Screenwriting : A question ! by Omnia Algaml

everything should be written about. art isn't about just making the viewer happy, its about causing an emotion. negative or positive, it should be written about.

It is not a topic. It is a style. Some messages should not be filmed.

You can't, if your at all of healthy mind, empathise with a monster.

"A creepy serial child molester, finds his version of love. But when town discovers his ugly truth he must find a way to convince them his love for the eight year old is acceptable or lose everything"

I feel sick just writing that! Some things are not relatable, filmable, or bankable or ethical to put on screen.

If you’re talking American Film Industry, the late great Budd Schulberg wanted to “What Makes Sammy Run” but Hollywood moguls and their lawyers didn’t.

I'd stay away from bestiality. And animal abuse generally upsets viewers.

I think all subjects are valid, though I object to the malicious misrepresentation of an idea or person. Declaring some topics to be too immoral or too taboo is thought control. We should be able to have an open discussion about anything, including pedophilia or bestiality. If our goal is to discourage or eliminate such behaviors, the first step is understanding them.

And let’s not forget Shape of Water won best picture, so is bestiality really off the table?

Stephen F: That's right! Forgot about that. Looks like fictional creatures less taboo.

The pilot of Black Mirror sure wasn’t fictional...

Let me clarify: the animal depicted in the pilot of Black Mirror sure wasn’t fictional.

Owen, respectfully, there were a great many renowned people far more than a hundred years ago that championed Native Americans. It is simply false to think that people in another era were always unenlightened. The warts of history did not always affect the entire population.

Yeah....taboo and controversial subject matters might not be the taste of every writer, but they've sure been alive and well throughout the ages.

Shakespeare was pretty direct in his depictions of incest. And violence, too. There are a ton of films and novels that explore bestiality and relationships with other-worldly creatures - and even inanimate objects - to some degree.

Vanessa Redgrave sure did some...um....unconventional things with a crucifix in Ken Russell's The Devils. Many films that are greatly admired have their subject matter rooted in child abuse. Other greatly admired films sexualize minors. Others are considered racist to some degree, while others explore racism objectively. There are films about serial killers, murderous gangsters, and other assorted bad people that glamorize them, or demonize them. There are films about, mutant humans who cook people, the undead who eat people, and upstanding citizens and married couples who lie and kill each other. Many films fictionalize political assassinations.. Various sadists and psychopaths that range from the Marquis de Sade to Norman Bates to Patrick Bateman have been alive and not-so-well since...well, since Peter Lorre played Hans Beckert almost 100 years ago in Fritz Lang's M.

And let's not forget that Dr. Lecter, one of cinema's greatest villains we love to hate/hate to love, was a cannibal gourmand, too - but a charming one. At least, at times.

Some of the above-mentioned films and subject matters make the early John Waters' films seem like early Frank Capra films. I mean, Divine only ate...well...if you don't know what Divine ate in Pink Flamingos, I don't want to spoil it for you. But it wasn't a pink flamingo. And at least she wasn't doing what the Marble family was doing! Heh-heh.

But none of the writers and filmmakers mentioned above died for their work, like Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, relative of Vincent Van Gogh, did. His film Submission, which examined the way several fictional Islamic women were systemically abused in that culture, so incensed a religious extremist that the person shot and stabbed Van Gogh.

And a writer whom you're probably familiar with, Nobel prize-winning author, Naguib Mahfouz, actually had many of his books banned in many Arab countries, and for many years - as have many other Arab writers since then.

So yeah....I guess it's up to a writer to decide what to write. Nothing is really taboo or sacred, and no subject matter - however dark or controversial - has ever remained unwritten by some writer.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Omnia!

Great examples, Bill. I was wracking my brain for a movie that offers a sympathetic view of a pedophile without pulling any punches and “M” is perfect.

Every topics should be written about, to solve a problem the first part is to recognize there is one. If we don't speak about what's tabou, how can we create a discussion to make things change, how can we educate people without talking about it...

No.

Omnia, my answer is "No."

After all, movies and TV are two of the most effective ways to bring issue after issue to light. (And that depends on how the two media are used.)

Go for it, Omnia...and all the VERY BEST to you!

Depends upon for whom and where you want to write about. Israel will probably never produce a movie based on the research of David Irving. Iran will never produce a movie entitled: The Life and Loves of Mohamed. And America will never produce another movie geared towards people with IQs over 75.

(Trigger warning ...To make my point, the last part of that sentence was a joke.)