Possible Research Topics

My first possible topic for the research paper would be to examine the relationship between videogames/interactive media and their affects on the narrative perspective and storytelling process.  I would like to research this issue because there is a growing discourse on the subject that intrigues me as a member of the generation who grew up during the digital revolution.  I personally believe that videogames and interactive forms of media are beneficial for the development of critical thinking skills.  I would like to learn about any empirical evidence related to the topic of interactive media and its affects on a developing brain.  I believe this topic relates to our class because the development of an interactive narrative expands the possibilities of communication between author and reader, creator and player, observer and protagonist.

    Another topic I considered is the contemporary conception of the ideal in literature.  Throughout human history dating back as far as the ancient Greeks (and probably further), we as a species have engaged, dwelled upon, and even become lost in the concept of an ideal.  Over the course of my collegiate career it seems that each generation has expressed a different reaction to this topic be it through their art, literature, and even scientific theories.  I would like to color an image of the contemporary discourse upon this topic.  One possible example being Tom McCarthy's INS Manifesto, which discusses the ideal and our reaction to its absence in our living world.  I believe this relates to our class in that the content of writing shapes the form, arrangement, style, and rhetoric through which it is expressed.