SPD and other terrible diseases...

[greagirl]

I have noticed the prevalence of SPD or stupid plot devices. You know those nonsensical turns of event that can tank even the best movie/show for even the most avid viewer.

One of the biggest ones that I have noticed was in the last Star Wars. People, I think Star Wars rocks. Not only that, I seriously think Anakin is intense and hot and all. I thought the story line rocked, the acting kicked arse, the special effects ruled….that is until those fateful words that completely killed the movie for me “There’s nothing physically wrong with her. She simply lost her will to live”.

She simply lost her will to live? She simply lost her will to live?! Huh? What?! I know Padamae was a cool chick and all with a killer wardrobe (though questionable makeup and hairstyle choices) but did she *really* have the power to just spontaneously die for no reason at all? She says to Obie: I know there is still good in him meaning she still believed he was not beyond redemption. She has just given birth to two babies. She’s one of the key figures in the fight for the freedom of the universe. All pretty solid reasons if you ask me for her to *want* to live, yet they try to feed me some bunk about her suddenly losing her will to live?

Sure I get that they wanted to make it unequivocally clear that Anakin’s little love choke had nothing to do with her death, but that was just utter nonsense. She was previously portrayed as a strong, proactive fighter. She even ran her pregnant arse out to try to protect/warn Anakin knowing that he had become a psychotic killer, yet suddenly she decides, oops, I should spontaneously die now. Is that anything like spontaneous combustion I wonder?

Last I heard unless someone starved themselves or injured/killed themselves, depression, while being well, depressing, was not INSTANTANEOUSLY FATAL. Let the girl wither away. Give her some kind of disease. Anything but that!

Now on to the movie that spurned this post: Wolf Creek. That movie rocked ya’ll. Though the characters were typically naïve and unusually trusting at the beginning, it was very well written, well directed and well acted. I was on the edge of my seat. Unlike in “When a Stranger Calls”, I actually *wanted* the victims to live….until…the pathetic SPD came along. Apparently, to showcase that this psycho was a sadistic serial killer, they had the heroine stop and read a bunch of newspaper clippings (in the midst of a desperate dash for her life mind you) before watching some home videos of the victims. Huh?! Finally, she gets in a car (one of many but he spontaneously chose the right one to hide in the back seat of) only for it to end up being the very car the killer is in and thus her role ends. Have we not heard of the “news footage” device people, wherein we learn about all of this from the news or the “you sure were lucky to survive” device where we learn about all of this after the fact or even the intro device where we see him killing other people or just his evil lair thus tipping us off to all of this? Much like Star Wars, after this little faux pas, the movie got good again but of course it stuck in my head.

What movies/TV shows have you watched that included SPD that completely turned you off?

[miikaawaadizi]

In writing we call those DEM Devices - Deus Ex Machina :) Usually they're used when we've written ourselves into a corner we can't get out of, so instead of going back and re-doing it, we cheat. But we can always come back later and hack it up, re-arrange it, and fix it in editing.

[greagirl]

In writing we call those DEM Devices - Deus Ex Machina :) Usually they're used when we've written ourselves into a corner we can't get out of, so instead of going back and re-doing it, we cheat. But we can always come back later and hack it up, re-arrange it, and fix it in editing.

Unfortunately they seemed to have forgotten the "hack it up, re-arrange it and fix it in editing part". (grin) You're a writer I take it?

[miikaawaadizi]

For my many sins, yes, I am. But I'm really nice when you get to know me, honest! :)

There are few TV shows that don't throw SPDs in ... most of them seem to think that no-one will notice the plucky bit character had absolutely no common sense and was doomed from their introduction as a convienient plot device.

Crafting a novel gives you much more time to expand than visual media, although you have to be careful of editors that want to tighten things down so much that you end up losing the pauses between discoveries. Thankfully, few editors will let you get away with DEMs, although you can slip them through in my genre, science fiction, if you use enough technobabble :)

It's hard for me to list shows that do use SPDs ... mostly because if they start using them I stop watching them. There are great shows out there that can keep me guessing and wondering right to the end, those ones I enjoy much more.

[greagirl]

[QUOTE=miikaawaadizi]For my many sins, yes, I am. But I'm really nice when you get to know me, honest! :)
QUOTE]

I'm glad for you that you are glad that you are nice. I on the other hand tend to be more unpredictable and outlandish (i.e. myself) than nice..which I am thoroughly content with mind you. The only time I was every called nice was in the midst of a backhanded compliment: You are at once one of the nicest and the meanest people that I have ever met. Quite a feat I might add to cover so wide of a personality/behavioral spectrum wouldn't you say? (patting self on the back)

Think on it really. The slightly evil people add that extra spice to life, make things more interesting. I used to watch GI Joe for Zartan (who was way hot back in the day) rather than Joe. I totally dig Wolverine on the X-men series (the best superheroes are always the vigilante killers if you ask me (laugh)). Tom Welling is hot but it's Lex with his unpredictable and wayward tendencies that make the show. I totally dig Veronica Mars who once told a girl who gave her cupcakes for saving her life: What do I have to do to get a pie?

I've looked deep down inside of me but have never felt the real desire to revamp to a kinder, gentler Grea. In that deep dark pit of kumbaya, I've only found the urge to regurgitate. (laugh) But on the flip side, I will always tell you exactly what I really think....which if you think about it is *way* more valuable than me slapping you on your arse and telling you soup's up when it's really not.

[miikaawaadizi]

I don't mind the slightly evil people that make life interesting ... I just wish I knew why they always keep coming and knocking on our door to borrow a cup of sugar and gasoline for their chainsaws ...

I must have one of those faces, I guess :)

When I write, I dig down into the dark places of my imagination to come up with things that can make Brian Lumley turn green, and to be honest they scare me, that I could even conceive of such things. Being Mary Poppins nice, on the other hand, scares me just as much, for some totally obscure reason, so I try to find the middle ground and hope for the best.

The best characters, I think, are the ones where we can see ourselves, even if it's perhaps a shadow of a part of ourselves we don't feel comfortable accepting exists. Writing science fiction, I get to exaggerate those traits a little more without going over the top and (I hope) that makes the characters more believable.

Nicest and meanest all in the same sentence ... Oh I wish I could get that much variety :)

[greagirl]

Nicest and meanest all in the same sentence ... Oh I wish I could get that much variety :)

If you just sit back and take some notes, I am quite sure that you can make that dream a reality. (laugh)

Seamonkey Ink: Digging deep to find the bigger issues that actually really exist!