Have you noticed this?
It seems like I can’t turn to a movie, TV show, or just about anything else produced by Hollywood without seeing the same thing over and over again.
No, I’m not talking about the plot. (That’s not a Hollywood thing, there are only three basic conflicts in all dramatic literature and that means a lot of repeated plots going all the way back to ancient Greece.)
And I’m not talking about the protagonists. (Yes, this superhero thing has gotten out of hand, but, hey, can you blame Hollywood? The more it sells the more they’ll make, at least until it stops selling.)
What I’m talking about is fast becoming a stereotypical prototype for the antagonist, the enemy of the protagonist, otherwise known as “the bad guy.” It’s not that they aren’t Continue Reading “Are The Russians The New Nazis?”
Chicagoland: Gateway to the West
Not that we needed enticing.
Remember your first day of school? Work? Summer camp? The eagerness. The excitement. That urge to dive in headfirst. Optimism bubbling up. Anything feels possible.
Now, imagine embarking on a long vacation. Same vibe. That first-day buzz. All that anxiety Continue Reading “Chicagoland: Gateway to the West”