I have been meeting with Dr. Bezio, who is the my primary faculty advisor for my senior thesis. Early on in the semester we discussed what sources I should be reading (at least to start), but because my area of research is not strictly in one discipline, there are multiple important sources for me to read to get a good grasp on my topic. If I were to break it down into groups, I will be reading sources on comic books, on superheroes, on implicit leadership theories, on social identity and leadership, and on the film industry. I am also thinking about looking at critic reviews on the superheroes movies I end up analyzing for my project (once I get to that point).

Other faculty I have talked to here and there have mentioned articles or books to consider for my research as well, which I have taken note of, and more than once Dr. Allison’s name has surfaced. In the near future I hope to meet with him because of his own extensive research in heroism and leadership.

Overall, I feel pretty comfortable at this point with the direction of my thesis. It is now a matter of reading the sources I have gathered and actually doing the research. One thing that did come up in my last meeting with Dr. Bezio was whether I will be focusing on either DC Comic or Marvel movies, or both, and I think I am leaning toward focusing on whatever superhero movies have the highest box office ratings, regardless of producer. My rational is that to understand the extent of the cultural and social affect of these movies on Americans (or vice versa), I should pay special attention to the most popular and most watched movies. My remaining question to consider, however, is whether I want to include a range across time or focus solely on the ones that caused the most stir, regardless of release year?