Fictional Writers, Portrayal of writers in Movies, TV,... |
 Mar 22 2008, 11:09 PM
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Slug & Jigger's Bezoar Collector  Posts: 4,643 Joined: 3:58pm June 14, 2005 Location: New York, NY   |
I was watching Throw Mamma From the Train today, and it occurred to me that writers are frequently shown in entertainment.
Here are are some works containing fictional writers off the top of my head: Movies: Secret Window, Misery, Stranger than Fiction TV shows: October Road, Studio 60, Caroline in the City, Ghost Writer Books: Harriet the Spy, Little Women, Cyrano de Bergerac How have various forms of entertainment portrayed writers? Have the writers been portrayed positively (ex. Little Women), or negatively (ex. the Shining) Has this portrayal been realistic? What have you learned from these writers? -------------------- Not-so-proud member of P.C.A.A.: acceptance is the first step to recovery.
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Mar 23 2008, 05:32 AM
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Gringotts Goblin Translator  Posts: 1,208 Joined: 12:37pm July 27, 2006 Location: Inside Dumbledore's Pensieve  |
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott has been the most inspirational book I've ever read. One of the reasons why it inspired me was the realistic touch in it. It was reality in fiction really. The situations surrounding the March Family, the response of the 4 sisters to it etc. etc. was great. Then there's the simplicity of life in it ... little things that matter. The 4 sisters are so so so real that you find a little bit of yourself in them and learn at lot.
This post has been edited by Smartaps_2: Mar 23 2008, 05:33 AM --------------------  Thanks to Azkaban Dietician for the chamber 29 sig! |
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Mar 23 2008, 07:04 AM
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Rat Spleen Restocker at the Apothecary Posts: 487 Joined: 1:19pm November 16, 2006 Location: The magical lands of Canada  |
Well, Misery by Stephen King is somewhat less-than-inspirational, but what I learned from that was not to kill of someone's favorite character.
 I think, for the most part, writers are either portrayed as incredible people or incredibly insane. There is no grey area - we're either artists or we're eccentric. Some of these more eccentric writers in film, TV, and books are also inspirational, though (although I can't think of any except Jack Nicholson's character in the Shining right now, and that's a pretty bad example). -------------------- Proud Member of Ravenclaw House |
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Mar 28 2008, 09:14 PM
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Official Singer of the Sorting Hat Song Posts: 6,605 Joined: 3:12pm July 22, 2005 Location: Lost in Hermione's beaded bag  |
Well, I can recommend the movies Shakespeare in Love, Adaptation, The Front, and Topsy-Turvy.
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Up through broken laughter, Sweeter than spring-water, "Gods, I am so happy!" |
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Mar 28 2008, 09:37 PM
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Eeylops Owl Cage Cleaner Posts: 242 Joined: 9:14pm April 4, 2006 |
What about the movie Stranger than Fiction? Emma Thompson, aka Trelawney, was brilliant as usual...and it portrayed the pain and existential angst of being a writer with great humor and reality, i thought...
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Mar 29 2008, 03:37 AM
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Hiding in the Iron Maiden at Borgin and Burkes Posts: 319 Joined: 2:44am December 3, 2006 Location: Living, sadly, about as far from Hogwarts as you can get! . . . . Looking for an Antipodean Opaleye. |
QUOTE(BrettMac @ Mar 24 2008, 12:04 AM)  I think, for the most part, writers are either portrayed as incredible people or incredibly insane. There is no grey area - we're either artists or we're eccentric. Some of these more eccentric writers in film, TV, and books are also inspirational, though (although I can't think of any except Jack Nicholson's character in the Shining right now, and that's a pretty bad example). Speaking of Jack, the character he plays in movie As Good as it Gets is a romance novelist with <pauses to consult the internet> over 60 books published. And in at least one scene we actually (if only briefly) see him writing (or at least wrestling with phrasing) before he stops to answer the door.As opposed to Anglea Lansbury's character in the TV series Murder, She Wrote who, from what little I saw of the show, was hardly ever seen in the act of writing. Though she did sometimes attend (and even speak at) writer-related conferences. If I may indulge myself by including a couple of quotes from a Futurama forum thread regarding clichés in that show. QUOTE The biggest cliche I've noticed is an overuse early on of having the crew go on a delivery, having something go wrong, and then have them escape in a chase sequence. Seriously, like half of season one ends that way at least. As the show evolved, though, it thankfully dropped this and chases would only happen on occasion. (Bolding mine)- DotheBartman Of course, that also meant [as] they went on [there were] hardly any actual [deliveries] toward the end of the show. I guess the writers realized that seeing characters at work gets boring, no matter what they do. - Nerd-o-rama Not many professions make for good copy. As opposed to, say, fire-fighting, surgery, lawyering or even teaching, there's not much about the activities associated with writing for an engaging story to hinge on. So if the writing holds no interest the focus tends to switch to the personality of the writer. And a similar argument can be made along character lines with regard to positive/good vs negative/bad. The most common solution is to portray bad as interesting and good as boring while doing the opposite seems to happen much less frequently. Another possible factor is, for want of a better word, self-conciousness. If "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." contains even just a nugget of truth then it must be harder to write a "good story" about something that you are intimately connected with, because the more you know about something the more you appreciate that the "facts" aren't as straight-forward and simple as they may appear. And what is the one profession that a writer cannot get an outside-looking-in viewpoint on? Writing! Not that this is necessarily a bad thing but it does imply that writing about writers comes from a different objectivity than writing about professions that the writer is essentially unfamiliar with. If I may end with another Futurama-related quote, this time from an actual episode of the show. The two characters involved are backstage at the Academy Awards. QUOTE Zoidberg: What category are they on? Bender: They're giving out the minor technical awards. I think they're up to 'writing.' - Acrux -------------------- Of course, every time Ron gets a Moment, the first thought in my head is automatically "Well, I guess That's not making the movie." - flyin_car
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Mar 29 2008, 09:40 AM
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Official Singer of the Sorting Hat Song Posts: 6,605 Joined: 3:12pm July 22, 2005 Location: Lost in Hermione's beaded bag |
I loved the movie Wonder Boys with Michael Douglas and Toby Maguire. I haven't read the novel by Michael Chabon that it's based on, but it's a story about a professor with, well, a problem finishing his novel. He teaches creative writing and Toby Maguire plays his star student.
There's a great visual scene where we see Douglas typing his novel. He begins typing in the page number and we gasp as we realize how absurdly long it is and then he hits the return (it's an old typewriter, so think 'enter') and we realize it's a single spaced page. Ack! There's another great scene where he has his manuscript in the car and is quarrelling with his agent and, well, you have to see it. It's heart-stopping. ETA: The actress Judy Davis seems to have played a lot of writers. Check out My Brilliant Career, Impromtu, Barton Fink, Naked Lunch, Deconstructing Harry, and Dash & Lilly. And then there's Ken Russell's Gothic. Interesting. This post has been edited by davidenglish: Mar 29 2008, 09:51 AM -------------------- Come the words that bubble
Up through broken laughter, Sweeter than spring-water, "Gods, I am so happy!" |
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Mar 29 2008, 05:21 PM
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Hiding in the Iron Maiden at Borgin and Burkes Posts: 321 Joined: 8:01am August 4, 2007 Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada |
I just think writers like writing about writers (say that five times fast
 ) from time to time. The Shining by Stephen King was based on what was happening emotionally with himself and his family. The book scared me (mission accomplished, Steve) plenty though I didn't care for the movie at all. I believe authors just have an easier time writing about fictional writers because it is easier for them. Imagine if they had to write about a nuclear scientist and the research and time they would have to put into it. Writing about a character's profession that they are intimate with already is a lot easier. |
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Mar 29 2008, 06:40 PM
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Eeylops Owl Cage Cleaner Posts: 242 Joined: 9:14pm April 4, 2006 |
Davidenglish, thank you -- Wonder Boys is one of the best. Read the book, though. Chabon is always provactive (and imagine, Katie Holmes was in that before she was Mrs. Tom Cruise)
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Mar 29 2008, 09:53 PM
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Sundae-Nut-Chopper at Florean Fortescue's Posts: 921 Joined: 10:41pm March 2, 2007 Location: Entering the Ministry of Magic |
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (Karen Dinesen / Blixen) I loved the film but they should have cast Daniel Day-Lewis as Denys Finch Hatton (or at least an Englishman - the book is even better.
Mishima - A very good film about a powerful writer - Yukio Mishima. He wrote the 'Sea of Fertility' Tetralogy....a series of four books that are beautifully written. He also wrote "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea" The Hours - Nicole Kidman....About Virgina Woolf, not a happy or great film - but interesting. Kafka - Jeremy Irons, Interestingly structured - Kafkaesque And if we are talking about 'fictional' writers...Secret Window (Johnny Depp) Creepy This post has been edited by chloe squibbulus: Mar 29 2008, 10:59 PM -------------------- "I would like to say a few words. Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! And now before we go to bed, let us sing the school song! Everyone pick their favorite tune...and off we go!" Dumbledore; Sorcerer's Stone. |
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