I rewatched a movie I used to love as a child this week: Quest for Camelot. This story follows a young woman and a blind man who want to become knights of King Arthur’s court. These two heroes gave us a story with some much-needed diversity when the movie came out in the 90s. From the very start of the journey, the heroes make a lot of narrow escapes on their way to Camelot. Write a scene where your characters escape danger seemingly by luck or because of some sort of well-timed, narrow escape.
I rewatched Zootopia today, and I was more disturbed this time around by how against Judy’s dream her parents were. I know that as parents they wanted to protect her but had she not been a boundless optimist from the beginning of her life she’d never have made it past her parents’ lack of support. Did your character’s parents always support her dreams? Write a scene about a time where your character’s parents were less than supportive. Is it out of a place of love or were they just not the best parents?
Tomorrow is the theater premier Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2! I really loved the first one and have been looking forward to the second more than any of the other Marvel sequels. The preview below features a joke about how the group is saving the galaxy for the second time. With the name of the group, it should be no surprise that their battles take place on such a grand scale. Think about how large the galaxy is. With that in mind think about your character’s reach of influence. Write a scene that allows your character to reach the furthest point her story will allow her to go.
My friend and I went to see Disenchanted last week while it was in town. It is a musical about the fairytale princesses and telling the “truths” of their stories. The songs are geared towards an adult audience and these are not the version of the princesses you might remember from Disney movies. Covering subjects like racial stereotypes, body image issues, and gender roles, the songs are wickedly funny. It was a great time. I found a performance “All I Wanna Do Is Eat” on YouTube and posted it below to give you all a taste. The musical definitely makes you question what princess movies teach our children. Write a scene in which you create the princess that you’d want to learn from.
This YouTube channel Queer Kids Stuff was created with the intention of making the concepts of the LGBTQ community more accessible to children. This is probably a touchy issue for a lot of people still. But I love this concept because it could help some kids to see that they do not need grow up feeling like they can’t relate to other people if they end up being part of the LGBTQ community. But even if a child isn’t going to grow up to be part of this community it give them the opportunity to learn acceptance of this community. There are people that don’t think that children will be able to handle these subjects but I’m not one of them. I’m thoroughly convinced that the best way to work towards a more equal and accepting future is to start by growing understanding in young minds. Whether you agree with me or not, think about what you think are important lessons to teach children for a better future? Write a scene about your character trying to share this piece of knowledge with someone younger.
The Dressmaker is an original movie from Amazon Prime. This is a story of overcoming your circumstances and getting revenge. It captures the old saying “Hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned” pretty well. Today write your own story of returning to a place from your character’s past for revenge. Does she get her revenge? If so, how does she accomplish it?
I rewatched The Man in the Iron Mask this week. It’s an interesting story that features the main characters from The Three Musketeers. It actually inspired two prompts in so you get to pick whichever one you like better today or do both! The first is inspired by the kings pursuit of a woman who is already in love with another man. He goes as far as arranging the death of this man so that she is available. Write a scene that shows how far your character would go in the pursuit of someone else’s affections. Is this person already involved? Will your character take a dark path like the king in this movie? Or will your character’s pursuit be a pure one faced with different challenges?
The second prompt is inspired by Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of both King Louis and Phillippe. I always imagine that it must be fun for an actor to get to be both a villain and a hero in a movie. They have to show two completely different sides of the human experience. But as we all know the world isn’t as simple as good and evil or heroes and villains. In some cases one person’s hero is another person’s villain. Write a scene that plays with this idea. Who views your character as a hero and who views her as a villain?
I’ve been pretty excited about the Power Rangers Movie since I heard that Elizabeth Banks was going to play Rita Repulsa. This was probably my very first “favorite television show” when I was a little kid. The blue ranger was always my favorite in case you were wondering. But I’m so glad that one of the remakes from my childhood is actually getting good reviews. So few of the remakes we’ve been seeing of the last few years have lived up to the original. Think about who your character’s heroes were when she was a child. What made them a hero to her back then? What qualities does she share with the hero once she becomes an adult?
This starts with a rant so if you’d like to skip write to the writing prompt today the next paragraph is pure prompt. You may or may not have heard that YouTube has brought about something called “Restricted Mode.” The company spokesperson has been quoted saying: “Restricted Mode is an optional feature used by a very small subset of users who want to have a more limited YouTube experience.” The idea seems completely ridiculous to me as it implies that you have no control over what you watch. If you don’t want to watch a video, you don’t have to. But this new feature has been noticed and brought on a lot of anger from the LGBTQ community. I’ve posted a video below that I think gets to the core of why so many LGBTQ users are upset by the fact that the “Restricted Mode” is censoring their videos. YouTube has released a statement that they are looking into the problem. The best way I can think to fix it is if the Restricted Mode is as they stated before going to be “used by a very small subset of users” perhaps allow it to be customizable. Allow these users to flag the subjects they don’t want to see. Again I think the concept in general is ridiculous, if you don’t want to watch something then just don’t do it. (There is this whole concept called “free will” that you can look into.) But you’re not here to read a rant. You’re here for a writing prompt.
Write a scene that features placing restrictions on what can and can’t be watched. Who is deciding what these restrictions are? What content have they been restricting? How wide spread do these restrictions go? Are people ever aware that the restrictions are in place? If not, do they start to find out in some way? If so, are they doing anything to fight against the restrictions?
Tomorrow is the release of Kong: Skull Island. Our giant gorilla friend has come a long way since he was first imagined climbing the Empire State Building. The story is still the same at heart of Skull Island’s giant creatures. This time it would seem the movie promises to spend more time than ever in Kong’s island of origins. This is fine with me as Skull Island is an awesome concept. An island where creatures that shouldn’t exist have somehow survived and evolved. Write the legend of an island like this one. Do your character believe the legend or is it just a story?
