the difference of who we are with our friends vs. who we are with our coworkers. Movies like Baby Driver, The Social Network, The Intouchables, Burn Country, Robot and Frank, Wolf of Wall Street, and the movie and novel of Fight Club. In most of these movies, the character works a 9-5 job and then after work is very crazy and creates mayhem, or, they are very polite during their office job and then completely ruthless to their friends. The two opposite masks of nice at work, vs. crazy at home, could create good juxtaposition as a metaphor for what everyone feels in their life.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2018 at 6:24 PM

    your foci really center around identity. what about these virtual outlets from foci 1 allow these people to express themselves? Are they really expressing themselves or are they portraying themselves as someone different, and what is the difference between those things? Why do people feel the need to build these online personas?

    I really like your topic. there is for sure a lot of primary sources for you to explore. i like the matrix b/c you could spin how the characters in the matrix are actually practicing self expression instead of saving the world.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Emma's Topic and Foci

Topic: How women are depicted in fantasy literature Focus: Do the descriptions of women and men vary when written by male or female authors? I would compare Eragon and Harry Potter because they are both series with a male protagonist and villain but Eragon was written by a boy and Harry Potter was written by a woman. In Eragon, the prominent female characters are Saphira, Arya, and Angela. In Harry Potter, there are far more but I would probably focus on Hermione, Luna, Mrs. Weasly, and Bellatrix. The number of female characters in each series in itself is interesting. Focus: The depiction of powerful women (by female authors) and the relationships they have with men and other women. I would use Harry Potter, The Naming (Alison Croggon) and Throne of Glass (Sarah J. Maas). I want to focus on how all of these books pass the Bechdel test. Even though it is arbitrary and not usually applied to literature. I also want to look into how women in each of these series are tre...
Read more

Apara's Topic and Foci

Topic: Women and their relationship with their families Focus 1: The idea of house vs. home and what it means and how it evolves for Alison in Fun Home and Nora in A Doll's House. Fun Home follows Alison through a large portion of her childhood and adolescence, while A Doll's House takes place over the course of a few days. It would also be interesting to examine the events that trigger Alison's and Nora's changes in perspective. Focus 2: How both girls/women (again in A Doll's House and Fun Home) cope with the treatment of the men in their life: Alison has an overbearing father, and Nora's husband is also very strongly paternal. Both women eventually manage to at least make steps towards becoming their own person, and I could look at the effects these men have in their life and how these relationships change over time (as well as what prompts these changes).
Read more

Lily's Topic and Foci

Topic: women with mental illness Focus 1: The differences in how women with mental illnesses were treated in 3 different time periods (50s, 60s, now) using The Bell Jar , Girl, Interrupted , and OCD Love Story .  This includes stigmas around mental illness, as well as approaches and attitudes of doctors.  The Bell Jar  and Girl, Interrupted  include characters at the same mental hospital, so it will be interesting to compare their experiences 10 years apart.  Although the character in OCD Love Story  is not admitted to a mental hospital, she battles with OCD and anxiety in modern times (2010s).  In  The Bell Jar , the main character's doctor is "unsympathetic" and fails to listen to her as he prescribes unnecessary treatments.  She faces stigmas surrounding her gender and her mental illness.   In Girl, Interrupted  the doctors use ineffective and damaging treatments, and the protagonist faces discrimination due to the stigma ...
Read more