An eye for an eye. Payback. If justice creates fairness, revenge blooms from a curdled empathy: You will hurt like you hurt me.
Park Chan-wook shares his thoughts on revenge and why he made it the focus of his famous trilogy of films:
[V]engeance is meaningless. Even a small child, if they think about it, they will understand this. Revenge is about something that has already happened, and when you are trying to achieve vengeance, you are investing your everything into a venture that will lead you to no benefit at the end.
Quote investigator traces the origin of the proverb “If you seek revenge, dig two graves.” Seeing this in practice, Shoot Me Films breaks down Blue Ruin and how it subverts the tropes of a revenge film to craft a tragedy where most characters are doomed to a violent end.
Emma Ward looks at the alternate history created by Inglorious Basterds to ask if justice is even possible in the face of mass atrocities. Ward argues that the films pulpy twist on reality reminds us of how we view the past and take our role in creating the future:
The art we consume often lingers in our collective memory longer than the facts we learn at school or the headlines we glance across. It shapes our understanding of experiences outside of our own in a visceral way. If, as the saying goes, journalism is the first rough draft of history, then movie-making is often its final draft.
Jeff Legge draws our attention to The Princess Bride, and Inigo Montoya’s quest for vengeance. Even at the end, in an emotionally satisfying payoff, Inigo acknowledges that his defeat of Count Rugen will never give him what he truly wants.
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💪 Stronger together
The WGA has an agreement, but the fight for fair contracts continues! If you’re looking to keep up your Arm Day routine on the picket lines, you can still help SAG-AFTRA!
For ways you can support the SAG-AFTRA effort to negotiate a fair contract with the AMPTP, check their strike hub for more information.
⏱️ Sprint with a vengeance
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
What’s a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but here’s the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Sometimes that’s all it takes to get some momentum going with your writing: You set aside this time for writing and nothing else, so you’d better use it!
Shout out to Beth Barney, Mark Leiren-Young, Elyse Moretti Forbes, Brian Matusz, and Aimee Link for sprinting with us last week!
📖 Keep the terror close with this Weekend Read collection
This week’s Featured Friday in Weekend Read brings a host of contained horror scripts. You’ll find Get Out, Barbarian, and more in the Discover tab.
Still haven’t tried Weekend Read 2? Download the free trial from the App Store to check out our app for reading, listening to, and taking notes on scripts while on the go.
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Alexander Chee explains his writing process, including how different passes at a revision have different functions, including the “set-decorating revision” that makes sure objects are where they need to be in a story.
What else is inneresting?
Two Factor Authentication for Humanity - Martin Anderson explains how profile views and ears are clues you’re watching a video deepfake.
Needing 4+ Coffees A Day Makes Sense Now - Hannah Seo shares research about genetics and how our bodies metabolize caffeine.
Houston, we have a catch phrase - Today I Learned digs into the origins of NASA’s superlative “steely-eyed missile man.”
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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🗣 Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art, or Bluesky @ccsont.bsky.social