Lecture 1: Deconstruction.

My projects  current working title is "Are Comic books and Graphic Novels sexist, and if so, is this displayed fairly between genders?"

To plan my project, I will answer questions raised from the last lecture. Questions I wish to investigate are:
- Are comics sexist?
- Has the sexism in comics improved with social views on sexism from 1939 to 2014?
- Is any sexualistion of characters in personality, costumes, and physicality displayed fairly between genders?
- Are genders degraded in comics, or empowered? displayed through physically, mentality, or other characters opinions on them?

I believe this question is entirely researchable through nearly a decade of comics and comic inspired movies. I can interview comic fans, artists, and even movie goers about their opinions on this topic for primary research.

Considering I have 15 weeks to write this and do the practical, I also must factor in that I work each weekend and have planned events upcoming to attend. To start, I need to think about what I need to research and where I can find the information. For example, I am attending London MCM Comic con in a few weeks. There, would be a good place to interview artists, fans, and publishers about my current topic, something I will also do at Leeds Thought Bubble Comic convention also. I will further use theoretical and contextual books, comics, introductions to comics, "making of" books, to gain as much knowledge as possible concerning the topic.

I think dedicating 100 hours of 400 to reading and collecting information is sensible. I will also consider using journals and and documentaries to find more information. I will defiantly start be bibliography as soon as reading begins to keep on top of it, as researching and re-finding quotes, which books and pages they were on can be very hasslesome.

Questionnaire's can be a very useful resourse for me also, specifically if targeted at comic fans (not because they could be biased into defending comics, but because they are likely to have a good understanding of comics to respond with an informed opinion.) These could be placed in comic shops or geek culture events and places (such as where I work.) If I do do this though, I would have to collect the results in time to factor it into my work, and also make sure it is of a professional standard with clear questions.

Observation will play little part in my project, other than documenting the level of sexism at comic conventions, where pin up posters and drawings of women I have noticed to be far more predominant than in other aspects of the comic industry such as in comic book and memorabilia shops.