International airline pilots and/or crews
Tanker ship captains
Federal prisoners
Astronauts
Kimmy Schmidt (pre-2015)
Marquess of Queensberry
Edward Cullen
Vladimir Putin
Dr. Who
Dr. Bruce Banner
Most models of Terminator
Random Advice
Bad Teachers, Good Advice and the Default Male
Episode - 180
Aline Brosh McKenna joins John and Craig to discuss how movies featuring good mentors (Dead Poet’s Society, To Sir with Love) differ from films with bad mentors (Whiplash, The Devil Wears Prada). It’s not just that the teachers are bad guys; rather, the stories are structured completely differently.
John asks Craig and Aline about some ethical quandaries he’s been facing, ranging from awards voting to who is a “friend.”
We also discuss the “default male problem,” especially how it relates to comedy and the cleanest version of a joke.
Links:
- Aline Brosh McKenna on episodes 60, 76, 100, 101, 119, 123, 124 152, 161, and 175
- Raphael Bob-Waksberg Breaks Down Comedy’s “Default Male” Problem
- Writers on Writing: Simon Kinberg
- Read the Whiplash screenplay on Weekend Read
- Evernote Scannable
- The Comeback on HBO
- Jason Hall in WGAw’s Written By
- Ryan Reynolds is now on Twitter
- Outro by Scriptnotes listener Rajesh Naroth (send us yours!)
You can download the episode here: AAC | mp3.
UPDATE 1-23-15: The transcript of this episode can be found here.
A Screenwriter’s Guide to the End of the World
John and Craig spend the hour discussing the number one topic whenever screenwriters are done complaining about studio notes: the end of the world, and how to get ready for it.
From zombies to asteroids to plagues, we make so many movies and TV shows about the extinction of the human race. But why? What is it about the Death of Everything that is so appealing to writers, and how should we approach the genre when beginning on a new story? This is an episode about that.
We’re considering making new Scriptnotes t-shirts, but only if listeners really want them. Click over to johnaugust.com and vote.
Links:
- 2014’s WGA Candidate Night is September 3rd
- Jaye P. Morgan is still alive
- Get tickets now for October 8th’s live Slate Culture Gabfest with guests John and Craig
- The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell
- Boxed Water is better
- Waze gets you there with real-time help
- Outro by Orbit (send us yours!)
You can download the episode here: AAC | mp3.
UPDATE 9-4-14: The transcript of this episode can be found here.
The Grimm side of marriage
This morning, I tweeted:
Grimm’s fairy tales offer uniformly terrible marriage advice: 1. Endure supernatural hardship 2. Marry the person who rescues you
My observation was based on my nightly reading of a copy of Grimm’s that I got at Barnes and Noble last week,1 not any statistical analysis. But it sure feels true.
If someone has the time this weekend, I’d be curious to know which of Grimm’s tales actually fit this pattern. The book is free through Project Gutenberg.
Obviously, fairy tales are simplifications of reality, so we can’t expect verisimilitude in them. But this pattern of marrying the first person who assists you seems an especially dangerous idea to instill in young women.
As I think about acquaintances with terrible boyfriends/husbands, almost invariably the girl came from a difficult background (abusive parents, poverty, illness), and this guy got them away from it.
But the fact that they rescued you once doesn’t mean they are the right person for you to build a life with. It doesn’t mean they’ll be a supportive spouse or a good parent. And it doesn’t mean that you’re right for them, either.
If the only requirement for marriage is saving you from peril, we should all marry firefighters.
- I’m reading one of those $20 made-for-Barnes versions, and it’s actually really nice. ↩