Here's my idea:
Books. Publishers decide what books get published, for example, the Harry Potter series almost didn't get published, no one thought it would sell. I could focus on the power publishers have in deciding what books reach the general public. Or I could focus on what the books they publish are teaching the population, with research including what books publishers believe are "acceptable" for each age group. Is it really an open market? Can you find any kind of book? What kind of books are rejected by publishers every year? Another focus could be on the publishers, specifically. How can one person have so much influence, deciding what we read?
(I'm much more excited about this focus, because I love the Harry Potter books and am interested in the controversy surrounding them.)
A break-off of that, I could focus on the Harry Potter books, see how they affect kids. How that's been received in the Christian world, the general population, etc. Look at arguments against and for them. Especially considering the Oprah interview J.K.Rowling just did, see what her arguments for the books are. Question: How have the Harry Potter books affected this generation? I could focus on the dichotomy of magic vs. the religious allusions in the books. Why have these books made such a big "splash"? They've been some of the most successful books, obviously J.K.Rowling is now the only billionaire writer. Why are these books so popular? Why are they so controversial in the Christian world?
(The difficulty with this idea is that it might not really be mass media based.)
I really need help first knowing if this idea has any grounding, and I need help focusing it to a topic that is plausible and reserachable. I don't know if there's a way to make it mass media based, or if books count as mass media. This topic is also very general, and I don't know if there's an argument there.
Harry Potter? enough said, seems like a great idea to me
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love both of your ideas! I think that your first idea will be easier and more accessible for researching. I especially like the idea of an essay on "is it really an open market?" You would probably have more of an argument with that than your questions on the Harry Potter series (although I would rather write on that too). Books definitely do count as mass media, so you're on the right track there. You could narrow it down to one specific publisher possibly and see what they reject or take, that might be a bit of a challenge though.
ReplyDeleteThe narrowing to a publisher idea is good. I could do one of the big ones, like Penguin or LDS publishers...
ReplyDeleteBooks count as mass media---absolutely. I think Zo3 is right---don't focus solely on Harry Potter, but it could be a case study.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is really promising. You will need to take a definite stand on what your opinion is of current publishers. It might be hard to generalize, but I think you will have to.
ReplyDeleteSo if I narrowed the focus to one publisher and focused on what that publisher seems to want people to read and look at how that affects people...I'd have to take into account if they are declared as a specific type, such as "liberal" or "religious" or "childrens" or "ficiton", etc.
ReplyDeleteI am also interested in the controversy surrounding 'Harry Potter.' If you chose that route, you might want to discuss what effect it has had on the number of groups and clubs, and the harmfulness of them--for example, quidditch clubs versus secret sorcery societies. If you chose to go with publisher choices, I agree you might want to pick a mainstream publisher. You might search and see what some authors have said about trying to get their books published there. Whatever you choose, I'd love to hear the results! :)
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