Ideas for a Thesis on Ghosts
Ghost stories in some form have permeated society for centuries. For some reason, people are endlessly fascinated by the concept that specters from the past have come back to haunt them. Because of the long history involving ghosts, there are a number of types of scholars that might choose to base a thesis on the topic.
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Literature
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Ghost stories are so prominently featured in literature that there is an almost bottomless well of thesis topics for a person to choose from in the field. You might choose to write a project on the use of ghosts in Victorian literature, for example. With ghosts as famous as Jacob Marley from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," there is ample fodder for such a topic. You could also choose to look at the comparisons between the ghost stories of ages past with horror movies of the 21st century as entertainment for the masses who enjoy being scared by their entertainment.
Anthropology
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The cultural evolution of most peoples throughout history has involved some form of religion or mythology. In many of these cases, part of the tradition that evolved includes contact by ancestor spirits, or ghosts. Write a thesis that examines the different ways cultures treat the concept of these ancestor spirits, or how their perception of such has changed through the generations. For example, a culture such as the Chinese, where ancestor spirits are welcomed and sometimes accorded a place at the dinner table, might contrast sharply with European cultures, who believe spirits are to be feared.
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Art
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Various attempts have been made to try and convey the sense of a ghost's presence through visual art. Paintings, photography and computer-generated art have all depicted ghosts. A student of art history could examine the evolution of the depiction of the spiritual element throughout the centuries and through different media. Discussion could include famous depictions of ghosts such as Salvador Dali's "Ghost of Vermeer," or a look at the concept of the haunting of images, such as 2000's "Haunted eBay Painting."
Film
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A film student would have a smorgasbord of options to choose from when settling on a thesis that revolved around ghosts. For instance, the student could compare the use of ghosts as objects of terror, objects of comedy or objects of plot within the course of various films. Films such as "The Blair Witch Project," "Ghostbusters" and "The Sixth Sense" clearly fulfill each of these obligations respectively, with many more available. Even romance is a genre represented with a ghost movie, as "Ghost" proves. An examination of the physical depictions of ghosts in film could also be intriguing.
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