How to construct a fanfic that doesn’t fall apart in five minutes.

1)      Know the world you set your story in well. It will show in the quality of your story.

2)      Use a single point of view rather than jumping between characters. Your space to develop multiple points of view is too limited.

3)      A good way to begin your story is with a sign or herald. This can be a dream, or a vision, or an unexpected event. A portent. It foreshadows later events.

4)      If your story has a mentor, try to break from the now cliché old man with beard image. Be imaginative with your mentor force.

5)      A good way to finish a story is to return in some way to the beginning, the starting point.

6)      Never finish a story with the words ‘She/he woke up and it was all a dream!’ That’s a serious let down!

7)      Use your short introduction to sketch in the context of your story (especially if it is a part of an imaginary longer story) and your approach to archetypal story patterns (Vogler)

8) Don't forget that a good story will create a mood or impression. Use description to do that - description of the setting and characters

 Weeks 11 and 12: Reality TV

1)How have the documentary genres ‘Direct Cinema’ or ‘cinéma vérité influenced reality TV and the presentation of the ‘real’? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.

2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.

3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV?  Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.

Weeks 10 and 11 – Buffy.

1) Q. Wilcox and Lavery (2002) identify 9 defining characteristics of 'quality TV' - can you apply any of these to other television series that you have viewed recently? Are there any other characteristics that you could add to their list?

2) What role does Hills (2004) suggest the fans play in the construction of cult TV? How is new media central to this?

3) Hills (2004) lists a number of defining characteristics of cult TV that contain similarities to the defining characteristics of pop genres (e.g. fantasy, science fiction) discussed earlier in the Pop Genres paper. Can you identify these and discuss why you think that these characteristics are repeatedly viewed as underpinning popular genres?

4) Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Cult TV Show) - How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?

 

5) In what way is Buffy influenced by the romantic gothic tradition? Yet how does Buffy also provide a contemporary critique of this tradition?

Completion dates:
Blogs: Friday, Oct 27 4 pm. (week 13)
Fanfic Friday Nov 3 4pm
(email the fanfic only to Mike at m.johnson@xtra.co.nz.

Make sure your fanfic has your name on it and has page numbers.

Weeks 7 and 8
Science fiction - PKD

1) What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle?

2) According to Mountfort (2006), what role does the I Ching have as an organisational device in the structure of Man in the High Castle? How does the use of this device illuminate the character of the novel’s protagonists?

3What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of science fiction? 

4) What does Dick(1995) himself theorise about the I Ching?

5) A Scanner Darkly is not really Science Fiction but a thinly disguised autobiography.
    A Scanner Darkly is true Science Fiction in that it takes a trend in society, in this case surveillance, and takes it to its logical extreme.
Comment on these two different views with reference to the film and/or the novel and what you can discover about the author's life.

Weeks 5 and 6
Princess Mononoke

1) What is the ‘shojo’ and how does it often function in anime?

2) According to Lent (2000) what place does animation occupy in Asian societies? How different is this across Asia (i.e. comparing Japan and China)?

3)Is anime a high or low cultural genre/media, according to Napier (2005)? What are some of its subgenres?

4)Does Anime confront social issues? Gender roles in Princess Mononoke.

Vocab for weeks 3 and 4

Write a brief explanation for these terms:

1) theology

2) collective unconscious

3) aesthetic

4) What is an 'innocent reading' ?