Project Work Best in Category 2 (Humanities and Social Science Research): The Illusion of Choice

Written by: Albert Sui Wenzhuo and Koo Sheng Rong (3i4, 2026)

What started as a light-hearted joke slowly developed into a serious exploration of freedom, fate and choice.

Before settling on philosophical analysis, we had considered projects in linguistics and the social sciences. Looking back, however, none of those ideas excited us quite as much as the direction we eventually pursued.

Taking inspiration from a senior who had analysed nihilism in Monster, I suggested that we conduct a philosophical analysis of a film or television series. My groupmate initially proposed Stranger Things, before we eventually settled on Attack on Titan. The choice was partly inspired by our experience working together on the Secondary One Orientation 2026 Organising Team, whose theme had also drawn from the series.

Anyone familiar with Attack on Titan would readily associate it with questions of freedom and fate. These ideas became the foundation of our central thesis. Once we had established this direction, we began exploring the work of various philosophers before eventually adopting Jean-Paul Sartre’s ideas of bad faith and being and nothingness as our main philosophical framework.

From there, we spent weeks reading articles and other sources to better understand these theories and the broader concept of fatalism. We also decided to use focalisation and narrative discourse as part of our methodology, allowing us to examine how the series presents its characters, events and ideas beneath the surface of the narrative.

Before long, we had put together a substantial body of research for our first evaluation.

After that, things seemed to move much more quickly. We selected key scenes from the series and began writing detailed analyses that connected the narrative with the philosophical ideas we had studied. Over eight months, what began as an analysis of a revenge story gradually became an exploration of fatalism, not only within Attack on Titan, but also in relation to the choices we make in our own lives.

When the final evaluation came and went, we were mostly relieved that the project was over and hoped that we had done enough to achieve a good result. What we had not expected was to be nominated for Best in Category.

I still remember the disbelief, surprise and excitement when we received the news. At the same time, it meant that our work was not quite over yet.

While preparing for our End-of-Year examinations, we continued refining our slides and adjusting our content before presenting our project to the Secondary Three cohort. After all the twists and turns, our long journey finally came to an end, leaving us grateful for the recognition our work had received.

More importantly, the project changed the way I think about both literature and life.

Our research into freedom and fatalism made me realise how much our experience of life can depend on our perception of choice. If we believe that we are trapped in an unchangeable cycle, we may begin to act as though we have no agency at all. But if we recognise that we still possess the ability to make choices, we can determine how we respond to the circumstances around us.

The project also deepened my appreciation for Hajime Isayama’s writing in Attack on Titan. Through his portrayal of complex characters and motives, he creates a story in which our understanding of a character can change dramatically as more of the narrative is revealed.

The journey itself taught me another lesson: sometimes, the best ideas are not the ones we plan from the beginning. This project began with an idea that occurred to me one day in Boarding School, and choosing to pursue it turned out to be one of the most rewarding decisions we made. I learnt that not every idea needs to have a perfectly mapped-out path before we begin. Sometimes, we simply have to take the first step and see where it leads.

We would like to thank our Project Mentor, Dr Liew Pei Li, our parents, friends and everyone who supported us along the way and helped us bring this project to fruition.

Perhaps, after all, it was predetermined by fate.