Example French dissertation topic 2:

Celebrating hardships and history through song: Critical responses to the cinematic release of Les Misérables.

Though the West End musical version of Les Misrables has been running for 27 years, the recent release of the film version of Les Misérables starring Anne Hathaway has reignited the viewing public’s fascination for this story by Victor Hugo. In so doing, it has brought a staple of French culture and literary history to the masses. So as to enable further comment on cultural diversity, this dissertation evaluates viewers’ reactions to the film (in Bournemouth, where 30 viewers will be interviewed) with those of 30 film-goers in Toulouse. Accordingly, this is a dissertation that not only requires a through understanding of French culture and cinema but also the advanced levels of linguistics attained during a French degree course.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• McKelvey, M. (2001). Translating the musical Les Misérables: A polysystemic approach. Doctoral dissertation, Concordia University.
• Nassiboullina, L. (2011). Comparative analysis of the French, English, and Russian versions of the musical Notre-Dame de Paris. Doctoral dissertation, Concordia University.
• Stephens, B. (2009). ‘Victor Hugo’. French Studies, vol. 63(1), pp. 66-74.