Plots with a Twist

On our minds at the October FP meeting, was the way that directors and writers can change classical plots to create a new twist that turns the generic into the unique. Some recent examples of these are:

Despicable Me directed by Pierre Coffin plays on the typical superhero movie. It tells a story of a would-be villain, Gru, who becomes a hero after a series of funny actions. This movie is one for the family, with an audience age of 1 to 101 years old and everyone getting a laugh! It has a bit of everything in it; minions, girl scouts, superhero costumes made of lycra and of course robot cookies.

And of course we can’t go past Monsters Inc. This cult classic Disney animation took viewers by surprise in 2001 (If everyone can remember back that far) when it depicted the monsters view on us. Mike and Sully and Boo entertained the young back then and the young now (As the blank spots where Monsters Inc should be at the DVD store tell us). If you haven’t seen it, you must have been hiding under a rock for the last nine years. Run down to the video store now and hope it hasn’t been borrowed. GOOD LUCK!

On a larger and more theatrical stage, the musical Wicked takes the original story of The Wizard of Oz and twists the perspectives from Dorothy, over to Glinda and Elphaba (The Witches of Oz), creating a worldwide phenomenon. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, by Gregory Maguire, the show first opened in London’s West end and has since opened in Japan, Germany, America and Australia. But if you missed out on the Sydney show, it will be on in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, just check out the website below. This show IS NOT TO BE MISSED!

http://www.wickedthemusical.com.au/home.html

In other Wizard of Oz news, the movie, Oz: The Great and Powerful is classified as in “development” by IMDB (Internet Movie Database) and is said to make its appearance in cinema’s around the world in 2013. It is all hush hush at the moment but we do know that Robert Downey Jr. (stars in Iron Man) is starring in it, and is to be a prequel to the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum.

Bye for now, Stacey!