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fandomhigh2011-09-29 01:50 am
bookworm-beauty.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2011-09-29 01:50 am
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Tropes and Scope [Class 5, Period Three]
"Good morning!" Belle chirped, already passing out packets for today's class as soon as students entered the room. "Today, we're not going to do anything too fancy -- we're just going to talk about families. We all have them -- some of them are biological, some of them are adopted. I thought it might be pretty appropriate to talk about trends we see in literature as far as families go. If nothing else, it'll remind us just how bad our own situations aren't."
Though Belle was fairly excited about her own guest, to be honest. More than fairly. Very, actually.
"There are plenty of tropes dealing with families, but let's start with the big ones: we often see large, clan-like family structures in stories, particularly in most pantheons of classical mythology, like Roman and Greek and Norse. Everyone is someone's father and brother and child, it seems, and their power stretches through the entire family tree. Often, these families all run a business together, though occasionally you'll find that they also perform less savory tasks together. I understand there's a number of crime families that work together, similarly," Belle said, flipping through the packet as she spoke. "And of course, with families, you have many different kinds of parents -- doting ones, villainous ones, even entirely absent ones, which is a much more recurring theme in literature than I'd like. Many of our favorite heroes are orphans." Her expression softened, and she added, "Or only one parent is living, anyway."
She cleared her throat, and added, "I'd like you to pair up with one another and discuss, after reading through the packet -- what's the worst-sounding family scenario most commonly inflicted upon protagonists? What's the best? Why would an author choose any of these backgrounds to tell a story? And do you find your own family in any of these trends?" She smiled quickly, and added, "Fiction imitates life, after all."
Though Belle was fairly excited about her own guest, to be honest. More than fairly. Very, actually.
"There are plenty of tropes dealing with families, but let's start with the big ones: we often see large, clan-like family structures in stories, particularly in most pantheons of classical mythology, like Roman and Greek and Norse. Everyone is someone's father and brother and child, it seems, and their power stretches through the entire family tree. Often, these families all run a business together, though occasionally you'll find that they also perform less savory tasks together. I understand there's a number of crime families that work together, similarly," Belle said, flipping through the packet as she spoke. "And of course, with families, you have many different kinds of parents -- doting ones, villainous ones, even entirely absent ones, which is a much more recurring theme in literature than I'd like. Many of our favorite heroes are orphans." Her expression softened, and she added, "Or only one parent is living, anyway."
She cleared her throat, and added, "I'd like you to pair up with one another and discuss, after reading through the packet -- what's the worst-sounding family scenario most commonly inflicted upon protagonists? What's the best? Why would an author choose any of these backgrounds to tell a story? And do you find your own family in any of these trends?" She smiled quickly, and added, "Fiction imitates life, after all."