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Transgression Comedy and The IT Crowd
Comedies have subcategories. One of those categories is the ‘transgression comedy’. The IT Crowd is a good example of a transgression comedy. About A Boy is another. Screenwriting experts usually give the example of Tootsie as the perfect example of this form, but I’m no particular fan of that film. It hasn’t aged well. It needs to be […]
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How To Structure Any (Western-style) Story
Combining my study of film, novels, children’s literature and lyrical short stories, I’ve come up with a nine part story structure. Other cultures historically carve up stories differently. For instance, East Asian audiences expect different things from story, and also differ in the amount of work they expect to put in. Not all stories are […]
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Composition In Film and In Picture books
Ah, composition. How things are arranged on the page… or on the screen. I have written before about how picture books have a lot in common with film, and that study of one equals study of the other.
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Swine Lake by James Marshall and Maurice Sendak
Swine Lake is a 1999 picture book by James Marshall, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. The humour is an example of ‘hero wears a mask‘ transgression comedy. About the Author and Illustrator If you’re American, perhaps you’re familiar with the following series: The author and illustrator of the George and Martha series also wrote other books, and […]
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The Three Little Wolves And The Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas and Helen Oxenbury Analysis
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pigs is not only an inversion on the classic tale, but also a subversion of the message. Basically, this is a fable for a rape culture world. PARATEXT Back in 1993, this book was a best seller and did well in a number of big prizes. Most of […]
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Once by Morris Gleitzman (2006)
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Once by Maurice Gleitzman, an Australian middle grade novel by one of our best known children’s book authors, I’m going to take a close look at it using the 7-step story structure which applies to pretty much everything from advertisements to picture books to novels. The Redemptive Power […]
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Inversion Does Not Equal Subversion: The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt And Oliver Jeffers
Daniel Craig says “why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?” “There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour.” DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 21, 2021 The Day The Crayons Quit is a bestseller made by two picture book […]
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Thelma And Louise Story Structure
Thelma and Louise is an iconic 1991 film, hailed at the time as feminist. I don’t fall into the camp who consider this a feminist film, but it is still one of my all time favourites. I know Thelma and Louise so well it makes an excellent case study in storytelling technique. While I was […]
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Gender Problems In ParaNorman (2012)
ParaNorman (2012) is an animated zombie flick, light-hearted in its intent, and follows the adventures of an outcast 11-year old called Norman, who sees dead people. They’re everywhere. I identify with Norman, I really do. These days, whenever I watch a kids’ film, all I see are anti-girl references and tropes. These tropes are like […]