ENGL1102 Class Notes
March 12, 2012
Presentation on Paolo Bacigalupi, “Pop Squad”, and Adaptations
· Bacigalupi Presentation
o Born 1972 in Colorado
· The Windup Girl - 2009
o Praised by TIME magazine
o Won multiple awards
o Involves world where fossil fuels are no longer available
· Ship Breaker – 2010
o 2011 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
o Follows a child laborer
o Discusses poverty, class divides, etc
o Need to care about our surroundings
· Tweets
o Passionate about his writing
o “Money is a side effect of passion. Remember that.”
o Critical Race Theory, Use of Biotech seeds, Pink Slime for school lunch, Arctic Ocean drilling, etc
§ Concern for environment
· Website: www.windupstories.com
o Updates readers via blog
o Gives address, facebook page, etc
o Shares interviews that he has done
§ Talks about what he thinks the future will be like if people do not change
· “Politics are ugly. Never doubt what small men will do for great power.” – The Windup Girl
· “Pop Squad”
o Opening Scene
§ Strong words
§ Seems like a crime scene
· He seems to be an authority figure
§ “Jungle”
§ Terrible smell
§ Dehumanizes the mothers and their kids
· Animalistic
§ Reaches all of the readers senses
§ Refer to dinosaurs as doubly extinct
· Toys are extinct and dinosaurs are extinct
o Paradox between being immortal but being dead inside
o Does their immortality make them productive or unproductive?
§ One spends 15 years learning a piece, seems to be very productive
· Able to do amazing things
§ However, seems like they are doing things that are very time consuming and too complex
o Kid with dinosaur
§ Image of the boy’s death sticks in his mind
§ Has his blood on his hands
o Similarities with Deckard from Blade Runner
§ Both kill
· Enemies are things in their eyes but very human
§ Both walk away from the job in the end
§ Seem to hate their jobs for some reason
· Torn between what society says should be done and what is moral
§ Neither understands what is driving them away from their job
o Woman on Page 156
§ Smart and attractive
§ Provides hope
§ Becomes attached to her
§ Changes by calling the child “her”
· Adaptations
o Distinction between story and discourse
§ Story is the what
· Plot, setting, characters, timeline
§ Discourse is the how
· Genre, medium, form
o Stories are structures that are independent of any medium
o Aspect of change
o Have to be familiar with the conventions of the form you are adapting from and the form you are adapting to
§ Accepted guidelines for that genre
§ Creator and audience need to understand them
§ Can be broken
o Faithfulness
§ Staying faithful doesn’t mean it will be good, not staying faithful doesn’t mean it will be bad
§ Have to decide on your goals
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