Research
I chose my four topics from my previous workshop sessions in weeks one and two. I ended up with these:
- Flower Arrangments
- True Crime
- Candles
- Toxic Gym Culture
To commence my research, I looked back on my lotus mindmap from week one to help me continue generating ideas around my four topics. This will give me a good starting point, utilising a new technique I have learnt and will aid my search for unique, interesting ideas to present.
I started with flower arrangements. I knew that I wanted to talk about emotions associated with specific flowers and colour bouquets, but didn’t know the term for it. I ended up searching Google and finding out that it was called floriography. It’s something I’ve always known but never knew the word for it. I decided to include it in the presentation as it expands the idea of flowers, just something a part of wild nature, into something linked with us as humans. To continue with that concept, I went further into the cultural side of flowers. I went to the historical side first, with Ikebana, a Japanese flower presentation technique. I decided to include this to show that the culture of flowers dates back hundreds of years. I then went to the modern side of the flowers, with them being a symbol of love and also questioning the philosophical side of greed and performatism when posting them online while in a relationship. I feel like by looking into all of these different aspects of flower arranging, I have expanded this rather tough and limited subject into something that could be researched even further and pushed.
Next, I looked into True Crime. True Crime is a rather expansive subject, making it quite hard to whittle the whole subject down into one presentation page. Therefore, I tried to focus on recent true crime. I did decide to link back to the OJ Simpson case to start, as it was the first televised trial and also had a huge impacts in the cultural side with its linkage to black history. I also looked into why people even want to consume media that is so harsh like this, and into brain activity. I pushed this into exploring parasocial relationships next, as it is a sub-subject that does really interest me, as in new social media, it is a very prevalent act. I explored what parasocial relationships are and how it has a huge factor of romanticisation of crime to make them even occur. I then looked into media and true crime cases that showcase this argument I have, such as the Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix Show that used a good-looking actor, which the general public hyperfocused on, Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez having women attending their trials, Hybristophila and Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome. I then further linked it to a new modern-day hobby that may be pushing this even further, dark romance books.
I then looked into candles, from history to modern usage of them, and the evolution of their visual appearance. This topic was harder to explore, therefore making it have less research than others.
My final topic was Toxic Gym Culture. I began by talking about the male side of things. I started with the medical side of this, with a high usage of medical abuse with anabolic steroids being put against the natural medicine of working out. I then continued onto the negatives of this abuse, such as the physicality of it and the mental side of it. I then went on to the female perspective of this culture. I explored almond moms, something very prevalent in media from the 2000’s to modern day, and the opposing side of ‘butter moms’, exploring both perspectives. I then went onto specific culture within the gym for women, with them feeling out-of-place due to the gender-imbalance, and just what they are limited to safety-wise. I then showcased some pictures used in today’s modern social media meme culture, and explained how they all either mock or push a narrative of bad body image.
You can look through my final presentation down below!
Feedback
Personally, I felt that candles were the weakest topic out of my four, so I will disregard feedback on that topic, as I know either way, I don’t think it’s worth pushing further.
In the NodeNogg.in export, I see a lot of entities surrounding toxic gym culture and true crime, showcasing them as the strongest topics out of my four. There are also the two that interest me the most personally.
I was torn between Toxic gym culture and True crime for a while. True crime is broad but expansive, and toxic gym culture is more integrated in all aspects of society, but it may not be as interesting in a game format? I ended up settling with True Crime as it is something fresher for me, as I am already engrossed in gym culture, while also having a lot of avenues to explore comparatively.
Phase Two will follow my further research into True Crime!
Harvard Referencing
Buzzfeed Unsolved Network (2017). The Shocking Case of O.J. Simpson. [online] Youtu.be. Available at: https://youtu.be/YLmDE_JYUNU?si=kPPFsngNfnVitjpq [Accessed 2025].
NCA (2025). History of Candles – National Candle Association. [online] National Candle Association. Available at: https://candles.org/history-of-candles/.
NHS (2022). Anabolic Steroid Misuse. [online] NHS. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anabolic-steroid-misuse/.
Roux, J. (2020). Floriography : an illustrated guide to the Victorian language of flowers. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews Mcmeel Publishing.