Tuesday, September 15, 2009

American Idol Vs. Creative Non Fiction

I decided to put the first piece of work I did for this class in my blog. I thought it was a good analogy and since I am interested in reality television shows I knew I would have a lot to say about this topic. The topic is, my truth about stories, so here it goes. To be honest I don't really know where to start because there is so much that I could say about stories. I guess for me, stories fit into one of three essential categories. I like to refer to these categories as follows, the Simon Cowell, the Randy Jackson and finally the Paula Abdul. The Simon category, also known as the "Debbie Downer" category, represents stories that for me, just plain stink(as Simon would say)! This is the typical, 'this happens, that happens, they fall in love and happily ever after' or 'there's a man dressed in black, the woman is home alone in the shower, the lights turn off and bang! she's dead'. For me, this is material that is just not worth my time. As we move on to our next category we enter the realm of Randy Jackson. This is also known as the realm of mediocrity. This is the place where the stories that were, "alright dawg, just alright" as Randy would say, fit into. These stories weren't a total waste of time to read, but weren't life changing. Finally, we move into the Paula Abdul category. Every story in this category gets a standing ovation. The stories are unique as well as interesting and exciting. The stories told can accomplish many things such as, change your views of life, make you appreciate what you have, create such an intense fear that you, (even being an adult) have to sleep with a nightlight on or even make you want to fall in love. As silly as this all sounds, there is a deeper meaning. Stories are really what you make of them and for different people they mean different things. But everyone subconciously places stories into categories of interest levels.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, I wouldn't have ever thought to make an analogy between American Idol and Creative Non-Fiction.
    Reading this, and knowing the judges' personalities on American Idol I think you pretty much summed it up. I, however, would have come to the assumption that the stories that fell within the Paula Abdul realm would be the stories that were pretty much a waste of time to read, they were boring etc.. as I tend to see Paula complimenting every single "act" on American Idol (and thus loving every story) and Simon only commends the very well sung acts (and in this case, the very well written stories) ... however, the way that you have described your analogy does work. :)

    Good Job!!

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  2. I really enjoyed your take on non-fiction stories. By categorizing them according to the three American Idol judges made be think of non-fiction in a whole new light. I’ve never given thought to how I would place non-fiction stories into groups like that. It’s a very creative approach.

    It helps that you’ve chosen such familiar personalities to associate with your groupings. What a perfect fit! I particularly like the Paula Abdul reference – everything gets a standing ovation – what a wonderful observation! I had a laugh picturing you finishing a story and giving it the Paula Abdul seal of approval: “I love you, Story. You’re fantastic!”

    I thought you could have done away with the preamble and begun your entry with “For me, stories fit into one of three essential categories.” That’s where you get to the meat of the blog and begin to share your personal views. It would have been interesting to learn about specific stories that you would place in each of your three categories and why. Examples would help me understand your personal tastes in non-fiction more clearly.

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  3. I enjoyed reading this post. The way that you broke up your truth about stories into three catergories was awesome. I would not have ever thought to do it using American Idol as a basis. Effective!

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