Research Idea Overload

So, I’ve come up with a couple more barebones ideas for my research topic, but I can’t really decide whether to flesh them out, whether they’re really all that worth exploring. None of them are necessarily my idea proposals, but maybe writing them down, I’ll be able to figure out which ones have some potential.

  1. Perhaps the most interesting part of Bordwell’s book for me were the sections where he got into the psychological basis for how we interpret a narrative. I found myself, whenever thinking about the issues we were dealing with in class, constantly returning to the issues of the fundamental assumptions we were making going into a narrative. I don’t have much to work with right now, but the idea of exploring the psychological elements of narrative does appeal to me.
  2. One medium I would really like to work with some more is comic books. I took a fantastic course on graphic novels during my sophomore J-term, and I’ve really wanted to do more with that since then. I don’t have any concrete ideas, but possible jumping off points would be to compare and contrast film theory (perhaps focusing on Bordwell’s book) with Scott McCloud’s and Will Eisner’s contributions to the still nascent field of comics studies. Taking a graphic novel, perhaps even one by either McCloud or Eisner, I could see whether the two authors’ theories are adequate to explain how graphic novels function narratively, or if it is best to bring in elements of the literary and film theory we are studying. Alternatively, I could perhaps compare Eisner and McCloud’s work, which would obviously bear many of the hallmarks of their theories on how the medium functions, with various directors that were also prominent film theorists, to see how being both a creator and critic affects the work.

One thought on “Research Idea Overload

  1. Jason Mittell

    Nick – these are all interesting ideas. The previous post on subtitles is intriguing, but I don’t think there’s enough else out there to draw upon. If you can think of some other films/shows that use this technique, then maybe there’s more to explore.

    I like the comics angle, as a big McCloud fan. I think connecting McCloud’s concept of closure to Bordwell’s narrative comprehension might be an interesting approach, thinking about how we fill in gaps, make assumptions, etc. Perhaps you could examine a comic/film adaptation to see how comprehension operates across media? Maybe 300, or American Splendor, or Sin City?

    Good luck!

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