Entry #2

What is your thesis statement?

I think that there are secret psychological meanings in childhood TV shows that we don’t notice and comprehend when we are young. When watching children’s TV shows now that I am older (16 years old) I notice weird situations and strange things that the characters do that I would have never noticed when I was younger. I’m really interested in this because I wonder why the directors and writers of the shows meant to do this, because they are definitely not coincidental occurrences. I do believe that there are psychological illnesses in these characters and I’m interested in learning more about what is behind them. I think that there are certain actions that these characters have that cause them to have these certain mental illnesses.

Categories: Building off your thesis statement — What are the categories that you need to explore in your research?

To answer all the questions I have about abnormal mental disorders in children’s TV shows, I have a lot of research ahead of me. I will have to look up popular kids shows and watch an episode or two to observe the behavior of the characters. Also searching the internet to find articles that have already been published and read them to see what other scientists and researchers already see in these characters. Once I find which characters have which mental illnesses, I will need to do more research on those illnesses to find out more about them and have a better understanding of what they are really about. I will have to do some Googling to find articles about the illnesses and about how the characters have them. I should also look at Ted talks and other videos which might help me understand the mental illnesses better and also understand more about the signs that these characters have these illnesses. I’m planning on picking 3-4 commonly known children’s TV shows and analyzing them in further detail.

Sources: Main sources to start my research with

1. http://www.cracked.com/article_19673_6-insane-but-convincing-theories-childrens-pop-culture.html

2. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/176/5/440.full

3. http://www.bite.ca/bitedaily/2011/10/sesame-street-mental-disorders/

4. http://www.fodrizzle.com/2012/03/12/sesame-street-disorders/

5. http://wassupdoc.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/mental-disorders-demonstrated-by-winnie-the-pooh-characters/

6. http://knowledgeguild.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/the-mental-disorders-of-winnie-the-pooh-characters/

7. http://www.cracked.com/article_19336_6-beloved-characters-that-had-undiagnosed-mental-illnesses.html

8. http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/7009/1/OostdykAM_ETD_April2008.pdf

9. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.20138/pdf

10. http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-mental-disorders-of-cartoon-characters.php

11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia