Topic Research

I am leaning more towards the "power" theme I had last week. I would like to base my overall project about that theme, while also incorporating the other themes into it at the same time. 

One story I could do is a backstory; some background information about why the two gods (or animals, or groups of people) are fighting each other. I could tell this story from a 3rd person omniscient view, where I overlook the entire scene, or I could tell this story from a first person point of view. If I were to do first person, I would have to split up the story between the two sides and have the main character from each side be the person telling the story, so that the people reading my story will have both sides of the background story before reading the rest of it. I could add in the creation story theme idea with some background information about why the two groups are fighting each other. For example, I could tell a short story about how a certain body of water was made, then say that two groups of animals are fighting over that body of water and who should be allowed to drink from it. A resource I could use is about Varuna, the God of the Oceans.

The second story I do could be about the actual fight, and what happened during it. I could have each side fighting for days, and could incorporate the Arabian Nights/Aladdin theme ideas by introducing a genie into the war. There could be a magic lamp that the groups are fighting for, or it could simply be another character into the mix of things, ready to help out wherever needed. I could even have one genie for each side of the war. When I thought of this, it reminded me a bit of the Mahabharata scene when Arjuna and Karna are about to fight and Krishna appears before Arjuna to guide him through his thoughts. The genies could be like Krishna, and help each side gain their strength back to fight. 

The third story I could do is a final recap and aftermath of the war. I could write about if the groups decided to end on good terms, or if one of the groups completely demolished the other, etc. If I wrote about the two groups ending on good terms, it could end on a tie, or a truce. Then, the two groups could merge and form their own city with everyone included. Here, I could incorporate the food theme idea I had last week by having the two sides taste and adapt to each other's main dishes. I could go into more detail about the type of food and what it consists of, while also showing how the two sides hated each other before, and now have come together and started trusting each other and eating each other's food.

Source: The genie from Aladdin; I could use the same one or incorporate a girl genie into the mix!

Project Topic Brainstorm

Creation Stories
I have always loved creation stories! One of the stories I read last week from the Myth-Folklore Anthology was Origins, which provided two origin stories from different cultures about the creation of the moon. There are many creation stories in every culture, so I was thinking I could do a project with four or five different origin stories, which are all tied together. For example, there are many different kinds of plants, animals, planets, stars, etc., and I could do a project in which I made my own creation stories about different planets or something. An article I found was Hindu Views on Evolution, which gave me an idea about possibly writing about how some parts of the world were created. There are many bodies of water in the world, and I could come up with a few creation stories about how they came to be, while also relating them to the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Also, I have always been interested in Greek mythology, so this article could help me think of more ideas on how to incorporate Greek Gods and Goddesses into the creation stories as well!

Disney
I have been thinking about a Disney-themed storybook or portfolio for a while, so this could be something I do this semester! Last week I had kind of looked at the Arabian Nights overview for reading assignments, and since I have the book, I could read it and find some interesting things to talk about in my stories! Aladdin is a part of the Arabian Nights as well, which is why I thought of Disney in the first place. Along with Aladdin and Jasmine, I could bring in other Disney princes and princesses to make the project more interesting. The incorporation of all the characters from various fairy tales and Disney movies reminded me of the TV show Once Upon a Time, so I could even get some inspiration from that!

Source: A collection of Disney-Pixar characters, shown across the globe and representing the diversity of Disney.

Food
I really love adventuring with food and trying special dishes made in different cultures! I don't know exactly what foods I would write about, but I like the idea of incorporating the culture aspect in each story. I read a past project, The Real Veggie Tales, and I enjoyed it quite a bit! I like that the author gave vegetables their own, deserved story because they are forgotten, underrated, and misunderstood. That was a great idea and maybe I could write about some of the lesser-known foods of different cultures! For example, when people ask me about Indian food, they always ask me about curry.. but that is not all we eat! There are so many dishes that a lot of people don't know about. I'm sure it's the same way with a lot of cultures, so this would be a good way to inform people through funny little stories.

Power
I was thinking about doing a project with two sides pitted against each other, trying to gain power over the other. It could be Zeus vs. Hades, Gods vs. humans, lions vs. mice, etc. It could be any two groups against each other. Maybe I could do a Hunger Games-themed story or project in which a member of each group competes to see who is the strongest. The Zeus vs. Hades article I found was basically outlining the similarities and differences between the two, but I could write up a backstory for why they hate each other and then proceed with a set of obstacles for them to see who is actually more powerful or something. I'm not too sure on this one and I'm not sure if it even makes as much sense as the other topic ideas, but it's still forming in my head still! If I think of more ideas, I'll update this post :-)