Lisa Lee

This is a very ambitious list and considering that you aren’t going to be able to get in everyone’s favorite (due to the sheer amount of great characters out there), I think you have chosen very well! I would have personally added Patrick Bateman in there, but I am prepared to forgive you in time. Great article!

Haha i didn’t explain it very well! I just think a lot of the points, here, about the way in which Rowling is struggling to be freed from associations with Harry Potter – meaning, perhaps, that her new works don’t get the praise they deserve unless a pseudonym is used – coincide a lot with the ideas in Roland Barthes’ poststructuralist essay, ‘Death of the Author’.

Interesting article that shows the sheer extent of (perhaps subconscious) bias in criticism. Here, the case of Rowling can be used as a great example of the need for the ‘death of the Author’!

Really interesting, thought-provoking article. It reminds me a lot of Bordwell’s ideas in the chapter ‘Parametric Narration’ in Narration in the Fiction Film, which I studied in a film module as part of my English Lit MA this year. I do struggle with this sort of film theory because personally I do think that the vast majority of films’ visual and stylistic techniques do lend themselves to an interpretation of meaning, even if this meaning is different for every individual viewer and/or not intended by the film-maker. For me, if a film is just made of stunning sensory images which are lacking in any meaning behind them, no matter how beautiful and awe-inspiring these images are, the film’s status as Art becomes diminished. Sort of the same way that it is the meaning – and the pursuit of finding meaning – behind postmodern art that distinguishes it from childrens’ finger painting.

I found this a very interesting read – particularly as a few months ago, I wrote an article underlining the negative aspects of binge-watching (most of which you have highlighted above) e.g. it makes you feel ‘bloated’, leaves out the anticipation and the social aspect of talking to friends and all giving your ideas about how a story-line will go etc.

I have to say, though, your article persuaded me that binge-watching maybe isn’t so bad after all. Now I won’t be feeling so guilty about watching 5 hours of Breaking Bad in a row!(even if I should have been doing uni work/exercise/socializing with friends in that time).

I am ashamed to admit I have never heard of Robin Wood, but his work sounds right up my street so I will definitely be checking it out in the near future. Thanks, Kahlia!

Thanks for the feedback, Josh! I think that’s one of the great things about IWTV: if you’re too young to understand (or care!) about the homosexual connotations, or if you just want to read a great vampire novel, it is still a really good choice.

Great article!
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my favorite novels of all time so it’s great to see it up there. I hadn’t heard of Noughts and Crosses before, but it sounds fascinating and I will definitely be giving it a go in the near future!