The Sixth Wall

The Black Prince said:

In all seriousness, I suggest we authors ought to be given special badges which we can flash when dealing with dickheads in social situations because I'm sure we're all under some sort of ethical obligation to warn people when they're giving us great material.

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Not at all. It would only be unethical if authors made them recognizable to their friends and family.

Writers cannibalize life for their stories, taking bites out of history, their own experience, and everyone they've ever known. As long as it's for the story and not revenge, and names (and more) are changed to protect the guilty and the innocent, then it hardly seems unethical to me.

Pretty much agree with BethS on that one.

Also, on a side note:
une femme fatale
un homme fatal

(masculin form of the adjective in French doesn't take an "e") although I'm not sure what makes him un homme fatal, apart from an affair, but I digress (sorry!)

Yep, to Elle and Beth. If we intend to enable the parties to be identified, any such dickhead sign should be flashed backwards. Otherwise- fair source material.

The Black Prince said:

In all seriousness, I suggest we authors ought to be given special badges which we can flash when dealing with dickheads in social situations because I'm sure we're all under some sort of ethical obligation to warn people when they're giving us great material.

I've written a blog about it but I reckon I ought to get a petition going...

https://adriandeans.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/life-theatre-breaking-the-sixth-wall/

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Agree strongly with m'colleagues.

But...you haven't just noticed that source material for writers comes from the world around them, have you?

The Black Prince said:

When I said in all seriousness...clearly I was joking.

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Perhaps, using emoticons to convey a joking tone might help, like , or .

The Black Prince said:

When I said in all seriousness...clearly I was joking.

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Yeah. No.

The Black Prince said:

When I said in all seriousness...clearly I was joking.

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Clearly we had no way of knowing.

Yes, but they're usually unpleasant ones. Sad stories and so on.

Happy stuff is not so interesting >.>

I was once explaining to a guy how rude it was to interrupt someone when he interrupted me.
Turns out he's called Sydney from a land down under so that explains that! (in all seriousness).

Harlequin said:

Happy stuff is not so interesting >.>

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I disagree. Loads of comedy is inspired by ordinary people and their quirks and eccentricities.

Fawlty Towers... Basil Fawlty was inspired by a real person. "In May 1970 the Monty Python team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel (which is referred to in "The Builders" episode) in Torquay while filming on location.[1] John Cleese was fascinated with the behaviour of the owner, Donald Sinclair, later describing him as "the rudest man I've ever come across in my life."[2] This behaviour included Sinclair throwing a timetable at a guest who asked when the next bus to town would arrive;[citation needed] and placing Python member Eric Idle's briefcase (put to one side by Idle while waiting for a car with Cleese) behind a wall in the garden on the suspicion that it contained a bomb. Sinclair justified his actions by claiming the hotel had "staff problems".[3] He also criticised the American-born Terry Gilliam's table manners for not being "British" (that is, he switched hands with his fork whilst eating). Cleese and Booth stayed on at the hotel after filming, furthering their research of its owner."

Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawlty_Towers

But the use of the Torquay hotel owner underlines Harlequin's point. If the stay at the hotel had been fun and happy, there would be no Fawlty Towers.

Helix said:

But the use of the Torquay hotel owner underlines Harlequin's point. If the stay at the hotel had been fun and happy, there would be no Fawlty Towers.

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It wasn't meant to illustrate the point, it was a response to the original topic, i.e. taking inspiration from real people.

ETA: I can see how the juxtaposition of the two posts gave that impression though. That wasn't intentional. I wrote them several hours apart, the latter being inspired by discovering that Basil Fawlty had been inspired by a real person. I didn't previously know that, but had wondered while watching it, if the hotel had been inspired by a real hotel.

neandermagnon said:

It wasn't meant to illustrate the point, it was a response to the original topic, i.e. taking inspiration from real people.

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Sure. But this:

neandermagnon said:

I disagree. Loads of comedy is inspired by ordinary people and their quirks and eccentricities.

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was in response to Harlequin's comment "Happy stuff is not so interesting >.>"

Cleese and Co's observations led to a timeless classic.
In fact they got some great material by observing real life - just like the OP's initial assertion.

Helix said:

was in response to Harlequin's comment "Happy stuff is not so interesting >.>"

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That's right and I can see how it was confusing, but the two posts weren't meant to be connected. I apologise for any confusion.

IMO comedy comes from the whole range of human experience.

well good thigns *can* be inspiration of course (eg in the Romance genre, taken from idealised or unusual happy endings in real life) but I personally like misery

I never really got into Fawlty Towers...

Layla Nahar said:

I never really got into Fawlty Towers...

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Have tried the "Coupling" series?

*stacks some glasses*