Monday, April 02, 2007

Why do writers use the same gimmick over and over.


Watching The Big Fix last night (My husband is still working on his piece on radicalism in the sixties) and there was the old standby routine where Dreyfus walks up to a door that is ajar and, of course, the woman inside is dead. Is there ever a time when the door is ajar and the person is not dead or the place ransacked? How often in life is a door left ajar even on these occasions. Wouldn't a murderer shut the door to keep the crime from being discovered so quickly. So why use this stunt again and again? Is there an inherent drama in this set piece that makes its creakiness worth it? What do you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And why, when people are running away from the cops or the bad guy, do they always run up. Roof-tops, water towers, Empire State Building. I mean where can you go? You always trap yourself. Then somebody gets to fall down and get pierced by something.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I think that one is due to how much more scenic rooftops are than basements. And better lighting too. But it does get tiresome.