May the forcefulness be with you

Dear Maria,
If you're the Queen of sarcasm, I'm at least the princess, y'know, 'cause princesses are cool and they get to wear shiny things. But I don't at all find sarcasm bad...I mean, I'm still technically a teenager here. I still have a year to revel in my biting sarcastic responses and blame it on adolescence. Now excuse me while I become ever so thrilled in the bills I have to pay.

Yeah, I'm sure every thirteen year old has the same kind of sarcasm...

But I digress. I don't think there is any way to be truly original anymore in writing. When Inception came out, everyone was all "oh my gosh!" about the fact that a plot no one had ever thought of before was in theaters! I mean, a dream within a dream? Clearly that is the most original idea in the history of the universe. No one has ever presented plots about dreams before...

in your dreams. Ha, ha, ha.

So although every basic idea has been covered by previous great artists, doesn't mean you can't find a new way to reflect on "boy rescues girl," or "girl finds power," or "everyone in the world sleeps with everyone else and all wreaks havoc." The idea is only a tiny portion of what makes a piece of writing great. I have a strong belief that presenting original characters, dialogue, and voice makes for a new light on an idea that has been written to death. Also, combining ideas can make for originality. For instance, lots of stories about students falling in love with a teacher and their facing morals have been told, as have stories about lesbians facing intolerance, but I recently wondered, "well, would the same consequences hold for a young female student who falls in love with a female teacher? Or would they be more hush-hush about it?" For all I know, this book has already been written, and I'm just fooling myself about this whole combining ideas thing, but I like to think I'm witty and clever sometimes. But only on Thursdays. This idea boils down to conflicting morals vs. love, but the task of the writer is to find a spin on it that will be interesting and thought-provoking for the audience.

Speaking of thought provoking, we've been watching a lot of...erm...contraversial films in our English class, and I found that the director gets a heck of a lot more credit for creating such a masterful piece of art. But--hello--the screenwriter has the idea, she makes the darn contraversy! Last I checked, lighting and costuming was great and all, but it wasn't what made "entering the conversation", like every English teacher in the world wants us to do. The written word makes art in poetry, novels, and even plays, but the art of film seems to be distracted by fancy lighting, special effects, and big celebrity names. So I'm just wondering, can people ever see the art in a script? Or does the art of a film hold elsewhere?

Peace and Ponies,
Kira