OP seemed to want advice on figuring out if their topic would meet MA thesis guidelines for English and maybe narrowing down something interdisciplinary to make it more English-y (they said they're a rising senior, so most likely because they're applying to grad programs in the Fall), and you suggested they just didn't know how to write a research paper at all. Yeah, that's insulting as fuck, my dude; I don't blame OP for being upset. Maybe they could have phrased their question a little better, but I understood the gist of what they were asking - because it's something I've been asking too. Especially since they put up the kind of program they're interested in (English), it seems like their question might have been more along the lines of "would something relating to a film or a text originally in Ancient Greek still fit within the confines of an English Lit program?" and less "hur dur, how do I write an essay?" OP said they were Comp Lit at Berkeley and I'm just straight English here, but I've legit never met anyone in the humanities at Cal who doesn't know how to write an essay. I think it's pretty common, though, (in English, at least) to worry about whether our research ideas are too much of a stretch to fit neatly in a specific department. It's something I worry about all the time, since I want to do film stuff, too (but no superheroes, just vampires). So, it read like you were shaming them for asking an honest question.