Banana Jr. 6000

Murder In The Burnings: The Major Suspects

We continue our look at arson suspects with the more serious candidates. Some names aren’t on either list, because they will turn up later in the story. But let me know if I missed your favorite.

SUSPECT: Cayla Williams Moore (suggested by: bewareofevehill)

PROSECUTION: The wife of Westview English teacher, Les Moore, and personal assistant to high school principal Nate Green. Cayla witnessed her husband defy her boss’ mandate that books on the school’s not-approved list are also not approved to be taught. Les confided in Cayla about the plan to distribute the book via bookstores. Fed up with Les’s overbearing ego, Cayla used that information in an attempt to frame him for the arson. The damage was intentionally small, because Cayla had no other dispute with Ms. McKenzie.

DEFENSE: If she wanted to use fire to rid herself of her husband, there are more direct approaches. Doesn’t anyone remember The Burning Bed? Continue reading “Murder In The Burnings: The Major Suspects”

Murder In The Burnings: The Minor Suspects

So the burnings have suddenly turned into the world’s lamest Choose Your Own Adventure game. And we all know what the correct answer is in this world:

She’s got two valid reasons to call the police, a threatening mob standing in puddles of their own unburned accelerant, and the world’s greatest arsonist right next to her. But you do you, Lillian. Lord knows you have stellar judgment when it comes to not censoring other peoples’ reading material.

Continue reading “Murder In The Burnings: The Minor Suspects”

If The Burnings Were A Movie, You’d Walk Out. Let’s Write A Better One.

So we finally got to see the fire that canonically shuttered literacy for two generations.

In contrast, here’s a normal Wednesday at Ed Crankshaft’s house, which is considered comedy:

And here’s what we saw when Les Moore needed help coming to terms with letting Marianne Winters watch video tapes of his dead wife, even though some of them were benign enough to exhibit publicly.

https://sonofstuckfunky.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/200809.gif

Continue reading “If The Burnings Were A Movie, You’d Walk Out. Let’s Write A Better One.”

Why Is Giving “Fahrenheit 451” To High School Students A Bigger Crime Than Arson?

The Armor-Piercing Question is the moment in a story where a character (usually the hero) asks another character (usually the villain) something that unravels their entire world. It exposes the flaw in the villain’s worldview, reveals knowledge of something the villain had tried to hide, shows them the evil of their ways in a way that will hurt them, and so on. Wreck-It Ralph has a great one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW1XX2L7g7Y

The title of this post is my Armor-Piercing Question, for this story. Why is the severity of the protestors’ crime being ignored? Not just by the story, but by the town, and by the main characters. I think this is the linchpin of why this story fails.

Yes, there are stories where the main characters can’t go to the authorities for help, because the authorities are actively helping the villains, or institutionally corrupt. This plot device is as old as Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. And, the police has shown some pretty questionable judgment. Like covering up Bull Bushka’s dubious suicide, and arresting Adeela when they wanted someone else with a similar name. But there’s no evidence of that in this story.

Editing 101

It’s Day 4, Week 3 of The Burnings, and Lillian is about to take the action that will result in her bookstore being attacked. Do you know what else also would have gotten us to this point?

This is the August 30 strip. I only edited one of Lillian’s two word balloons in the second panel. This could have been the first strip of the arc. It introduces all of the key story elements. But it skips over Continue reading “Editing 101”