Honors in the Major: An Interview with Talia Kimelman (FSU B.A. 2025)

My Honors in the Major project grew out of my senior seminar paper. I had worked with Dr. Herrera on “Depictions of Machismo in U.S. Cinema, 1990s to 2010s,” and I expanded that paper and shifted the timeline to focus on the 1970s through the 90s. I increased the number of films that I analyzed but I also wanted to focus more on gang activity and how it was related to hypermasculinity. The films that came out in those decades portrayed Latinx men as hyper masculine through specific behaviors to do with gang membership and transactional violence. My HITM project was entitled: “Depictions of Hypermasculinity and Gang Violence among Latinx Men in U.S. Cinema, 1970s to 1990s.“

I based my study on seven films, the earliest of which was released in 1979, and I was purposeful in including films directed by men and women, by Anglo-Americans as well as Latinx and Chicano/a filmmakers. Dr. Herrera really helped me by recommending many of the films I chose to analyze. Like in my senior seminar work, I reviewed how the films were received, who produced them, and who acted in them. But the questions I asked were slightly different and the time period under review much broader.

The films I analyzed were "Walk Proud" (Robert L. Collins, 1979), "Boulevard Nights" (Michael Pressman, 1979), "Zoot Suit" (Luis Valdez, 1981), "American Me" (Edward James Olmos, 1992), "El Mariachi" (Robert Rodriguez, 1992), "Blood In Blood Out" (Taylor Hackford, 1993), and "Mi Vida Loca" (Allison Anders, 1993). Overall, the biggest difference between my two research projects was focus. The senior seminar paper looked more at stereotypical portrayals of Latinx men in movies, while the HITM thesis focused on the violence required of males to prove their masculinity to other members of the gang, as represented in movies.

Getting started with the writing was the hardest part of the project. I felt very overwhelmed by all the information I had researched, but it helped that I had written on this topic in the senior seminar and knew what I wanted to do differently. In the senior seminar, I had written about each film on its own with a comparative section at the end. That led to too much detail and a very long section comparing the films! I knew from the beginning that for the HITM thesis I wanted to take a thematic approach, but I wasn’t sure whether to be chronological as well. Figuring out the structure of the paper was difficult, understanding how much material should go into the framing contextual introduction versus being part of the thematic sections was a challenge. I reached out to Dr. Herrera, and he helped me find the most effective organization.

I ended up with a thesis that was 56 pages long, which included an appendix with images and stills from the movies that helped support my findings. Adding the visuals was very useful as it meant that I did not have to describe every key movie scene.

Since I came to the Honors in the Major project from my senior seminar class, I felt that I would be able to handle an expanded version of my topic. My sister encouraged me, as she had done HITM as well, and Dr. Herrera encouraged me too. What I had not thought about was that for the senior seminar, while you are doing your own research, you meet as a class once a week, and there are other people around you also working on their papers. That made it relatively easy for me to stay on top of my project. I underestimated how important it is to have that dedicated class time and a cohort to work alongside.

I did the Honors in the Major project in two semesters. The first semester was dedicated to putting together the prospectus. With hindsight, that was the harder of the two semesters because of my workload. I had a normal course load with the HITM work added in on top and I was doing graduate school applications. Getting the prospectus done felt like a big accomplishment. After that I had to sit down to turn the prospectus into my thesis. Because the HITM project is bigger than the senior seminar, it was harder to stay on top of all the different strands that I was researching. Every time I finished a section, I had to move on to start the next one. And then I kept thinking – is that the best work I can do? I worked during every break, including Thanksgiving, winter, and spring, and was able to get the majority of my thesis done early in the second semester. That gave me a lot of time to edit and revise the thesis.

There are several things that I took away from completing the Honors in the Major project. On the one hand, I proved to myself that I could work on a project alone for an extended period of time, and that I was able to complete it. That was very rewarding. It also made me realize that studying History on the master’s level was not for me. Instead, I started an MFA in documentary filmmaking at Wake Forest University this fall. I will use all the skills that I learned in undergrad and combine them with my interest in films.

My advice to others who are thinking about doing an HITM project is – select a topic that you are really interested in, because you’re working on it for multiple semesters. Because my senior seminar and Honors in the Major topics were very similar, I feel that for over a year I have been working on this project. I have to admit that I did start to feel a bit burnt out on the topic, I am still interested in it but need to take a break.

It is also very important that you work with an advisor to whom you are comfortable reaching out. There were many, many times when I met with Dr. Herrera just to talk things through. In the beginning, we sat down to create a timeline for the year to set the deadlines I had to meet. Dr. Herrera also provided feedback on all versions of my drafts. Having an advisor and a committee that you can work with is key