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Teaching Sex Ed With Film: Princess Cyd (2017)
Princess Cyd is a 2017 independent film written and directed by Stephen Cone. What I love about indie films, alongside the original plots and subversions of yawn-inducing blockbusters: I probably haven’t seen the actors in anything else. When an actor becomes a household name, that pulls me out of the story. I prefer not to…
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What does it mean to be human?
What does it mean to be human? Dancing, music, love, sex, cooking, other people… You’ll have heard these answers. Many are problematic. We’ll talk about ‘what makes us human’ and say it must be ‘language’ or ’empathy’ or ‘culture’ or ‘the capacity for thought’ or ‘the need for stories’ — I could go on. The…
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Images by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Images” is a short story by Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). This story comprises two character studies through the eyes of a woman looking back on her own early childhood. One character study paints a portrait of a second cousin once removed, who prevails upon the household to take…
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A Trip to the Coast by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“A Trip To The Coast” is a short story by Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). In stories, trips to the coast often coincide with a big self-revelation. A character looks out to sea, realises something, and the audience understands their life is about to change in some significant way.…
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Red Dress—1946 by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
Alice Munro isn’t known as a feminist writer, but she is. Alice Munro isn’t known as a queer writer, either, but she has always been a keen observer of humans, and in every small town, queerness exists. Alice Munro therefore wrote about queer experiences, probably without meaning to sometimes.
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Sunday Afternoon by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Sunday Afternoon” is a short story by Alice Munro, included in the 1968 Dance of the Happy Shades collection.
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Symbols of Freedom in Literature
Do not allow yourselves to be deluded by the abstract word ‘freedom’. Whose freedom? It is not the freedom of one individual in relation to another, but the freedom of capital to crush the worker. Marx, On the Question of Free Trade 1848 The American West is more than a place. It’s a super powerful…
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Urban Legend Analysis: The Babysitter
The urban legend about the babysitter goes like this: Teenage girl is babysitting one night when she gets a menacing call. When she calls authorities, she is told that the call is coming from inside the house.
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The Office by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“The Office” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968).
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Psychopaths, Sociopaths, Narcissists in Fiction
Let’s take a look at psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists in fiction, or rather: How people with malignant personality disorders dominate popular culture.
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Spaceships Have Landed by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
Spaceships Have Landed is a long short story running over 10,000 words. But after you’ve read it, you’ll feel like you read an entire novel. With perfectly chosen narrative summary and a roving point of view, Alice Munro paints the story of a 1950s town, as experienced by two very different young women united by…
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Two Hundred Rabbits (1968) by Lonzo Anderson and Adrienne Adams Picturebook Analysis
“Two Hundred Rabbits” is a 1968 picture book written by Lonzo Anderson and illustrated by Adrienne Adams, who were married.
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Whistler’s Grandmother by Shirley Jackson Short Story Analysis
“Whistler’s Grandmother” by Shirley Jackson was published in the May 5, 1945 edition of The New Yorker. Find it also in the collection Just An Ordinary Day (1996).
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The Things They Left Behind by Stephen King Short Story Analysis
“The Things They Left Behind” is a post 9/11 short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in 2006.
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Hairball by Margaret Atwood Short Story Study
“Hairball” is a dark and playful short story by Margaret Atwood. Find it in the Wilderness Tips collection (1991).