So i'm a university student asking for your help.
My subject of study is called "Comparative and art studies" and i'm a bit lost finding a suitable topic for my final diploma thesis. I got my bachelor's degree on history of art which is a more straightforward discipline than comparative and art studies which much more interdisciplinary and i'm not all used to that.
The thesis should be interdisciplinary as well so for example it should be about let's say adapting literature to drama or film or exploring influences of painting on film or something like mutual or common motives between two or more art disciplines and so on, i think you get the picture..
I decided to go for adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein but one of my student coleagues picked that topic first so i fell a little behind schedule and therefore i ask for help from fellow scholars among you to help me pick a decent topic for my thesis.
And most importantly i offer a gift of a 5.99 or 9.99 game (depends on my account ballance, me being a student and all :)) to the topic i find the best so only serious advices and suggested topics qualify.
Thanks for your replies in advance.

It might not be your thing, but you could always choose to analyze the use of aesthetics in video gaming compared with the explorations of color theory in classical oil painting.

Video games have a fairly wide range of values in that regard, some of them more effective than others. And I think it's an area that often times gets overlooked when people are talking about game design. And I don't recall ever having heard art folks discuss it.

Have you considered the obvious, i.e.: it involving video games in some way ? For instance - storytelling as done through film vs stories told in games, interactive fiction vs proscenic art, etc...

Compare violence in Tarantino's movies to that of the Postal games. I can bet you no one else will do it...

I think you could talk about how improvements in computer graphics to being near photorealistic affect people's imaginations when they play a game or watch a movie.

For example, earlier graphics were not so pretty, but they conveyed very specific imagery and emotion. Take Beneath a Steel Sky, for example.

http://sticktwiddlers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/215485-beneath_a_steel_sky__10_.png

That image tells me so much. My imagination runs with it.

Current game graphics are obviously beautiful. Look at Skyrim:

http://static.zenimax.com/bethblog/upload/2011/01/Markarth021.jpg

It's amazing this was created on a machine, as it looks so real. But where does our imagination fit in? Does the way we experience and feel art change, as the art becomes technically better?

Similar discussion could be used for movies. Old special effects, like matte paintings and puppets, vs. CGI.

Yeah, but you can't piss on people in those games...

Very interesting study. If you are looking for book adaptations in movies and other forms of art, there are many possibilities, Dracula, Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, John Carter and if you like SF, Philip K. Dick's adaptations (Blade Runner, Total Recall). You have some of that books adapted as comics and games. There is group on Goodreads that might interest you:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/62603-books2movies-club

And about paintings, I remember book by Arturo Pérez-Reverte "The Flanders Panel" where main theme is crime story around old painting. It is adopted as movie "Uncovered" with Kate Beckinsale. But I think you have to compare real art, not fictional. In Dan Brown books and its adaptations there are lot of art references. In Da Vinci Code, Da Vinci's paintings, and in Angels & Demons, Bernini's sculptures.

I hope this helps. Good luck with thesis.

Pixel art (old/modern/retro) and the revenge of pointillism ?

You know what? I just had a brilliant idea! Why not compare violence in video games to violence in other media (movies, books, etc.) ? Video games that are violent are always demonized, but you never hear anyone say squat about Dexter or A Song of Ice and Fire or Tarantino's movies. Why ? Is it because video games are still viewed as "for children" while books and movies are for "grown-ups"? That's so hypocritical !

Woah, didn't know that.

I think it would be interesting to compare differing standards of decency in games, movies, novels, art and news; covering topics like sex, violence, drug use, stereotypes, morals, etc. You could consider how different presentations of the same ideas can be acceptable in one form and not in another. There are so many asymmetrical standards in these mediums, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. The best part would be that you can pick and choose your favourite aspects and write about them.

I know I'm putting myself in range for some flames *gets out flameshieldr* but you could do something on the brony phenomenon. *Please keep reading.*
http://www.bronystudy.com/
http://www.bronystudy.com/id1.html

For all the backlash against the bronies they are one of the most creative communities on the web, there are very few things that hasnt been ponified in some way, and Hasbro taking a largely handsoff approach to their copyright also helped.

Kind of interesting how they break gender roles. Or you can go into the role the internet has taken for spreading art, if it weren't for the internet (and 4chan) the bronies would not have found their grounding. It'll not be hard to get information about them.

Hasbro hasn't been hurting from allowing people to create from their copyright. Does this mean that business like Disney could benefit as well from a hands-off approach from their copyright? What is it about the internet that allows ideas to flow so fluidly? Could Hasbro's hands-off approach backfire? What is it about the show that crosses gender and age line? Should society perhaps re-evaluate gender stereotypes?

Thank you for your ideas. I'm not sure about going for topic related to videogames though. Anyway i'll pick the winner of the promised gift tomorrow or the day after so if you have any more ideas feel free to post :).

That would be a good idea but for social studies and not art.

I really like the ideas by hedwards and vestin. You could combine them and analyze the methods of mood creation (like the use of color and sound) and storytelling between adaptations in various media.
Maybe address the phenomenon of adaptations being true to the source material. Whether or not it is possible and are loyal fans right criticizing an adaptation for not being completely like the source. How do adaptations deal with conveying same ideas in different media.

Although I guess the first one is kind of general and perhaps done already, while the second is more like a topic for an article and not a whole thesis.