This method formed the basis for her dissertation, which subsequently became her first scholarly book, Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible": A Neoformalist Analysis.
"[4] She claims that television shows such as Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos, and The Simpsons exhibit traits also found in art films, such as psychological realism, narrative complexity, and ambiguous plotlines.
She wrote that David Lynch's Twin Peaks television series had "...a loosening of causality, a greater emphasis on psychological or anecdotal realism, violations of classical clarity of space and time, explicit authorial comment, and ambiguity.
"[6] Thompson pointed out that series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos, and The Simpsons "...have altered longstanding notions of closure and single authorship", which means that "...television has wrought its own changes in traditional narrative form."
"[8] It is based on the author's interviews with many of the artists, writers, and business people who participated in the making of The Lord of the Rings motion pictures.