i don't think the fact that a theme, character-type, style,
plot device etc is common, familiar or even overused is
enough to make it a cliche. most definitions of "cliche" talk
about something trite and hackneye. per Merriam
webster:
>TRITE applies to a once effective phrase or idea
spoiled from long
> >familiarity <"you win some, you lose some" is
a trite expression>.
> >HACKNEYED stresses being worn out by overuse so
as to become dull and
> >meaningless <all of the metaphors and images
in the poem are hackneyed>
therefore, i'd say that something is only a cliche if its
ineffective. once you've "made it new" it's by definition no
longer a cliche. of course that's a subjective judgment but
so is "trite, hackneyed," etc. I think there are supposedly
only 6 plots or whatever they say, and Shakespeare used all
of them (and they weren't new then either -) so I think that
writers and publishers who are too hung up on finding a
unique or novel angle are missing the point.
as for conventions, i don't think you can have a genre
without conventions. recognizing the old conventions and the
way they've been adapted for new
time/place/character/technology or whatever is a big part of
the fun.
complete change of subject, but i've now got a personal rara
avis sitting on my computer; I was driving through west
virginia last weekend and stopped at a gas station that sold
a bunch of little trinkets including figurines supposedly
made out of local coal. among them was a black four inch
statue that i think is supposed to be an eagle but bears at
least a passing resemblance to hammett's most famous
MacGuffin. of course, I couldn't resist. i chipped at it a
little bit but definitely no gold or gems underneath. nice
visual aid though.
carrie
_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
-- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 08 May 2002 EDT