Going through the process of Capstone has led to a wild and confusing ride, with a lot of unexpected hurdles. But while the thesis project really only had one major issue, with some slight changes, I’m now stuck in a precarious position when it comes to the critical analysis.
The thesis project has had a few bumps. Focusing on a manuscript all about film productions in Philadelphia, a roadblock has been in research. I don’t have access to any libraries where I found some of my research. Luckily, I still have plenty of other resources online, and I have shifted the work around to talk more about my subjective thoughts. In a way, it makes my work stronger because it shows my interest in film as an art form, and allows me to look at these films as pieces of art rather than as a history lesson. While that was always a part of this book, it’s now the main focus. In a weird way, it’s kind of a silver lining (One of my chapters is on Silver Linings Playbook I might add).
The real downside is my critical analysis, looking at cultivation theory and its relation to social media. I wanted to conduct a survey about social media users around my age, but I hit some hurdles due to current events. Early in the year saw conflict between the U.S. and Iran, which I feel would have influenced people’s voting on how social media affected them mentally. It’s recency bias. Then after waiting a while, Australia was hit by massive wildfires, which made me want to wait on it even further.
However, the coronavirus came along, and people are now stuck in quarantine. Essentially, I have the worst possible outcome when it comes to obtaining data, and my critical analysis is stuck in limbo. However, I am hoping to get into contact with one of my professors, Lisa Holderman, so that we can rework my critical analysis into something that’s more palatable and isn’t plagued by recency bias.
The next couple weeks are where I will put a lot of work into both my thesis and critical analysis, and I hope in the end, my work will pay off handsomely.