Dandelion Break What can we learn from Adolescence (Netflix)?

[Sarit]

Unless you've been living under a rock, run don't walk to watch the incredible British limited series Adolescence on Netflix. I was spellbound and horrified by this powerful narrative that left my throat constricted. A must for any parents with adolescents (that's me...). While the acting (WFT Owen Cooper??!!) is historic, the uncut one shots for each episode laudable, but as writers, what can we learn from this? We can learn about slow burn, characterisation, POV switches, and the ambiguity of story telling that respects the viewer/reader and lets them think and decide for themselves who is to blame.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I haven't seen this particular show, but I'm in total agreement with you that we can learn a lot from the best visual media, particularly as regards plotting.

I watch Korean dramas for that exact reason: they follow a different format, and employ unfamiliar tropes compared to the UK stuff I grew up watching. And it helps me think outside of the box I'm used to.

But as a screenwriter turned novelist, you'll understand the differences inherent in the two formats of story-telling, I'm sure.

I always describe films and TV as passive media - if someone has turned them on then you will be subjected to the story until YOU choose not to be. You have to decide to get up and walk out, or switch it off.

This means film-makers have the leeway to do slow-burn in a way that doesn't work so well for novelists.

Because reading a book is an active exercise - we have to make the reader need to turn the page, to keep reading, to not want to put it down. We don't have the luxury of using pretty pictures and engaging music to fill gaps. We have to make our words count.

 

[Pamela Jo]

I did watch the first episode but it is anything but slow. It takes place in real time but the director never lets the action lag. The precision with which the camera picks up and changes POV as it attaches to a new character makes sure of that. And of course we see the crime at the end of the first episode. Most crime stories leave more ambiguity, like in a trial when each side argues for their POV on what happened. I'm afraid I have to agree with Bev on this. While it is a brilliant bit of television, a novelist has to somehow create the same experience in print. Trying to get a stranger to see what we see in our heads is comparatively not only dancing the Bossa Nova backwards in heels, but simultaneously juggling all the fruit pulled from Carmen Miranda's hat.

 

[Sarit]

What I meant by slow burn was stuff like the last episode, which seemingly meanders to unrelated stuff but there is so much subtext and tension building up. I think there is place for slow burn in prose. It's def more of a challenge but if you build it right--tension and subtext it could be very effective. Some slow burn on TV is just terrible and feels like just a filler to drag on more episodes. In writing I think there is even more freedom with character study etc. and this type of slow burn can be more interesting in writing. I do this sometimes in my writing where I break structure to insert a character-centric episode that seems to have nothing to do with the plot until much much later. But that's just me....

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I agree, Sarit. Some slow-burn on TV is just plain boring. But even that can teach us something.
And I'm going to watch that series, as it looks stonking.

 

[Rachael Burnett]

I pretty much love anything with Stephen Graham. I watched it over two nights, and although the premise is enticing for its shock value and the reality of this iteration of teenage life, I didn't find myself totally hooked. For me it's not as fantastic as This is England (with Graham, not mention the fabulous Vicky McClure and Joseph Gilgun in the lead roles) and how Meadows deals with sexual violence and its aftermath. However, I did find Owen Cooper's acting impressive, I believe he might be playing a young Heathcliffe next. What its publicity achieved is to get me watching before the long list of tbw, and so it's doing something right. I like the fact that different episodes focused on different characters, leaving the mum and sister to the end. For me, it didn't go quite deep enough in terms of characterisation, but I did enjoy the ambiguity of 'who's to blame' in the narrative.