The Balancing Act
House of Sand and Fog is a great illustration of the story-as-debate angle. Just as in a debate we might go back and forth on who we think will win, in stories we ping-pong back and forth between believing things are going to end well and believing things are going to end badly.
When a story’s going to end happily, we need lots of moments when it seems like it could all go wrong. This is how the majority of conventional stories work.
But the opposite is also true: when a story’s going to end badly, we need lots of moments when it seems it’s actually possible things might work out okay. Moments of hope.
House of Sand and Fog is full of hopeful moments. Characters connecting, showing compassion for one another, trying to compromise and reach out. But the seeds of tragedy are sown early by how much is at stake for these human beings who fundamentally do not understand one another.
The hope, in this case, makes the story that much more complex, and the tragedy that much more powerful.
Am I becoming obsessed with hope? Next up: my thoughts on Hope Floats, Hope and Glory, and A Bob Hope Christmas Special.
House of Sand and Fog is a great illustration of the story-as-debate angle. Just as in a debate we might go back and forth on who we think will win, in stories we ping-pong back and forth between believing things are going to end well and believing things are going to end badly.
When a story’s going to end happily, we need lots of moments when it seems like it could all go wrong. This is how the majority of conventional stories work.
But the opposite is also true: when a story’s going to end badly, we need lots of moments when it seems it’s actually possible things might work out okay. Moments of hope.
House of Sand and Fog is full of hopeful moments. Characters connecting, showing compassion for one another, trying to compromise and reach out. But the seeds of tragedy are sown early by how much is at stake for these human beings who fundamentally do not understand one another.
The hope, in this case, makes the story that much more complex, and the tragedy that much more powerful.
Am I becoming obsessed with hope? Next up: my thoughts on Hope Floats, Hope and Glory, and A Bob Hope Christmas Special.
posted by Jennica at 10:42 a.m.
1 Comments:
I love this notion of a hope marathon.
Especially since I'm living in the town where "they poison you with hope."
Reminds me of one of my all-time favorite book titles (kind of a bold one in its assumption that everyone would remember their Emily Dickinson): Woody Allen's WITHOUT FEATHERS...
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