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Character Study: Tony Soprano
Much has been said about the character of Tony Soprano. I’ve explored some of it on this blog; Tony Soprano will always come up in discussions about antiheroes. David Chase (writer of The Sopranos) used every trick in the writer’s handbook to make the audience empathise with Tony Soprano in the pilot episode. It worked. […]
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A Country Killing by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“A Country Killing” may sound a bit like the title of a cosy mystery set in Surrey but no, this is a story by Annie Proulx, about coercive control and domestic abuse, set in the poorest demographic of New England in the 1990s.
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Lizzie’s Tiger by Angela Carter Analysis
Lizzie’s Tiger is a short story by Angela Carter, the first in her collection American Ghosts and Old World Wonders. This is a story of female empowerment, with a strong fairytale influence.
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Animal Kingdom Modern Fairy Tale
Animal Kingdom is an Australian movie based on a Melbourne family who wreaked a lot of havoc in the 1980s. This movie was the inspiration for the American TV spin-off set in San Diego. Below I make the case that Animal Kingdom is a modern fairytale. Breaking Bad is also a modern fairytale blended with […]
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Happy Valley Season One Storytelling
Despite the rape, suicide, murder and abuse of multiple women in this British crime series, I make the case that Happy Valley is ultimately a feminist story, though still not for everyone.
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Lamb To The Slaughter by Roald Dahl Analysis
“Lamb to the Slaughter” is one of Roald Dahl’s most widely read short stories, studied in high school English classes around the English speaking world. In this post I take a close look at the structure from a writing point of view. Why has this story found such wide love? What appeals?
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Waltzing Matilda by Banjo Paterson
Today I analyse a song using the same story template, which happens to be Australia’s unofficial national anthem. I own “Waltzing Matilda” in picture book form, though it always scared me as a kid. Although the tune is upbeat, inspired indirectly by Celtic folk music, “Waltzing Matilda” is a tragic ghost story about theft, suicide and power.
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Character Empathy In The Sopranos Pilot
It is more difficult to write an antihero than to write a hero. Before creating Tony Soprano, David Chase served his apprenticeship writing a large number of likeable characters, such as amicably divorced Norman Foley from Almost Grown and 1950s Southern lawyer Forrest Bedford in I’ll Fly Away. He graduated to the antihero from there. If […]
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No Country For Old Men Film Study
No Country For Old Men is a 2007 film based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Drama combines with crime and thriller to create a story about the nature of evil.
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Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd Picture Book Analysis
Slinky Malinki is a picture book by New Zealand author illustrator Lynley Dodd. A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays. Old proverb A BRIEF HISTORY OF CATS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Sometimes it is difficult not to resent their apparent success, and they […]
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How Police Procedurals Are Different From Real Police Work
Police procedurals are the most popular subgenre of story worldwide. We have police procedurals such as The Wire, which has a dedicated and enthusiastic fanbase of those who like mimesis in their fiction, but the fact is, cinéma vérité is pretty hard to follow if you’re trying to just relax and enjoy. Of course the […]
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The Housebreaker of Shady Hill by John Cheever Analysis
Is “The Housebreaker of Shady Hill” ultimately a story about fernweh? The main character wants to be somewhere else, for sure, and wants to be someone else. Ultimately he finds peace by ditching his temporary persona as a thief and returning to his honest, family-man status. You get a strange feeling like when you leave […]
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Mog The Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr Analysis
Mog The Forgetful Cat is the story that introduced Mog to young readers at the beginning of the 1970s. You’ll see from the illustrations that this is a book of its time, with 1970s fashion and a traditional nuclear family set-up, including a population that, compared to modern day London, is overwhelmingly white. If there […]
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Shirley Jackson’s Louisa, Please Come Home Analysis
“Louisa, Please Come Home” is a short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in Ladies Home Journal, 1960.