And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is the ultimate ‘whodunit’ ‘locked island’ murder mystery that has inspired mystery aficionados’ in the creation of more novels, movies and games for decades.
Summoned to a mysterious island by an acquaintance, whom all of them they just ‘can’t seem to quite remember’, ten strangers find themselves trapped on an empty island on a dark and stormy night at a dinner party, where the main course has been seasoned with sinful secrets, poison, and quite possibly – a little bit of paprika.
In every room there are plaques and placards with the poem “Ten Little Soldiers” (although, when it was originally published it was known by a ah – *cough, cough* another name). In the center of the dinning room table are the 10 little soldiers themselves, and after the first unfortunate, and totally “accidental”, murder, the remaining guests discover that 1 of the little soldiers has been removed.
There is a murderer amongst them – and he is killing everyone, systematically, one by one.
As the poem continues to prophetically come true and the little soldiers continue to disappear, will the guests be able to figure out who the murderer is before there are “none” of them left?
I read this entire book the first time all the way through in a single afternoon.
I literally could not put it down! (Well, I guess technically I could’ve put it down, but you get what I mean, it was just THAT engrossing!)
If you’ve never read any of Agatha Christie’s work, or if you have, or if you’re just a fan of good books, then you should definitely give And Then There Were None a read. It will have you creeped out, confused, and intrigued all the way up until the very end. If you’re like me then you won’t know who did it until Christie reveals it herself.
It’s a 10 little soldiers out of 10 for this gem. 😀
I recently re-watched Thor: The Dark World (because, who wasn’t re-watching those recently?) and I couldn’t help but notice certain similarities between it’s storyline and that from the Doctor in Doctor Who and his accounts of the Time War.
First things first I need you to know – The Dark Elves are the Timelords and The Asgardians are the Daleks. You with me so far? Alright, let’s go.
We hear the tale of how The Dark Elves attacked and how their leader, who was cruel and terrible, killed his own people to end the war (and disappear, saving himself).
Just like how the Timelords were at war with the Daleks (who started what is irrelevant here) and the Doctor “killed” the Timelords, his own people, to end the Time War against the Daleks. And then, he disappeared in his Tardis, saving himself.
So, the Daleks then were the Asgardians trying to save the world from the Timelords, excuse me Dark Elves, and their dark matter world transporty machines. Sounds like tardis’s to me.
All I’m saying is that, in the Dalek’s eyes, they’re the good guys, the benevolent rulers, the beautiful gods that are keeping the peace in the realms. And the Timelords are the evil dark elves that are trying to destroy everything.
If I were to say that “Disney is just Shakespeare!” you’d be like, “I know, Lion King, duh.”
But I’m not just talking about The Lion King here.
I’m talking about the entirety of Disney, I’m talking about what makes a Disney film a Disney film, you know the thing that whenever there’s a major cliche moment people are like “What is this, a Disney film?”
That, my friends, is the Shakespearean Formula that I’m talking about, and today we’re going to talk about The Tempest.
In the Tempest we have the magical lead Prospero (a banished for-all-intents-and-purposes ‘good guy’, and the father of the female lead Miranda). Prospero makes me think of Merlin from Sword in the Stone or Mushu from Mulan (idk maybe you have a better disney comparison that I just can’t think of) – he is the main character, but in the Disney movie version it would ‘technically’ be Miranda that was the main character. Regardless, Prospero is the magical lead that was banished, that has a score to settle, and that is driving the plot.
The female lead Miranda (a beautiful innocent young maiden who’s never even seen a man before, aside from her father and a gargoyle like creature). Reminds me of Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle, Cinderella and basically every Disney princess out there. She’s lovely, innocent and kind but also isolated away from everyone and everything until she meets Ferdinand.
The male lead Ferdinand (the handsome, kind, but not-too-deep-and-still-has-a-lot-to-learn prince). He reminds me of every classic Disney prince.
(We all agree that Prince Phillip is the best Disney prince, right? No need to even discuss!)
The villains and bewitched-by-the villains in Alonso (the king and father of Ferdinand and the bewitched one) Antonio (the evil brother of Prospero who’s just backstabbing people left and right) and Sebastian (the brother of Alonso who’s so ready to backstab). I mean – think of any Disney villain and boom these guys are it.
Then, we have the comical but diabolical but in-the-end-harmless characters in Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano (the gargoyle-like servant of the magical lead, and two drunks from the royal shipwreck). This trio provides much needed comic relief with a dash of danger – very similar to your eels from The Little Mermaid, or the hyenas from The Lion King, or Lucifer the cat and the evil stepsisters from Cinderella – all groups that were scary sure, but more funny then anything else and in the end none of their plans came to fruition.
And last, but not least, we have the literal fairy godmother character in Ariel (Prospero’s spirit helper that does Prospero’s bidding). He’s your Genie from Aladdin, your Fairy Godmother from Cinderella, your Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas, and so on and so on. Without him, the magic doesn’t get done, a lot of the comedy is lost, and the ‘hero’ of the story remains at the bottom.
It’s not just the characters though. It’s the structure too. It’s everything really, but I’m blanking on terms here.
To break it down, in The Tempest there’s a big event that happens (the storm), just like a lot of Disney movies, (Tarzan, Frozen, Pocahontas are just a few that start out with a big storm) and then after the wreck the Prince finds and falls in love with the Princess, the bad guys plot and scheme to get rid of their leaders and in the end the magical wizard saves the day and there’s a wedding.
The big scene that I noticed that made me go “Oh c’mon!” is there’s literally a ‘date scene’ for Miranda and Ferdinand where, after they’ve already gotten engaged after like 3 hours, they watch a musical performance put on by these magical creatures (just like Kiss the Girl, Can you feel the love tonight?, So this is Love, that one from Tangled with the lanterns on the water!) and they fall even more in love.
Anyway – I’m getting a little lost here – my point is, I think that that’s why Disney movies are so famous. Walt Disney copied the formula of one of the most famous playwrights of all time, William Shakespeare.
Wait a minute! Walt – William – is there a little similarity there? 😉 Oh, I think there is! (*cough* John Candy reference *cough*)
A Writers View 