Dramatic Irony: What They Don’t Know, But You Do

Recently, we took a look at verbal and situational irony in Futurama. Today, Futurama returns for another foray into a third type of irony: dramatic irony. Now that you're used to thinking of irony as the opposite of reality (kind of), stick a pin in that. Dramatic irony throws this rule out the window. Dramatic irony  creates the kinds of moments that cause you to start yelling at the characters on the screen to stop what they're doing right away...

Pop Culture Based on Novels Part 4: The Brave Little Toaster

In solidarity with those of you taking on the National Novel Writing Month challenge, we’re spending the month taking a look at pop culture narratives based on novels. Last week, we covered the popular TV crime drama, Bones, which came to a satisfying conclusion earlier this year. Today, we're discussing a pop culture work that has been around since my own childhood, one which I never would never have guessed was based on a novel: The Brave Little Toaster...

Pop Culture Based on Novels Part 3: Bones

In solidarity with those of you taking on this monumental challenge, we’re taking a look at pop culture narratives based on novels this month. So far, we've talked about an epic anime and a classic video game, and today we're tackling the popular TV crime drama, Bones...

Pop Culture Based on Novels Part 2: Parasite Eve

The second week of November has come to a close, which means that everyone participating in National Novel Writing Month has made it halfway through their NaNo challenge. n solidarity with those of you taking on this monumental challenge this year, we're taking a look at pop culture narratives based on novels with Parasite Eve thi...

Pop Culture Based on Novels Part 1: The Heroic Legend of Arslan

November is National Novel Writing Month, a 30-day challenge that many aspiring writers partake in every year. The idea of the challenge is to pump out a novel by the end of the month, or to at least have a higher page count than your friends who gave up halfway through. In the spirit of cheering on the writers fighting to reach their daily word count goals, we're taking a look at pop culture narratives based on novels, starting with The Heroic Tale of Arslan...

A Beginning: Discovering Literary Elements in Castles and Everyday Places

Back in high school, I never considered myself much of a reader or writer. Sure, I loved reading manga and challenging my writing skills in anime RPG forums, but it was all non-academic to me. My teachers always seemed disappointed or disinterested in these hobbies, so I wrote them off as being purely entertainment. It wasn't until years later that I made the connection that my hobbies could be studied and used for growth and academics...

Alliteration, Consonance, and Assonance: Making Songs and Gunpowder Treason Memorable

Advertisers and creators know this and take advantage of it whenever the opportunity arises. If you can name any of these cartoon characters, you have been influenced by three tricky little devices: alliteration, consonance, and assonance...

Allusions: A Literary Niche

When we talk, we often make references to popular culture in order to convey information quickly. If a person says “Sam acts like such a Romeo,” they mean that Sam is a romantic person. Calling the internet a Garden of Eden shows that the internet is a plentiful place that fills the needs of its users. We don’t usually stop to explain these references to our listeners; we assume that they have prior knowledge on the subject and thus understand. These references are called allusions, and they appear in many elements of pop culture, including video games...

Theme Delivery Service

Themes give creative works their personality. You can’t play a video game, read a comic, or watch a show without running into some sort of theme. When romance blossoms in a particular shoujo anime, or a character proves that staying true to yourself works better than faking your personality, you’ve got theme. For a deeper understanding of this literary device, let’s take a look at the 1989 film Kiki’s Delivery Service...

Framed Stories: Fiction Inside Fiction with Adventure Time and Ponys

If every author followed the exact same formula for crafting stories, their readers would languish in boredom! Creators constantly combine different storytelling techniques and literary devices in order to make their works shine amid a sea of...