The Purpose of Stories

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One night when I was in college, a group of friends were thinking about going to a movie, and someone said, “No, I don’t want to go to a movie where you have to think.” It bothered me that someone could ever feel that way. I thought those were the best types of movies. What’s the point of watching a movie if it doesn’t make you think?

I was reminiscing about that night from college recently while contemplating the purpose of stories. They’ve been around for the entirety of human history. Storytelling is what makes humans human; it’s what separates us from other species. No other animal can tell stories to each other and pass on wisdom and knowledge through language. Continue reading →

Story Addict: A Collection of 27 Short Stories

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Hi, my name is TZ Barry, and I’m a story addict…

Story Addict is a collection of 27 short stories written between 2010 and 2018, spanning a variety of genres including science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime, thriller, literary, magical realism, dark humor, and satire. There’s time travel, telepathy, parallel universes, aliens, robots, artificial intelligence, hackers, spies, invisibility, dinosaurs, wizards, talking jellyfish, and more. The lengths of the stories vary from 300 words to over 6,000 (60,000 words in total). Eight of the stories have been previously published while nineteen are new to this collection. The stories are not connected and can be read in any order. Continue reading →

Why are Blockbuster Movies Getting Worse?

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Why are blockbusters getting worse? Short answer: Money.

Long answer: Blockbuster franchise movies have become such a cash cow that the corporations who own the major studios are relying on these billion-dollar movies as a primary source of revenue. The studios operate at the whim of the corporation’s board and shareholders, so they become risk-averse and reject any new or creative ideasbecause they don’t know if it will succeed or fail. Continue reading →

Why People Love Post-Apocalyptic Stories

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Whether it’s zombie outbreaks, nuclear wastelands, or climate change, people love post-apocalyptic stories. Examples include books like The Road and A Canticle for Leibowitz, TV shows like The Walking Dead and Jericho, video games like Fallout and The Last of Us, comics like Y: The Last Man, and movies like Mad Max, I am Legend, World War Z, Book of Eli, and The Postman. The causes and effects differ, but what these stories share is the setting of a world after civilization has fallen, with people living in brutal conditions where everyday survival is a struggle. The themes are dark and dour, yet these stories are extremely popular. The question is: why are people so drawn to post-apocalyptic stories? Continue reading →

Siddhartha and Social Anxiety

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Siddhartha is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse, and while it is not directly about social anxiety, it is about mindfulness and meditation—the tools that helped me with social anxiety. In the book, Siddhartha, a character from the time of Gautama Buddha, goes on a spiritual journey, eventually coming to self-realizations that helped him overcome his suffering in life, much in the same way I did. Through select quotes from the text, I will explain how Siddhartha’s journey related to my own journey overcoming social anxiety. Continue reading →

From Screenplays to Novels and Beyond

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Since a child, I always loved movies and television more than books or any other kind of art. Film was my favorite form of art because it encapsulated all other art forms: music, photography, cinematography, acting, writing, storytelling, painting, makeup, clothing, fashion, costumes, sculpture, props, architecture, computer graphics, animation, etc… The list goes on. That’s why there are so many names at the end of a movie. Almost all those people are artists in their own right, contributing to the master artwork that is the film. Continue reading →

Black Mirror and the Future of Storytelling

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Black Mirror is the future. I don’t mean the dystopian technological prophecies in the show will come true (though many of them might). I mean the format of 50 to 70-minute self-contained stories are the future of film and television storytelling. Continue reading →

George of Thrones

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The Game of Thrones television series concluded this past Sunday, but I won’t be talking about the finale or its quality. (No spoilers follow) Instead, I want to talk about the mastermind behind the entire Game of Thrones phenomenon. Not the actors or showrunners, but the author of the books upon which the show is based, George R.R. Martin. Continue reading →