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Now Playing10 Traits of Faulty Dialogue 2: Traits 5 & 6
Jan 01, 2011 Traits of Faulty Dialogue (Continued) - Traits #5 and #6
Trait #5: THE USE OF DRY, ARID LANGUAGE In Writing Dialogue: * Always prefer the familiar to the exotic. * Prefer the concrete to the abstract. * Always prefer direct phrases to circumlocutions. * Prefer shorts words to long. * Prefer Saxon words to Latinate words
Trait #6: OVERSTATEMENT * Brawny Words, Puny Motivations, Puny Conflicts. Examples Mentioned: Deadwood, The Sopranos, The Wire |
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Thanks
Thanks Robert,
Birddog
I think I missed it. Or am I being stupid?
Leigh
However, there is a scene in the first season of THE WIRE, where Detectives McNulty and Bunk solve a homicide in five minutes as they recreate the events at the scene of a crime and find crucial evidence, and during this sequence, all they say is "Fuck". Over and over again, varying it slightly, "Fucker", "Mother fucker" and on and on, but nothing else is ever said in the scene.
And it's hysterical. I assume this would be an example of how one can over-use a faulty trait (as in the case of arid language) of dialogue for comedy as this dialogue is also character-neutral and repetitive. Which leads me to wonder how comedic dialogue differs from dramatic, since repetition is such a common trick comedians use.
I would expect the same traits as explained to apply to a narrator even it the narrator isn't a character in the story. Are there any additional traits that apply to such a narrator?
Other than perhaps experts or interviewees I suppose, do these dialogue traits otherwise apply to documentaries?
Best Regards,
KM Tracy