Category Archives: Trend-Spotting

The Disappearance of the Wide-Eyed, Idealistic Hero

In the last decade, mass media in the United States has seen many changes in the way characters and stories are written. One change which I consider to be particularly unfortunate is the gradual, yet rapid, decline in the use … Continue reading

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Italian Native Americans and German Japanese: The Probable Importance of Verisimilitude in Casting

Perhaps it doesn’t matter, perhaps it does. But no matter how good the acting ability of the players in movies and television, ranging from many of the characters in the 1935 movie Charlie Chan in Egypt to the character Gwen … Continue reading

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SFX Evolution: How Special Effects Have Changed, and Not Changed

It’s interesting to consider that many of the special effects invented by Melies during the dawn of filmmaking were not only still in use half a century later, but even into the present century. Take, for example, the 1960 version … Continue reading

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Brooding Females, a Recent Trend Imitating the “Brooding Male” Cliche?

I was watching old episodes of Daria recently and it got me thinking about the introduction and continuing low-level trend of the brooding female teenager character in television shows and movies. Dark, brooding characters are a perennial favorite for screenwriters. … Continue reading

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Father-Daughter Stories: A New TV Trend

I thought it might be interesting to talk a little bit about the recent trend of father-daughter dynamics in TV shows, especially in crime shows. What’s so interesting about the most recent examples is that it’s basically the same dynamic … Continue reading

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