Hi there!
My name is Arianne Robbins and I am in my fourth year at UBC, majoring in Creative Writing. Story has always been a massive part of my life, and I surround myself with it in many ways. I am a film industry professional script consultant running my own freelance business from home. I spend a lot of time with my clients helping them blossom their ideas into screenplays! This is my only distance course, and I am traveling to England for the month of February to visit family and do research for my nonfiction novel. My website will soon go live and there will be a blog attached to it, so having this course be blog based will help majorly in that department. This format is exciting to me and feels much more interactive than just the discussion threads usually found on Canvas. I hope to engage with the material of the course well this way, along with my fellow classmates and our professor. After recently watching the third season of “Anne With An E” on Netflix, I am eager to learn much more about Canada’s indigenous people through the literature we will be engaging with. In the show’s final season, it acknowledges indigenous residential schools through the eyes of a young girl named Ka’kwet who finds herself imprisoned in one. Fiction is never far from the truth, and is an excellent teaching tool to use in order to understand the past, and what it means for the future. Th heart of this course is in stories about Canada: the good, the bad and the ugly. As students we will be learning about how Canada has been shaped by story, and how Canadians have reacted to them over time. I seek to learn and grow from this experience, and look forward to an informative semester!
Works Cited:
“Anne with an E.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 19 Mar. 2017, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5421602/.
David, Greg. “Anne with an E Expands Its World with Indigenous Characters in Season 3.” TV, Eh?, 19 Sept. 2019, https://www.tv-eh.com/2019/09/19/anne-with-an-e-expands-its-world-with-indigenous-characters-in-season-3/.
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Hi Arianne,
I really enjoyed reading your first post. I love watching movies and have always thought that writing the script must be so challenging since it’s one of the most important parts of a film so it’s very interesting to hear that you are so involved in that process!
I also watched Anne with an E and I agree that storytelling through various types of media can be really effective in teaching new generations about Canadian history. I think that depicting stories through characters such as Ka’kwet allows for younger generations to engage with history in a way that differs from reading about it in textbooks, as seeing the story play out on screen provides a fresh way of learning about and acknowledging the stories that have often been ignored.
-Indra
Hi Indra!
Writing scripts can definitely be extremely challenging, depending on the material. I’m currently adapting a book series into a TV series for the first time which has been an interesting learning curve, albeit a necessary one. If you have any other questions about the process, or anything film industry related, shoot them my way!
Absolutely, “Anne With An E” provides accessibility for younger audiences to see the material in their textbooks displayed in a realistic way that will hopefully drive the information home better than just reading textbooks. I remember reading about indigenous issues and residential schools in social studies and being engaged with the material, but having the visual aid is really helpful for understanding those situation better.
Hi Indra, please include you last name with your posts so I can identify you, thank you – Erika
Hi Indra, please include you last name with your posts so I can identify you, thank you – Erika
Hi Arianne, it’s nice to meet you!
I was immediately drawn to your blog post since I am considering applying for the Creative Writing Majors program! I can relate to your comment concerning the importance and role that story plays since I have always been so fond of either reading or writing stories. This aspect seems like it will prove useful when commencing our assignments for the class, and as I’m sure you feel the same way, I am really looking forward to learning about the impact stories have on our notions of Canada. I have taken quite a few online classes before, but as you mentioned, I already prefer the format of this class, and I agree that it allows for more interaction!
Do you have a memory or specific time/event in your life when you knew you had a passion for writing?
I look forward to learning a little bit more about you:)
-Samantha Kearley-Renfro
Hi Samantha!
It’s nice to meet you too! Definitely consider applying for the program, it’s really wonderful and has definitely helped me grow as a writer. I’ve also made some really meaningful connection with other students in the program, as class sizes are so small.
I much prefer the format of this class, and having the facebook group really helps keep me accountable as well.
While I’ve always had a passion for storytelling, I only started to consider it as a career path when I was 17 years old. I had an English teacher in 12th grade who submitted a piece of poetry I wrote for a poetry competition. The prizes were money and publication. I placed, and was published and paid for my writing for the first time in my life! From then on, I was hooked. Though I don’t really write much poetry anymore, much of my prose does tend to retain a lyrical quality.
Hi Arianne!
I really liked reading about your particularly unique perspective when it comes to storytelling, due to your background in writing and screenplay consulting. While watching movies and TV shows I always wonder about the process behind writing the scripts, and can only imagine how complex this process must become when creating the shows I enjoy watching.
I agree that stories are important for teaching younger children lessons about events that have happened in our countrys past, and how we all must reflect on these aspects of history in order to progress in the future as individuals and as a culture. I know from personal experience that storytelling was an integral part of my education throughout high school, particularly in learning about the interactions between colonial Canadians and the countrys Indigenous peoples and/or immigrants.
How do you think transparency in perspective during storytelling is important in the growth of Canada as such a diverse country?
Hi Lilly!
If you’d like to know more about the complexities of the screenwriting process, don’t hesitate to message me. It’s one of my favourite things to talk about!
I believe that transparency in perspective during storytelling is important for Canada’s cultural growth, because of trust. Without truth, there is no trust. And without trust, we have nothing. That may sounds dramatic, but I believe it’s a brutal and necessary truth.