A Year Of Theater, Part 2: Changed For Good

2:32 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

Part 2 of my year-end review of a particularly outstanding year for this theater-loving girl. The second half of 2015 was marked by three ongoing experiences: two long runs at my local touring venue, and the beginning of my graduate writing program.

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A Year Of Theater, Part 1: It's Possible

11:49 AM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

2015 has been an extraordinary year. And for me, a lot of that has had to do with the remarkable and unique experiences of theater that I have been privileged to have. I thought I'd take a look back on some of the highlights of the year, but, wouldn't you know it, there was too much for one post. So let's start with the first half of the year, one filled with new beginnings, a dream come true, and just a little bit of magic.

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Whose Right? Who's Right?

2:24 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

I know this blog often tends to discuss fiction, and my opinions on fiction, while still maintaining some sort of personal distance. Even though my name and my Twitter handle are on every page, I think I still often keep some degree of the impersonal in many of my articles.

This is not one of those articles. This is my story.

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The Human Kind: The Humanity of Print Books

10:06 AM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

It was a fairly ordinary morning in early spring, in the middle of a 9 AM lecture hall on the works of Jane Austen. Persuasion was the topic of the day, and our professors were discussing the significance of the Baronetcy, the book of nobility with which the ridiculous Sir Walter Elliot was obsessed. And then, it was time for a bit of show-and-tell.

Photo courtesy Devoney Looser
Our professor brought out this book, a real copy of a Peerage from 1836, and then allowed us to pass it around and actually leaf through the pages. Some students barely glanced at the book as it passed by- it was 9:30 AM, after all, I suppose. But this little beauty got me thinking. 

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Review: 'Wicked' National Tour Soars

1:23 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

We all have our favorite shows: the movies we own on DVD but still watch every time they're on TV, the books worn with rereadings. There's always a danger, though, that after so many repeats, these favorites might lose just a little of that spark and magic. Fortunately for me, that couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to the touring production of Wicked, a gleaming tour that more than lives up to the hype and its predecessors of years past. Thanks to magical production values, a gorgeous score, and a top-notch cast, the show impresses as much as ever.

Alyssa Fox and Carrie St. Louis as Elphaba and Glinda

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Like This? Try That: Books & TV Edition

12:54 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

It's summer, and that means three things: scorching temperatures, high electric bills, and nothing to watch on TV besides trashy pseudo-reality. The Storyologist is here to help! Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading, whether on the beach, on the porch, or on the couch. So if you're really missing your favorite shows, take a look at the options below and find yourself a fantastic book to relax with!

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Emmys 2015: In With The Old, Out With The Hope

10:50 AM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

Thursday morning, the nominations for the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards were announced. And, with a few exceptions (you go, Tatiana Maslany!), it was much of the same old, same old. In most of the major categories, we were once again treated to an onslaught of cable nominees that overlooked some truly spectacular work on broadcast. Now, this isn't true in every single category; lead actress in a drama not only boasts diversity but also two of six nominees from a broadcast series. In general, though, there has been a trend in recent years that what is deemed awards-worthy is the dark, gritty, cynical material- both in drama and comedy- that can only make a home on cable. Shows and performers of equally high quality are overlooked for the simple crime of being something with heart and therefore of lower artistic merit.

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Why The Best Mainstream Movie of 2015 So Far Is A Kid's Flick

12:38 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

It's the midpoint of the year, and that always means film critics around the country compile their best-of lists for the first half of the year. These lists never really measure up by the time December rolls around, thanks in large part to the well-known strategy of backloading the year with prestige pictures in hopes of increasing awards-season chances. 2015 has, however, already had its fair share of blockbusters, from Cinderella to an Avengers sequel to the reboot Jurassic World. But among mainstream movies, one movie has risen above the rest- and it's "just" an animated family-friendly movie: Pixar's Inside Out. How did a film marketed to kids turn out to be the most thoughtful, poignant movie for grown-ups as well?


2015 hasn't exactly been a top-notch year for movies so far
Few films can stand alone without reference to their contemporaries, and this is where Inside Out gains even more. Most of the biggest successes of the year so far have been entertaining and glossy but not particularly unique or thoughtful. Jurassic World has made a ridiculous amount of money at the box office, but its success rests heavily on affection for the brand and on the shoulders of Chris Pratt. Let's be honest: Owen Grady is pretty much a watered-down version of Peter Quill. Along with him, you've got the uptight corporate woman who learns to be softer, a couple of cute kids in danger, and massive special effects- just like always. The end.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron does its best to keep up Marvel's streak of excellence, but even Joss Whedon's gift for ensemble work and quippy dialogue inevitably collapses under the too-much-ness of a sequel overstuffed with characters and battle sequences. The end result is a film that, while still having some excellent scenes, struggles to overcome the weight of the ever-expanding Marvel universe. Summer is generally looked upon as the season where popcorn megahits don't ask much of their audiences or derivate from stock formulas, but a handful of recent movies (even Marvel's own Guardians of the Galaxy) have successfully started a trend reversal. This year, unfortunately, only the no-one-saw-this-coming Mad Max reboot has started conversations about anything except explosions and Easter eggs.




Inside Out, on the other hand, is that rare thing: a completely original film without a focus on big-name headliners. It's easy to argue that both these things are easier in animation, but that only holds true to a certain extent. Animated films still seek out all-star celebrity casts to voice their characters, just like live-action films seek out box-office "sure bets" to anchor their would-be blockbusters. And perhaps there are more original animated films, but the past several years have seen Despicable Me, Cars, Madagascar, and Puss in Boots, among others, have been the animated equivalents of those live-action franchises that just won't go away. The subset of original ideas that are truly original and executed with care and quality is sadly small- but for this year, Inside Out is leading the pack as a true crowd-pleaser that actually has something to say.

It tackles real, complex issues in a sophisticated style
There's one very simple explanation for everything: Inside Out is a beautifully crafted film, period. The animation itself is gorgeous, creating a stunning, varied, and colorful landscape that is somehow exactly how you imagine the inside of one's mind would look, even though you've probably never actually thought about it before.


It's not just Pixar's trademark high-quality animation that makes this a standout movie, however. This is genuinely a movie for both children and adults. The key lies in how the material is apportioned: the plot, at least on the surface, is fairly simple adventure fare; likewise the supporting "emotions." When it comes to the two leading ladies- Sadness and Joy- and the deeper thematic content, however, this is a film that truly speaks to those in the audience who are no longer children. Sadness, for instance, starts out as the easy scapegoat; of course no one wants to be sad! But as the film progresses, there is a sophistication realization that sadness is necessary as part of an emotional balance. There is a poignant nostalgia that runs through the film, from the solid-color simplicity of the earlier memory "globes" to the tearjerking arc as Bing Bong resigns himself to being forgotten. Seriously, find me another movie that takes a potentially irritating, chipper sidekick and instead makes it a poignant symbol of lost childhood (and makes you cry for a cat-elephant-dolphin hybrid). Even the end credits get in on it:

Image from touchthesky_wdw on Instagram

As adults watching this movie, whether we have only just left childhood behind or have not been children for many decades, we feel the bittersweetness of this story very deeply. There is a certain degree of longing for the days when emotions were simpler and more straightforward, and the simultaneous loss and discovery of, well, growing up. Few films have ever managed to really convey this complexity, and Inside Out succeeds because it does it so well.

And yet, it's refreshingly optimistic

When most movies try to deal with issues like these, however, they tend to be either A) incredibly depressing and "artsy", B) sickeningly sweet and simplistic, or C) a John Hughes movie. So much of fiction, be it on the big screen, the small screen, the page, or the stage, tends to conflate complexity or quality with unhappy or downer. Happy endings are seen as overly sentimental, as the stuff of Hallmark movies and old-fashioned fairy tales- that is to say, utterly unrealistic. So often, these "quality" stories ask questions like, "How do I live like _____" or "How can I do ____", and the answer is, "You don't." But Inside Out, like the best of tales, answers "How do I live with ___" with "You live." And that, more than anything else, is what makes this movie so excellent.

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Like This? Try That: Broadway Edition

8:31 AM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

The end of the 2014-2015 Broadway season is upon us, and it's been one roller coaster of a year. Where else could a musical about musicals compete against a modern coming-of-age tale, a Hollywood producer fall flat, and a musical not even on Broadway yet become the breakout story of the year? It can be tricky to sift through all the offerings and find a show or a cast recording that fits your taste. So here's a handy guide for recommendations: just find a show you know you already love, and see what it's been matched with!

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5 Underrated YA Heroes Who Deserve Your Attention

3:54 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

Harry and Ron. Peeta and Gale. Edward and Jacob. Four. Jace, Simon, Alec. These are names that then entire YA world- and, in several cases, most of the general public- knows at a glance. Young adult fiction has become a buzzword for youthful epics with broad-range appeal. In the past several years, it has been YA fiction and their adaptations that have provided mainstream pop culture with its most lasting and far-reaching stories. And with most of these stories have come iconic heroines and swoonworthy heroes.

But there was a time when YA stories weren't all anyone talked about, and even today, there are a whole slew of stories that don't get the same attention- and a whole slew of heroes worth a look. In no particular order, here are five of the best:

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The Fan's Guide to the Elements of Writing: Irony

12:54 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

It's been a while, but welcome back to the Fan's Guide to the Elements of Writing. This time, let's take a look at a very popular device: irony. We all throw that word around, we all use the device, but what are we actually talking about?

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Coming Soon To The Storyologist!

3:33 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

Hi, everyone! As you've probably already noticed, we're going through a few changes here at The Storyologist. First up: a new look, one that's brighter, cleaner, and hopefully easier to navigate and read. I hope you like it as much as I do.


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A Plea to 'Shadowhunters': Please Don't Follow 'Game of Thrones''s Lead

2:33 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

A handsome knight, brave and bold and a defender of all that is good. It's a trope we all know from fairy tales, but in today's media, the knight-in-shining-armor has grown into a much more complex character type- a neo-knight, if you will, whose classical qualities are accompanied by traits one would not expect from your usual knight archetype: some hard past, some less-than-heroic quality, or just a secret that causes problems in their given society. So tell me if this sounds familiar: a young male character in a fantasy series based on a popular book series, a fan favorite though a supporting character, very handsome, very brave and skilled in combat, loyal to his family- oh, and gay. Who did you think of? My guess is you thought of Game of Thrones's Loras Tyrell. But he won't be the only one for long- and that's what worries me.

The complaints about Loras started a year or so ago, scattered across my social media accounts and pop-culture discussion boards and comment threads on articles: complaints about how his character had been taken from a three-dimensional character in the books and turned into a one-note, stereotyped throwaway on television. As someone who loves both books and TV- and is fascinated by the ties between the two- I ended up really following the debates over the changes in this particular series for the small screen. Then, this past week, I suddenly found my online world flooded again with GoT-related complaints: people feeling like this was the last straw re: Loras, an ambitious, self-assured, loyal, knight with unmatched combat skills who has, by most accounts, been reduced to a sassy, promiscuous gay stereotype for the purposes of TV. Here's why I care.


In a short time, ABC Family will soon be the home of Shadowhunters, an adaptation of The Mortal Instruments, a YA urban fantasy focused on half-angel warriors fighting an ongoing supernatural war. Among its diverse cast of complex characters are the warlock Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood, one of the titular demon hunters. I do worry about how Magnus will be "boiled down" for "easy" TV viewing; it's all too easy to focus on his centuries of partner-hopping (with both sexes and various supernatural races) and his penchant for sass and glitter, rather than his political smarts, his power, and his outsider complex. But it's Alec I worry about. It's Alec who is a neo-knight like Loras, and it's Alec who I fear will be influenced by the most powerful genre show in modern TV.



There's no way around the fact that the creation of new shows is influenced by the ones that are popular at the time. Grey's Anatomy was at its peak; a slew of sexy-pretty-people-in-hospitals soaps followed. CBS has essentially built an entire network on CSI clones. Mad Men and Breaking Bad got acclaim; cable was flooded with antihero dramas (and network TV with watered-down attempts at the same). And, alongside clone shows, there were clone characters: plenty of would-be Meredith Greys and Don Drapers populated these universes. Game of Thrones is so influential on genre TV- all TV, really- and this is the show that took a man known and feared and made him an in-universe punchline. It had a character who has beautiful lines about his dead true love like "when the sun sets, no candle can replace it" and "I will never betray [him], by word or deed."


Instead of using this excellent character material, the show recharacterized him halfway through the series as someone who spouts sass, moves on when the story whim demands, and is mocked or punished for his sexuality. Here, the neo-knight is forced to drop half of his designation: he cannot be both a knight and something else.

This makes me (understandably) concerned about the possible influence this could have on the portrayal of Alec in Shadowhunters. Alec is prickly, a badass warrior, protective of his siblings (and his partner), and brave as they come. He also happens to have enormous self-doubt issues, a fair bit of reserve, and is definitely gay. But as one terrible choice looms near, and his partner is captured and his family and friends prepare to fight, they suggest he stay behind to avoid being used against them. This is his reaction:
"I will not hang back here... while Magnus is in danger," said Alec, in a surprisingly cold, adult voice. "Go without me, and you and you disrespect our parabatai oaths, you disrespect me as a Shadowhunter, and you disrespect the fact that this is my battle too."
As a true neo-knight, Alec exists in a modern setting (urban fantasy) with non-classical elements (his low confidence, his sexuality) but retains his knightly inheritance of courage, goodness, and skill.


So this is my plea and my hope: don't take a page from Game of Thrones, dear Shadowhunters. Don't be tempted to make TV-Alec another TV-Loras. The neo-knight is such a wonderful character type to explore, precisely because of his (or even her) dual identity, blending the expected qualities of a classic knight with those traditionally unexpected. The fact that Alec and Loras are gay does matter, of course it does; in 2015, we shouldn't have to talk about a character being written as a punchline and punching bag for their sexuality (or any form of "Other"-ness), especially when 1) it's a fantasy world in which the writers can make the rules, and 2) the source material already managed to avert these problems. Writers of adaptations: fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice... still, shame on you.

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Finale Fever: A Rundown of May Sweeps 2015

4:35 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

It's nearing the end of May, and every TV fan knows what that means: the end of another season, and the end of another cycle of that twisty, emotional, wonderful time known as May Sweeps. This is what every season leads to: a few weeks in which the writers throw our way every heartbreaking twist, heartwarming moment, and shocking twist they possibly can. Most of the time, it works. Some of the time, let's be honest, it doesn't. So, without further ado, let's take a quick look back at the highs (and some of the lows) of this year's batch of season enders. Although this should be pretty apparent, fair warning- spoilers abound!

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As Wonderful As You Seem: Cinderella in the Modern World

12:14 PM Amanda Prahl 1 Comments

To look at the recent film and television landscape, you might think we're in a new golden age for fairy tales. Into the Woods and Maleficent scored big at the box office, while Once Upon A Time continues to enchant viewers every Sunday evening (despite its exasperating habit of making every fairytale character somehow related to the others). And you can't take a step without some reminder of the unstoppable ice behemoth that is Frozen. All of these fairy tales, however, have one thing in common: they are all revisionist, mostly darker, takes on the fairy tale. To be sure, these stories are closer in many ways to the spirit of old European fairy tales, which are much darker than an audience weaned on Disney would suspect. But there has been one holdout, one fairy tale that, despite having not one but two recent updates, has remained unabashedly hopeful, gentle, and positive. The tale? Cinderella.

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Forever Yours, Faithfully: A Farewell to Glee

12:00 PM Amanda Prahl 1 Comments

Tonight marks the endpoint of a cultural phenomenon that has had one of the oddest, most talked-about trajectories in modern television. Glee began as a bright, innovative, biting comedy, adored by critics and audiences alike. By tonight's finale, it accumulated enormous baggage and became almost abandoned entirely. Glee's legacy will be mixed, no doubt. But in some ways, if one looks past the controversial plot "twists," fractious fan wars, and increasingly off-the-rails storytelling, there is a real legacy of making the arts relevant and safe and even cool, especially embracing the quirky young people who saw themselves in Glee's wonderfully strange characters. And that's worth being proud of.

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Flashback Friday: A Far, Far Better Thing

3:38 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

Today is the first Flashback Friday here at The Storyologist! I'm at a writers' conference this weekend, and since everyone is already overanalyzing this year's movie in anticipation of the Oscars on Sunday, I thought you might enjoy something about a snubbed movie from two years ago. I hope you enjoy!
The glut of superheroes in current pop culture has been well-documented and written about to an almost excruciating degree. So when I say that one of the most talked-about superhero movies of the past decade is, at heart, a comic-book-ization of a nineteenth-century British novel read by every high school student in the English-speaking world (and, let's be honest, subsequently forgotten by about 90% of them). When watching The Dark Knight Rises, I was really struck by the constant references- both explicit and subtle- to A Tale of Two Cities, and to Bruce Wayne as a modern-noir Sydney Carton. As a bit of a literary nerd, I thought perhaps this was worth a further discussion.



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Hiatus and return

3:02 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

Hi all, just a quick note to let you know this blog isn't dead! I've just had to take a couple months off to deal with some health stuff that has prevented me from spending much time on the computer writing. I'll be back posting more regularly very soon!

~The Storyologist

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Marvel's Agent Carter Matters- And Here's Why

2:36 PM Amanda Prahl 0 Comments

If you're like me, you've almost certainly seen the ubiquitous ads for ABC's upcoming Marvel miniseries, Agent Carter. And if you're like me, you've also almost certainly found the early trailers a little bit irritating, or at the very least quite cliché. "The best man for the job... is a woman." Come on- that's the best they could come up with? In all seriousness, though, ABC's PR department might not be the subtlest, but they certainly know what to play up about this new series. After 10 films (and counting) and one TV series with male leads, directors, writers, et al., Agent Carter will be the first property in the multi-platform Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature a female lead- and a female-led creative team to boot. For a somewhat nerdy female writer like me, there could be no better news. But this show isn't just a milestone for a major synergistic story. It's a lot more than that.

Hayley Atwell in Captain America, (c) Marvel/Disney

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