For my final project, I’m looking to do a creative piece, a 30-minute screenplay about a daughter and mother who have conflicting opinions about the newfound medium: film. The piece would take place in 1895, the same year the Lumiere’s Arrival of a Train at the Station came out. To aid my research, I would like to use my blog space as a brainstorming tool, fleshing out possible characters and their traits based on what I discover in the readings (I imagine I will do this for every other reading or so):

In Fuller’s chapter 7,  Fuller says early on, “Fan magazine readers were not necessarily swooning women and giggly young girls,” (133). I note this because if my protagonist is a young girl I’ll want to avoid this stereotype. Her motivation for wanting to see Lumiere’s film should not make her out as being mawkish. Perhaps something more intellectual. She has an inquisitive nature. Perhaps, defying stereotypes, she is tomboyish, and already has an interest in the inner mechanisms of radios. She knows of and likes magic lanterns and other early cinematic devices. Later in the chapter, Fuller mentions “…the rude woman who refused to remove her hat in the theater or who gossiped during the show” (143). If ever converted to film viewing, the protagonist’s mother would be this type of fan. She is conservative in nature, prissy, pretentious and prim. She is religious and traditional, set in her ways. Fuller also mentions Mary Curtin, the fan of all fans, very devoted. I think my protagonist will share some characteristics with Mary: her determination and willingness to defy traditional roles– but not all her traits. I don’t envision her ever having “450 or 500 movie star portraits” (146) in her room. If she ever falls star-struck, she’ll be like Celia from Purple Rose of Cairo, and will fall for one man and not for the whole acting world.