Marisa S
- Research Program Mentor
EdM Master of Education
Expertise
Education, humanities, ethnography, religion, spirituality, culture and identity, theater, costumes, music, film, political activism, creative writing, storytelling
Project ideas
Social Issues in the Film Industry
Have you ever watched a movie you used to love as a child and thought, "Wait a second, I don't remember that... That wouldn't be included in a film made today!" As society changes over the years, so too do the issues facing society. Even family-friendly movies such as Disney movies are not immune from this; many Disney movies contain elements of racism and misogyny. Let's pick a societal issue and see how that issue has been addressed in the film industry over the years. What has changed? What still needs to change?
Taking Another Perspective
Have you ever wondered what Clarisse's diary entries would reveal about her conversations with Montag? What did Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss write in their personal reports on Charlie's newfound intelligence? How would "The Giving Tree" sound if it had been written from the tree's perspective? Let's take a piece of literature or popular culture and rewrite it from another character's perspective.
Identity in History
How does one's identity impact their beliefs and behaviors, and how has this impacted history? Let's look at a specific historical event. How did different groups of people react to that historical event in the moment, and were these reactions impacted by elements of their identity? When people living in the present look back at specific historical events, do groups of people view these events differently based upon elements of their identity? We will look at primary and secondary sources, movies that are "based on a true story," and interviews with people who were alive during the event. We could either create a paper or a different form of media (podcast, short documentary film, presentation, imitation TedTalk, etc.) to synthesize our findings.