Love Story, Horror Movie, and WPR

A couple weeks ago I did a radio interview with Veronica Rueckert on WPR. We had a fun discussion with Laura Miller about The Hunger Games and what makes for a good female character. (Among other things.)

For those of you who might be interested, they’ve got an archive of that broadcast, as well as a few other things I’ve done with WPR over the years.

Or, if you’re looking for something a little more texty, here’s a sweet story of a young couple in love., and how they met, in part due to a certain book….

Lastly, I feel morally obliged to remind y’all that Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods is coming out this weekend. Early reviews look good, plus, y’know JOSS WHEDON.

My plan is to go see it, preferably in the company of an attractive, easily startled young woman. That way, when the movie gets scary, she will cling to me desperately for comfort.

My plan is a good plan.

pat

This entry was posted in Interviews, Joss Whedon, movie talk. By Pat28 Responses

28 Comments

  1. Posted April 13, 2012 at 7:54 AM | Permalink

    The Cabin in the Woods weekend! It’s always more fun to see scary movies with people who really get scared. I’m usually not as startled by the film as by the person next to me jumping and screaming. I think your plan is a good plan.

    Quite the cupid aren’t you? I wonder how many other people were drawn together by your book…

  2. Marcus Cox
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 8:24 AM | Permalink

    Did you get invited to the wedding?

  3. GoldenHammer13
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 8:28 AM | Permalink

    I’m an attractive, easily scared young woman. Joss Whedon or no, the only way I would go see a scary movie in theaters would be in a situation just like the one you described…. Just in case you haven’t already filled the role of the young woman. :)

  4. Posted April 13, 2012 at 8:29 AM | Permalink

    I look forward to hearing/reading your opinion on The Cabin in the Woods. I recommend staying off the interwebs until you see it, cause the twists are best experienced cold. Read our (slightly hinty but ultimately spoiler-free) review on it afterward and see if you get some of our subtle hints.

    And hey, can you post a link for the episode of our podcast you were on? It’s http://www.comicsonline.com/COP/COPS12E05-PatrickRothfuss.mp3

    Thanks again for your participation and thanks in advance for your pimpage!

    • Posted April 14, 2012 at 5:48 PM | Permalink

      Do you have a link to something other than the raw file? Like a page with an embedded player or something?

    • Erzberger
      Posted April 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM | Permalink

      Downloading the MP3 now. Thanks for the link, ComicsOnline.

  5. gabrielthebright
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 8:37 AM | Permalink

    I like your plan, this is also my plan.

    • Posted April 13, 2012 at 4:22 PM | Permalink

      Your plan is a good plan.

      Unfortunately, I seem to be lacking a key component of the plan.

  6. Posted April 13, 2012 at 8:57 AM | Permalink

    I just finished listening to your interview about “The Hunger Games” and female characters. I really appreciated your comments about young peoples actually having some critical skills, but the need to provide people with more than just nonpoisonous stories.

    I argue about this all the time with people about television, novels, news, films… it’s fine to have the junk food version of these sometimes, but you don’t want it to be your entire diet.

    I also appreciate the diversity of characters both male and female in you work.

  7. Constance
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 9:40 AM | Permalink

    I hope you’re leaving a certain attractive very young man at home in order to have more of this young lady to yourself. ;)

    We might catch a show tonight, if Burbank hasn’t been wiped away in a flood by then.

  8. He without a clever name
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 10:49 AM | Permalink

    My Wife normally doesn’t do scary movies at, but, you know, Whedon. We were just at Disney World and she clung to me in terror on the smallest of thrill rides. Cabin in the Woods should be fun times.

  9. Robo
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 10:52 AM | Permalink

    My wife and I have free movie tickets that expire this weekend. I chose to wait for this weekend to use on them on Cabin. Woke up excited! Found out from the little woman that we’ll be going to see Mirror Mirror instead.

    The hor-ror…

  10. IvoryDoom
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 11:05 AM | Permalink

    Man, I hate horror movies! But now I kind of want to watch this…I didnt even know about it. Which isnt much of a surprise since the last commercial I watched was probably at least 6 months ago. :( Perils of streaming everything off the webs I guess.

    I’m going to look up whats its about…sometimes I can handle the not so thriller horror movies. Twist is okay, things like Saw are just not for me though.

  11. Posted April 13, 2012 at 11:32 AM | Permalink

    Patrick Rothfuss, superhero of the Romantic Encounter.

  12. Erzberger
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 2:44 PM | Permalink

    Aww man, I so want see Cabin in the woods. But I don´t want to ruin the movie by listening to the German dub, so I´ll have to wait for the bluray release.

  13. Artheos
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 3:51 PM | Permalink

    Constant* vigil*ance required…

  14. Posted April 13, 2012 at 5:45 PM | Permalink

    Good plan.

    Anyone notice the Rubix cube marketing on the poster?

  15. LordZod
    Posted April 13, 2012 at 8:39 PM | Permalink

    Cabin in the Woods renewed my desire to send Joss Whedon flowers. Not just for Cabin in the Woods, but for everything I’ve seen that he ever had anything to do with.

  16. Posted April 14, 2012 at 5:42 AM | Permalink

    Naww, adorable love story! :)

  17. MrieAnn
    Posted April 15, 2012 at 1:44 AM | Permalink

    Recommendation – Jacqueline Carey has excellent female characters. Both heroines and villains. I would submit that Melisande in her Kushiel series is my all-time favourite female villain.

  18. Liam
    Posted April 15, 2012 at 7:23 PM | Permalink

    Holy fuck, how often do they have to beg for money? Really makes me appreciate listening to the CBC

  19. Tove
    Posted April 16, 2012 at 4:24 AM | Permalink

    That was a great interview! But I also feel there is a problem with female characteres always described in a way that give their looks and their bodies a big part of the attention. Not that it something wrong with describing beatiful women, ofcourse not, but sometimes it´s like there is no room at all for ugly / not so beatiful women. And even when there is a ugly woman in a story, her ugliness is described as a big problem, and often in the end the ugly female realise she was wrong, she do is beatiful. With male characters on the other hand, it´s not uncommon you have no idea at all if the lead character is considered/ consider himself ugly or handsome.

    Everyone knows womens looks are not a bigger part of who they are and what they do that mens looks are. But still women being valued and treated judged on how they look is a big problem, in the real world too (considering for example how female politicans beaty/ ugliness gets more attention than their political stuggles).

    I don´t think The Name of The Wind and The Wise Mans Fear do a very good job here considering 1) Almost all female characters are extremely beautiful. Denna, Fela, Devi, Mola, Kvothes mother, the maers wife etc., any girl at any inn realy…2) With a new female character, even if just mentioned one time, her looks are described and valuedb3) There is a big difference here between how the males and the females are described, males generally being described in terms of personality and women in terms of looks.

    I don´t know. I wouldn´t have said anything about this if the interview about female characteres hadn´t been so good, and made me feel that Patrick is the kind of author that do concern with this kind of stuff . And perhaps this just have someting to do with Kvothe, him being young and new to the women, and the stoy being from his point of view!

    Anyway, the female characters are good in other ways and the books are fantatic!

    (And sorry for my horrible english)

    • ak1287
      Posted April 16, 2012 at 5:09 AM | Permalink

      Well, that would be all well and good (and maybe even semi-valid) except you’re neglecting A) it’s told in first-person narrative by the guy who thinks all of these women are beautiful, and B) that makes everything unreliable.

      But even if that weren’t the case, you’re looking for a problem where a problem doesn’t exist; Ambrose, for example, is defined by his handsomeness, but is a bastard. That ruins your entire argument, with one example. Do better.

      • Little My
        Posted April 16, 2012 at 6:40 PM | Permalink

        I don’t know – I think Tove’s generalizations hold about these books. Maybe there’s a reason to have the book lean that way (Kvothe’s youth, or whatever). Nothing wrong with having a book that skews one way or another – it’s just too bad if a whole genre (or society) does. I wouldn’t have Kingkiller be other than it is, but I appreciate a well-written book that weights things differently, too. Tiffany Aching comes to mind.

  20. He without a clever name
    Posted April 16, 2012 at 2:07 PM | Permalink

    Hello, Tove. No need to apologize for your english, it was perfectly readable. The thing to remember here is, as the above poster posted, that the characters are being described from Kvothe’s point of view, and he might not be being entirely truthful. There’s a great line from Skarpi in The Name of the Wind about how stories, even true ones, are a mixture of truth a lie in the telling.

    …”You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way. Too much truth confuses the facts. Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.”

    I went and found the quote because my description of it was lacking. So perhaps Kvothe simplifies how some of the females look because their looks aren’t important to the story, and to go into each detail of their looks would “confuse the facts.” We can also remember the first scene where Kvothe is describing Denna and having difficulty describing her amazing beauty when Bast says he’s seen her and she wasn’t that beautiful, and in fact had a crooked nose. Kvothe is angered, possibly because he didn’t see it, believe it, or looks past it.

    Also, again the argument of it being from Kvothe’s point of view, he’s describing his friends, people who have helped him and that he likes, in a story that might live forever. How would you describe your friends in such a situation? Would you focus on their physical features and describe every mole on each friend, or would you simplify? And how often do you really think about your friends in terms of physical beauty? It doesn’t seem like something you really think about often.

    Plus, Kvothe is young in the story, and while older in the telling, he’s describing them as he saw them, and a lot of women are beautiful to 15 year old boys.

    Also, publishers like the women they publish to be be beautiful. I’m not saying that came into play here, but I think it’s a reality that it happens.

    As per usual, I feel I’ve rambled on a bit too long. Happy discussions all!

  21. scarves
    Posted April 16, 2012 at 3:48 PM | Permalink

    hum let see if i can see my message :/

  22. scarves
    Posted April 17, 2012 at 3:03 PM | Permalink

    so what do you think of the 2 french cover of your book ? yes 2 cover book :)
    http://www.elbakin.net/edition/16728-La-Peur-du-Sage-de-Rothfuss-:-toutes-les-infos

  23. angledge
    Posted April 18, 2012 at 7:13 PM | Permalink

    Hey Pat, I listened to your interview & then made a donation to my local NPR station. Yesterday, Tucker Carlson tried to shame me into donating but you joyed me into donating! Thanks.

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