Scientist by training, writer by choice. Loves anime, horror, religion, nature, folktales, and all things weird and strange.
Correspondent I
Has destigmatizing suicide gone too far?Nowadays, suicide carries less stigma than ever before, both in fiction and in real life. In many respects this is a good thing, as it means that people who experience suicidal ideation no longer have to feel like they are morally deficient. However, it seems as though some works of media have gone too far in the other direction, portraying suicide either as something glamorous or as an inevitable consequence of mental distress. A key example of this can be seen in the novel and Netflix series "13 Reasons Why," both of which seem to portray suicide as a weapon that can be used to get back at someone. Some modern Biblical commentators have even gone so far as to argue that Sarah, the holy matriarch, might have been suicidal based on little to no evidence. What are some ways in which creators can portray suicide more respectfully? Is it possible to point out the harm that suicidal ideation does without making people feel guilty or ashamed for being depressed?
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Lesser-Known Adaptations of The OfficeWhen most people think of the mockumentary sitcom series known as The Office, they probably think of the version from either the United States or the United Kingdom. However, The Office is a multinational phenomenon, with at least eight or ten countries having their own home-grown adaptations of it, which they use to make fun of their own work cultures. What are some highlights from these international adaptations? How do they differ from their more famous English-language counterparts? Are there any adaptations that, in your opinion, do not receive the attention they deserve?
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Does BoJack Horseman suffer from psychosis?The TV series "BoJack Horseman" is a surreal dark comedy that takes place in a world in which some of the characters (including the title character) seem to be talking animals. BoJack himself openly suffers from several mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety, but could he also have a psychotic disorder, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder? Psychotic disorders interfere with people’s perception of reality, which might explain some of the more surreal aspects of the series. It might even explain the talking animals, since psychotic illnesses can include a delusion that one is an animal. So, what is the evidence for or against BoJack suffering from psychosis? If he does have a psychotic disorder, what kind does he have? |
Fictional children acting in unchildlike waysIt’s relatively rare to find fictional children who act like real children. More often than not, fictional children talk and act like miniature adults. Oftentimes, this is a deliberate artistic choice, which may either be played for laughs (as in Rugrats, The Simpsons, or South Park, for example), or used to show that there is something seriously wrong with the child in question (as in The Umbrella Academy, and many anime series). On the other hand, some creators seem genuinely unable to fathom how children think and behave, and so write them behaving like adults by default. What are some examples of stories that portray children this way? What, if any, differences are there between stories that portray children acting like adults for artistic reasons, and those whose writers simply don’t know any better? What effects, if any, do fictional portrayals of unrealistically-mature children have on how people view children in the real world?
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Who should be the focus of the next biopic?A biographical film, or biopic, attempts to document the life of a real person or organization on film. Some examples of famous biopics include Schindler’s List (for Oskar Schindler), A Beautiful Mind (for John Nash) and Selma (for the American civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr). Who are some examples of people, living or dead, that would make good biopic material? What is it about them that suits the biopic format? If a biopic were to be made of them, what details would need to be included?
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Characters who fall in love with versions of themselvesIn some stories, the main character’s love interest seems designed to be an almost perfect mirror image of themselves. These characters’ lovers share their same personalities, tastes, and motivations, and might even look something like them. "The Umbrella Academy" is one notable show that does this. So far both seasons feature a central character falling in love with someone who is almost exactly like themselves (Vanya in Season 1 and Diego in Season 2). What are some other examples of this trope? How popular is this phenomenon in fiction and what factors contribute to it?
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Are comic book movie and TV adaptations more realistic than the source material?It seems as though, when comic books (Japanese or Western) get adapted into movies or TV series, they become less over-the-top and stylized. The visuals may be toned down, for instance, and some of the characters may talk, act, or even look more like real people would in their situations. For instance, many of the characters in the "Deadman Wonderland" anime talk and act much more realistically than their manga counterparts did. The Netflix adaptation of "The Umbrella Academy" is also supposed to be more realistic and restrained than the original comics, and makes more of an effort to flesh out the characters’ personalities and motivations. Are most comic book adaptations like this, or does it depend on the individual adaptation? If indeed it is a trend, what are some of the factors driving it? For instance, do characters simply have to become more realistic once a real person is charged with bringing them to life?
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Significance of character design of non-human creaturesIt’s often been said that a character’s design is supposed to tell the audience something about them and complement their personality and role in the story in some way. Non-human characters provide unique challenges and opportunities for animators because they possess features that no human could ever have. The popular kids’ movie Monsters, Inc. does a great job of designing characters to perfectly fit their roles in the story. For instance, the main character, Sully, is huge and strong but also fluffy and colorful; his timid but loyal sidekick Mike is small and has a very large and expressive eye and mouth; and the villain Randall is a slippery and surly-looking lizard voiced by Steve Buscemi. What are some other examples of non-human characters with particularly appropriate or memorable character designs? What is it about their designs that provides insight into their characters more broadly?
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Costumes On Screen: How Clothing Has Enhanced Visual Storytelling | |
I feel compelled to address a point that has come up in the comments several times now. I see a lot of people saying things to the effect that my criticism of Welcome to Night Vale is unfounded because it’s “satire.” I just don’t buy that, though, for the simple reason that satire (even absurdist satire) still requires some internal logic in order to work. The problem with Night Vale is that, more often than not, it seems like the creators of the show just throw whatever random absurd or outlandish thing they can think of at the audience and hope that they find it funny (or scary). This is not good practice for storytelling, period. It’s not funny, scary, or even especially interesting. I know good satire when I see it–I read Kafka and watch The Office, among other things–and Welcome to Night Vale isn’t it. Moreover, if Welcome to Night Vale is satire, that naturally raises the question of what it is satirizing in the first place, because the entire point of satire is to make fun of human flaws and weaknesses. In my view, to the extent the series is a satire of anything at all, it’s a satire of progressives. | Welcome to Night Vale: More Conservative Than It Seems |
I remember watching Fillmore! when it aired. I liked it a lot, but a reboot, particularly one that aged the characters, probably wouldn’t work very well. The entire premise of the show was that it featured kids doing things that, in real life, only adults typically do. This worked on two levels at the time, because kids could relate to the young cast and adults could appreciate the complex, “adult” decisions that the cast members made. If the cast got older, though, the line between the kids and adults would become blurrier, and there is a danger it could eventually turn into just another “teen” or “young adult” soap opera. Or else it would turn into one of those “kid shows” where everyone acts like overgrown elementary-schoolers and is obsessed with school even after they should have moved on. Put another way, it makes sense that middle schoolers, who spend most of their lives going to classes in school, would view the school as their entire world, but once the characters enter high school, learn to drive, and get more involved in the wider community, if they continued to fixate on their school it would just start to look ridiculous. This is actually sort of what ended up happening with Harry Potter–even though the main characters were (in some instances) legal adults in the last book, the final battle still had to take place at school, and the protagonists’ main mentor and inspiration was still the teacher that none of them wanted to cross when they were twelve. | Celebrating, Analyzing, and Resurrecting Fillmore! |
Celebrating, Analyzing, and Resurrecting Fillmore! | |
Demystifying Franz Kafka | |
I agree and I think a lot of it comes back to willing suspension of disbelief. It’s something people understand intuitively about other writers. The audience can overlook a lot of strange or “unrealistic” details about a story’s world as long as the characters behave in the way that they would expect real people to behave in those situations. If you think about it, the Lord of the Rings series (for instance) isn’t “realistic” either insofar as it takes place in a fantasy world, but the characters still behave in ways that are plausible and so they resonate with the audience. It’s the same thing with Kafka. | Demystifying Franz Kafka |
Thing is, I don’t think Kafka was anti-religious as such. He may not have lived a religious life, but he did have many religious friends, and he got very interested in the mystical aspects of Judaism in his later years. Indeed, one of the conflicts he singles out between himself and his father is that he (the son) was too absorbed in his religious and cultural heritage, and his father resented him for it. | Demystifying Franz Kafka |
Given the emphasis in the article on the importance of women of color in the fight for liberation, I’m a little surprised you didn’t mention the Combahee River Collective Statement. This was a document developed by Black feminists in the late 1970’s, which addressed the problems that women of color in particular were facing at the time. If you read it, you’ll see it actually invokes the very same themes that are still found in liberation movements today. | Poetry and Feminism in the Eighteenth Century |
One series that does really interesting things with its characters’ clothes is The Office. Just about everyone in the series wears ordinary office clothes, but when the characters are interacting with each other (particularly when paired up in a talking-head segment), there will be some detail about their clothes that makes them look great together. For instance, a character with blond hair and blue eyes wearing a dark suit, might be talking to another character nearby with darker hair and eyes who wears a lighter shirt. Or they might coordinate their ties. Or the colors and materials they wear might provide clues to their personality somehow. The effect is subtle, but it’s definitely noticeable. It’s almost as though the characters themselves are doubling as set pieces. I’ve seen multiple adaptations of the series and they all do the same thing.