A movie with unresolved issues

Last night my family went and saw Hotel Transylvania 2 and while I enjoyed it, I was discontent with it. It may be the influence of the "media smarts" class I took in college, or the time I've spent listening to the Writing Excuses podcasts. The following blog contains spoilers.

First, the idea that "Human, vampire, unicorn. I'll still love you" a.k.a. love you for being you. Drac, wants Dennis to be a vampire and tries everything he can to help Dennis' fangs come in. Just as Drac accepts Dennis for being human Dennis gets his fangs. While I'm glad that Drac had accepted Dennis before his fangs, Dennis' transformation pulls the teeth out of the whole "accepted for who you are" message - We love you even though you are not special but it turns out you're special so no problems." See what I'm saying.

And this idea of special. Dennis is a cute kid and I would have to say pretty normal. We see that he is picked on a little by his cousins. Nothing that I wouldn't expect from ignorant kids who are interacting with a younger relative who is a different and who they don't see often. He gets into danger when one of Vlad's minions comes after him and Winny. And as soon as his fangs pop in everything is fixed. The cousin's respect him and he is able to beat his captor but lays waste to him and all of his friends. This is a common theme in movies and books - the transformation fixing all problems. I don't have a huge problem with it, but it does get monotonous and predictable. What's more, it's just lazy story writing.

Continuing the idea of being special, the human characters were all portrayed as boring, slacking, insulting, and insensitive. Johnny was practically no-existent as a character and his problems weren't ever taken seriously (more on that later). His family was so two-dimensional that if they turned sideways you wouldn't see them. For all intents and purposes they could have been removed from the script and nothing would have changed. So the message is, be special or be invisible. Special people can protect others. Special people can do anything. If you're special everything will be okay. Great message for kids especially considering the "Human, vampire, unicorn" message they were trying to build the movie around.

While Dennis' transformation seems to solve his problems, there were other issues that weren't resolved and weren't addressed. Mavis and Johnny for instance. Johnny has clearly been booted to the back seat with the arrival of Dennis and while he loves his son, he craves attention from his wife. Yet, despite acknowledging this, as some kind of joke, they focus on his desire to stay at the hotel. They brush what I consider the greater need, under the carpet. It is never resolved but everything appears fine between him and Mavis at the end when Dennis gets his fangs. This is strange considering that the first movie focused on their relationship and on Drac's loss of his wife.

Another issue that I think they could have taken a lot farther was Mavis' over protectiveness of Dennis. They could have easily done a scene where Drac accuses Mavis of being just as overly protective of Dennis as he was of her. Maybe it was one conflict too many, but it seemed an important part of the plot, maybe even critical, and yet was unresolved.

Again, I enjoyed the film. Yes, I would watch it again. I won't lobby for it to be added to the collection, but if it ends up there, I'll be okay with it. I just couldn't help thinking about these things. With all this said there are some pretty big flaws with the movie 10,000 BC but I still really like watching it.

The Serial Story

I will gladly say that I do not have television. Not that I don't have A television set, but I do not have an antenna or cable signal. And I really don't care. This is because of a number of factors: my family's love of reading, habit - I grew up with little to no television viewing, and also because of technology - the internet provides a lot of substitutes to television. I'm really don't have anything against television itself as a medium or even against many of the programs. Although there are some that portray things I think are better left alone.

The reason I bring this up is to accent that I enjoy stories in long form, like a lot of what television is doing, but I do not have that source for myself. Consequently I read a lot of books with sequels and series. Just thinking off the top of my head, there are at least 5 series that I have started that I'm currently waiting on books. This is also visible in my selection of web comics.

For this post, I wanted to return to some musing about serials and their origins. A serial of course is when a story is published / produced in segments or parts. This is the definition of television dramas. Often once the story is complete they are complied into one volume for future consumers (think DVD box set). The same is true of books. I understand that Charles Dickens wrote many of his stories in serial format, and the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was produced as a weekly radio drama. Even Larry Correia, one of my favorite authors, wrote a serial story online before selling his first bound novel. So even going beyond a series of books, many books were produced a little at a time.

There are many reasons to do a serial. It might be the form of your medium. Television and radio have always had to work with limited time. If you notice, production requires lots of time and money. So if a TV studio is going to poor millions of dollars into a story, they like to release it a bit at a time so if it's going to go south they can stop it before they become too invested. Serial also supports how we consume media. I don't know anybody who has the time to sit and read a book over a 45 hour and 37 min period in one go. Even if you are like me who will dedicate a couple of hours to reading a book (usually between 10:00 pm and 2:00 am) there are few books I have read in one sitting. (I can only think of three, and they were all less then 300 pages).

I think one result of writing (or at least releasing) material in a serial is that it builds suspense. It leaves the audience thinking and dwelling on it. I understand the show Lost had a huge online following while it was on. I know that when I watched the first season of 24 back in college I would talk about and research it between episodes. The same is true with books. Lemony Snicket used online games and puzzles to allow readers of his Series of Unfortunate Events to see extra content and as precursors to the books coming out. Granted, many of the things done "between installments" is for the purpose of reminding consumers to keep with the story. But when the story is good, consumers need very little encouraging to keep consuming.

I wanted to blog about this for two reasons. First, the serial format is nothing new to television as it started long before broadcast media and second, my sister, EA Younker, is currently releasing one of her unpublished works on Wattpad a couple of chapters at a time. This is not the first time she has done this with alpha and beta readers. My older sister got one of EA's books chapter by chapter as she edited it and I got another. Bragging point - EA's first published novel is coming out this year by TM publishing. I got to read one draft and I liked it. I'm looking forward to getting it to see the finished product. To return to Game Over, She is doing this so people can see how she writes as well as to get feedback from potential readers of her other stories. Check it out and the next time you sit down to watch (or read) your latest favorite drama, think about how long we as a society have been consuming stories that we have to wait for.

Writing is the answer not 42.

Douglas Adams asked in his book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "What is the meaning to life, the universe, and everything?" The great computer Deep Thought gave the answer, "42." There are many that think this is still fundamental correct, but when it comes to Life, the Universe, and Everything in Provo, UT the answer is "writing" (and by extension reading).

This year my wife and I were finally able to attend one of the greatest writing symposiums in the inter-mountain west: Life, the Universe, and Everything. My mother wrote in her weekly E-mail that this was the fifth year they have attended. The biggest draw for us this year was that my younger sister and father were presenting a research paper they had written entitled, "Reactors built in the 20th  century blow up in the 21st." It was a discussion of the shift in science fiction from space opera to dystopian and apocalyptic. It was fascinating to hear both the origins and the progress of sci-fi, particularly as I tend to be picky about what sci-fi I read.

We enjoyed the few other panels we were able to attend. Although, I was reminded that just because people are on a panel doesn't mean that they are the most knowledgeable on the topic. It reminded me of this Schlock Mercenary comic. There was some good discussion, but it was also entertaining to watch one of the panelists do everything possible not to roll her eyes on a number of occasions as people said things she disagreed with. I was also able to attend a discussion on how to write action done by one of my favorite authors, Larry Correia. Larry is one of the authors I wanted to go all "fanboy" on. He is very good at writing action that keeps you engaged and I don't think there has been a book he's written that I didn't stay up late (or early i.e. past 2:00 am) to finish. Several of his 400+ page books I've read in less than a 48 hour period.

As we drove home, my wife commented that I should consider taking up writing again. That is, I have considered taking up writing and my wife was recommending that I consider it again. I have not written anything of particular note, but I have some ideas bouncing around my head that have been marinating for a while. I do enjoy learning about the writing process and how to improve writing, but I've come to see myself as an informed consumer. With that said, I do enjoy putting ideas on a page and I think that was one the the catalysts of keeping a blog. Writing gives me a way to think or should I say muse.

Not that kind of post

I received this wonderful magnet in the mail this weekend. It was enclosed in a letter from my mother. She only lives about 50 minutes away, but felt that was still far enough away to receive a letter.

What is this all about? The Month of Letters was started by Mary Robinette Kowal (note, Robinette is her middle name, not maiden) back in 2010. I became aware of it last year when I started following her on Twitter (@maryrobinette) and heard about her preparations. The challenge: write a letter everyday that the mail goes out, and then make sure that it is posted. You can read the full challenge by clicking on the Month of Letters link above. This year I was glad to be a recipient, even if it was from my own mother.

I received this letter the same weekend that I heard about the USPS cutting Saturday deliveries because of budget reasons. Just about everyone I know will acknowledge that I love technology and the things it can accomplish. With that said, I love receiving stuff in the mail. I love the convenience of being able to download content directly to my computer, but I got absolutely batty when I am expecting something in the mail. It drives my wife nuts. I was disappointed to hear about the cut in service. There is something nice about going to the mail box and not just finding the usual stack of bills and credit care / insurance offers, but something from a friend or family member.

I am not participating in Month of Letters this year, but I am planning on doing it next year. Hopefully that will be before the US government decide to cut the USPS and simply privatize the who shebang. But before that happens, think about what it feels like to get that letter (handwritten or otherwise) and take advantage of what the Postal Service can do over posting on the internet. I'll just mention this one: E-mails have "attach," letters can "enclose."

(Just to put a plug in for Mary Robinette Kowal (not that she needs it) - she is a fantastic author of short and long fiction, a member of the Writing Excuses podcast panel, a professional puppeteer, a voice actress, and a collector of typewriters. She wrote two of my favorite books, Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass. I'm going to start keeping track of authors in my "Mentioned in my Blog" and I'm glad to list her as the first.)