Final Project Workshop

For this workshop/peer review please follow the same guidelines as prior workshops: focus on one person at a time. Read through the proposal and then begin answering the following questions in order to best help/support them. Please answer the questions in complete sentences, with specific suggestions for improvement.

Please note that there are two different sets of questions, depending on whether the person is rewriting a fairy tale, or creating a monster. Use the appropriate set of questions and answers for your partner.

Fairy Tale Questions

1) Is the cultural problem, social issue, or real life situation that the fairy tale was inspired by a tangible, specific issue that can be traced to an event or series of events in our world today? Is there any way this problem or issue can be more specific/narrow? For example, if the social issue is "social media," that is not specific enough. Instead it could be something like "online trolling or bullying" or "body image pressure for girls on sites like Instagram" or "the influence of Russian hackers on Facebook on the election of Donald Trump."

2) Does the writer have strong research into their cultural problem or issue that inspired their fairy tale, and/or the fairy tale itself? What are some other angles they might research? Give at least one suggestion.

3) Does the fairy tale itself seem to mesh well with the social issue and cultural values the writer wants to focus on? Does the tale type seem to logically mesh with these issues?

4) How can the cultural values themselves be more precise? What specific culture or sub-culture do they reflect? (People, place) Ex. upper middle class, Ivy League college students; Mexican immigrants facing discrimination in the wake of Trumps' election

5) Is the writer altering aspects of the fairy tale in interesting ways, in order to reflect this current cultural moment? Look at the setting, the character's job/life situation, etc. Suggest a few ideas for making the story even more contemporary, in ways that align with the cultural problem and focus of the narrative.

6) What is the role of magic in the story? Will there be magic, or will the tale be totally realist? If so, what aspects of our real world does the magic reflect? Ex. the role of money; the need for a miracle to get out of poverty, etc.

7) Does the writer have a clear sense of the tale type? Are they missing any key elements of it?

Monster Questions

1) What cultural problem, social issue, or real life situation was the monster inspired by? Is this a tangible, specific issue that can be traced to an event or series of events in our world today? Is there any way this problem or issue can be more specific/narrow? For example, if the social issue is "social media," that is not specific enough. Instead it could be something like "online trolling or bullying of children" or "body image pressure for girls on sites like Instagram" or "the influence of Russian hackers on Facebook on the election of Donald Trump."

2) Does the writer have strong research into their cultural problem or issue that inspired their monster? What are some other angles they might research? Give at least one suggestion.

3)  What are the cultural fears/desires the monster embodies? How can these be more precisely stated? How can they be better tied to the cultural problem? For example, if the cultural desire is "fame," and the cultural problem is "social media," then the cultural desire can be stated as "desire for social media fame."

4) Are there more fears or desires that connect to the ones stated, that the writer should think about? And if they only stated a fear, what is the corresponding desire? (And vice versa). For example, the desire for social media fame directly connects to the fear of being alone and unloved. It also can connect to a fear of fame as well, for example being cyberstalked and judged and criticized.

5) How can the monster's body more precisely reflect the cultural fears/desires? What about it's skills and attributes? How can the writer be more creative in considering how to "embody" these problems? For example, is this a monster created out of revenge? Ex. Ocean coral that is angry at its death due to acidification, who has grown sharp knife-like razors to cut swimmers. Is it a monster created out of the results of a problem? Ex. a monster that is the result of garbage in the coean, which is a giant patchwork of various types of garbage.

6) How can the monster's living situation/home better reflect the cultural problem it represents? Remember "monsters exist at the margins of the world, both conceptually/geographically" (Cohen).

7) Is the creative component the best possible choice for reflecting this monster, or would another option make more sense, given the cultural problem and cultural fears/desires the monster embodies? What are some problems the writer might run into with their choice of creative component, and how can they overcome these? Ex. using video editing equipment may require some youtube tutorials