I feel like, even though I have had a fairly clear overall direction for my topic from the very beginning, I always thought that the perfect idea for a more specific research question will come to me as I learn more about the topic.
Well, that still has not happened and I’m beginning to stress out a bit. So, this blog post is my effort to sort through my own brain and figure out what I want to work on for the next 6 months. I know, this isn’t the type of scientific, perfectly cited content expected of these blogposts, but I promise, as soon as I have figured out what topic I want to write those perfectly researched texts about, I will put all my effort into it.
I will use this blog post to create a comprehensive list of topic ideas I have had so far, a possible research question, an overview of the topic and what possible pros and cons would be.
Documentaries and Environment/Responsible Tourism
Possible Research Questions: How can documentary film function as a form of environmental communication in the context of sustainable tourism?
In what ways can documentary storytelling influence audience perceptions of responsible tourism?
To what extent can visual media foster behavioral change toward more sustainable travel?
Overview: I would explore the overall topic of environmental documentary films, how they are structured, which storytelling tools they use and how they can shape people’s views and behaviours. Maybe I could also talk about environmental communication and sustainable tourism in general and then do a deep dive on documentaries on the topic.
With the second research question, my focus could also maybe be more on documentary storytelling in general, and then later applying it to the topic of responsible tourism.
Methods: I would first off look for literature on the topic, exploring the state of the art as well as past research and then analyse different enivronmental documentaries amongst other forms of media on how they aim to instill a desire for change in their viewers. A qualitative analysis on actual effects of these pieces of media would also be interesting, I am however not sure how I would approach this task.
Pros: The theoretical part of my thesis would tie nicely into and prepare me for my practical project next semester, where I could apply what I learned about environmental documentaries to my own work.
Cons: I have not yet been very successful in finding a lot of literature on the topic, which is why I am afraid I might not be able to amass enough knowledge on the topic in order to analyse and judge the pieces of media accurately. Moreover, I do not know if analysing different pieces of media alone would be enough of a scientific method for my master’s thesis.
Entschleunigung / Slow Media = Slow Travel?
Possible Research Question: How can media design interventions based on slow media principles encourage slower, more mindful, and sustainable forms of travel?
Overview: I was intrigued by the idea of connecting the slow media and the slow travel movements, exploring how travel content promoted via slow media might encourage slower and more conscious travel alongside a more conscious media consumption.
In a world, where everything just gets faster and faster, many have recognized a need to slow down in their lives. This desire for a more conscious and more sustainable life is the most pressing on social media, where content just keeps getting faster and shorter, and in travel, where short and frequent holidays by plane, visiting every major sightseeing or insta spot are more popular than ever.
Methods: I would again look into current research on the topic (if there is any) and explain the issues of our fast paced world, both on social media, in the fashion or food industry and in the travel sector. I would then talk about the slow media and slow travel movements and on what principles they operate, maybe finding some examples to analyse. I could also imagine creating a survey to see what the overall opinion on our fast-paced society looks like and whether the need for slower living truly exists.
In order to connect slow media to slow travel, I might be able to analyse examples or create different versions of media to compare in the survey.
Pros: As far as I have seen, creating the connection between slow media and slow travel has not been done too often before, meaning the thesis might have some originality to it. I also feel like the documentary I want to create would tie well into the slow media idea, even if I would not be talking about documentaries specifically in my work.
Cons: I have struggled a bit to find literature on the topic, or on slow media in general. Moreover, I am afraid that the term and the idea of “Slow Media” are not scientifically based enough to write a whole thesis on the topic. So, the whole thesis might become a bit too abstract, straying from clear-cut scientific writing too much.
Portraying Conflict in Documentaries
Possible Research Question: How do documentary filmmakers’ audiovisual and ethical decisions shape the representation of conflicting standpoints and influence viewers’ perceptions of fairness?
Overview: For this topic I would explore the topic of conflict in documentaries and how filmmakers can assure that their final work includes enough tension and conflict without harming any of the participants. Here, ethics would also come into play and would need to be talked about in depth. Portraying contrasting ideas and viewpoints is a common occurrence in documentary films and I would like to explore the different ways this task can be approached. In the case of my documentary this conflict would be between sustainable travel and the booming tourism industry, causing overtourism. Maybe conflicts could also arise between tourists and locals affected by them.
Methods: As with the other topics, literature research would be at the start of my thesis, exploring how storytelling can work in documentaries, which role ethics play in planning and creating a documentary film and the different ways conflict can be addressed. I would also analyse different documentaries, looking at which conflicts appear and how they are treated.
Pros: Doing a deep dive into how conflicts can be used to tell a story and dealt with in an ethical way can be good preparation for my own documentary project next semester. Also Daniel Bauer suggested this topic to me, so I feel a bit more secure about the fact that this would be an actually feasable topic people would want to read about.
Cons: Throughout the last week I have tried to find literature on the topic of conflict in documentaries and almost every search result that came up had something to do with political conflicts or war and documentaries about that, which is not really my aim for the thesis. Like with the other topics, I am kind of afraid that I won’t be able to find a lot of scientific literature on the topic.
Conclusion
Some small part of me was hoping that, after writing all of this down and getting it out of my head and onto paper, I would see it clearly which topic is the right one. That is not quite the case, I’m still as indecisive as ever. Nonetheless, I feel like this blog post has given me some tangible bulletpoints to orient myself at and, maybe more importantly, it has shown me apects I am still unsure about with every topic, where I can ask targeted questions to my professors. So I am hopeful that by the next blog post I will have finally made a decision!
