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quixotic_crush gave me seven topics to expound: books, vampires, philosophy, music, LGBTQ rights, geeks, fantasy. Warning: me and memes are unmixy things. I give them way too much thought. So I will attempt brevity.( LJ cut for your protection )
quixotic_crush gave me seven topics to expound: books, vampires, philosophy, music, LGBTQ rights, geeks, fantasy. Warning: me and memes are unmixy things. I give them way too much thought. So I will attempt brevity.( LJ cut for your protection )
Tell me a story
Mar. 2nd, 2012 01:06 pmI was thinking about my complaint the other day about Hollywood's trend of remaking current foreign films and TV shows and doing remakes of (slightly) older American films and TV shows (especially annoying when you are any age of adult and can remember the original like it was yesterday because it was).
This seemed to contradict a stray thought I had later that day in which I was remembering mourning the passing of television shows and film series I had loved (esp. Deep Space Nine, Angel, and Harry Potter) and how I comforted myself with the knowledge that "something new will come along I will love, it always does."
"New", of course, is relative. It can be argued there are no truly "new" stories to tell, but I think it depends on what you mean by "new." If stories are stripped down to their archetypal bones, then no, there probably aren't any new stories out there, but there are plenty of new ways to tell the same archetypal story. Make your Odysseus a female character in the modern day instead of a male. Pile this culture/era/sub-culture's baggage atop the archetype instead of that culture/era/sub-culture's baggage--no one will recognize the story archetype without a lot of wincing, and it becomes fresh again.
Likewise, easily recognizable tropes or characters can be made fresh again with a fresh angle to them. Set the (yet another) vampire story in the American south, or have the vampire share a flat with a werewolf and a ghost. Give your formerly-Victorian characters cell phones and sophisticated 21st-century adversaries to test their skills against.
That said, there IS such a thing as trope-fatigue. And making your "adaptations" too thinly-disguised by your "variations" to be fresh enough.
Sometimes, what I really want is to curl up and revisit the same story told the same way I remember it. Sometimes, what I really want is a story trope/archetype/kink that's deep in my bones told in a way so different from what I've heard before I don't recognize it at first. Sometimes I want a film/show that was done forty years ago, and not too well, to be given a decent (and fresh) treatment.
But I rarely want to see the same story told in just a slightly tweaked way ten years or one year after I saw it before.
This seemed to contradict a stray thought I had later that day in which I was remembering mourning the passing of television shows and film series I had loved (esp. Deep Space Nine, Angel, and Harry Potter) and how I comforted myself with the knowledge that "something new will come along I will love, it always does."
"New", of course, is relative. It can be argued there are no truly "new" stories to tell, but I think it depends on what you mean by "new." If stories are stripped down to their archetypal bones, then no, there probably aren't any new stories out there, but there are plenty of new ways to tell the same archetypal story. Make your Odysseus a female character in the modern day instead of a male. Pile this culture/era/sub-culture's baggage atop the archetype instead of that culture/era/sub-culture's baggage--no one will recognize the story archetype without a lot of wincing, and it becomes fresh again.
Likewise, easily recognizable tropes or characters can be made fresh again with a fresh angle to them. Set the (yet another) vampire story in the American south, or have the vampire share a flat with a werewolf and a ghost. Give your formerly-Victorian characters cell phones and sophisticated 21st-century adversaries to test their skills against.
That said, there IS such a thing as trope-fatigue. And making your "adaptations" too thinly-disguised by your "variations" to be fresh enough.
Sometimes, what I really want is to curl up and revisit the same story told the same way I remember it. Sometimes, what I really want is a story trope/archetype/kink that's deep in my bones told in a way so different from what I've heard before I don't recognize it at first. Sometimes I want a film/show that was done forty years ago, and not too well, to be given a decent (and fresh) treatment.
But I rarely want to see the same story told in just a slightly tweaked way ten years or one year after I saw it before.
Fandom letter meme
Feb. 26th, 2012 08:06 pm1. Leave a comment to this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. The characters can be from books, movies, or TV shows
Ganked fromcornerofmadness who gave me the letter C. "C", as it turns out, is kinda hard. It's not a common letter for names. But here's mine:
( Read more... )
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. The characters can be from books, movies, or TV shows
Ganked from
cornerofmadness who gave me the letter C. "C", as it turns out, is kinda hard. It's not a common letter for names. But here's mine:( Read more... )
Bridge over troubled waters
Aug. 18th, 2011 10:50 amSo I finally, finally finished the latest Dresden Files novel, Ghost Story. I think I am the last one on my flist to do so. Some folks gave it enthusiastic reviews, others were less than impressed. I have to admit to slogging through some tedium at times, which is part of the reason I took so long to finish it. The other part is, I only read non-interweb stuff for a short while before bed each night.
But see, there is a reason this book wasn't the Best!DresdenFilesNovel!Ever! It was a bridge story. And bridge stories are traditionally kind of mediocre. ( Thar be spoilers beyond here! )
But see, there is a reason this book wasn't the Best!DresdenFilesNovel!Ever! It was a bridge story. And bridge stories are traditionally kind of mediocre. ( Thar be spoilers beyond here! )
OMG, I just discovered that all three books in Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy have been made into movies that are available on Netflix. It was on their recommendation I even rented the first movie ("You like foreign films with strong women characters: rent this!"). That got me reading the books in the first place.
::fan girls::
::fan girls::
I finally, finally finished the latest Dresden Files novel last night.
( Spoilers for that last page, yeah )
( Spoilers for that last page, yeah )
