Future Research
The future research section addresses aspects of representation in media that are not currently part of the dataset. This section will expand and ideally add updates to sections that have been further explored since their addition to this page.
01
Historical
With a few exceptions, all of the works currently in the database are made during the 21st century. Part of this is due to a time constraint, but it’s also due to the fact that OCD is a very recent term relative to how long media has been produced for. It’s difficult to search for works that qualify for such a recent term and concept. However, it’s absolutely something worth looking into in a future project.
Languages
So far, the works represented are primarily in the English language. This is for a similar reason to the one listed above: A lack of knowledge of the appropriate terms. I do not know what terms are used in other languages’ works representing OCD, so it’s not something that can be easily researched by me alone. If you think you have insight on this or are interested in reaching out, I am happy to collaborate on this.
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Class
One category I have not yet established, but hope to do in the future, is class. I have absolutely noticed class dynamics in the way that OCD is depicted, namely that the main narrative being centered is that of white upper/middle class people. However, class is hard to quantify, and I’m not sure how to create a system that can determine an overarching operational definition of class that can be applied to the majority of works. Still, it’s something I’m hoping to try in the future.
Reception
Reception is a very vague category that can mean many different things depending on the context. It also depends on time period. For example, the opinions about Monk’s depiction of OCD have shifted fairly drastically even within the OCD community itself. I’m interested in expanding this category into something with more nuance and clear-cut categories.
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Visual Media
So far, this project only includes works with text of some kind (books, lyrics, scripts, etc.) because they fit best into the categories I’ve established for engaging with media. However, other art forms such as visual media have a lot of potential for their own forms of representation. I’d be interested in diving into this topic in some form in the future.