I am planning to do a creative-critical essay, with photos I took (attached to this post) and an essay on gender fluidity. I am struggling to make a strong argument so any feedback from fellow students is deeply appreciated. Or any analysis on these photos as I know it is hard for me to objectively see these photos.

Thesis: The image of a mermaid challenges cultural interpretations of gender through the mermaid tail. Lacking genitalia, they symbolize a gender fluid being that we are able to relate to due to their half human nature. This collection of photos presents a gender fluid mermaid that we may be tempted to categorize; but this mermaid is gender fluid, which is captured through posing, model choice, and the mermaid tail. When analyzed in relation to other stories of gender fluid mermaids, like The Deep, we can start to question how we define gender and what value we hold to this idea.

I was thinking to analyze the photos on the tail (lack of two legs), the model (gender fluid model), and the posing (masculine posing), maybe location choice as well. Not sure if I should stick to one photo or if a few would be okay. And then maybe analysis of the passage from The Deep where they talk about the wajinru being male, female, both, or neither and try to tie back to the photos.