Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. None of this is medical advice. We are speaking of appendicitis in a purely fictional context. If you are having symptoms you suspect may be appendicitis please stop reading and seek medical attention from a qualified practitioner immediately.
~
“Four people are sitting around the table talking about baseball, whatever you like.
Five minutes of it, very dull.
Suddenly a bomb goes off. Blows the people to smithereens.
What do the audience have?
10 seconds of shock.
Now, take the same scene. And tell the audience that there’s a bomb under the table and that it’ll go off in 5 minutes.
Now the whole emotion of the audience is totally different. Because you’ve given them that information.
Now that conversation about baseball becomes very vital. Because they’re saying to you, don’t be ridiculous, stop talking about baseball there’s a bomb under there.
You’ve got the audience working.”
— Alfred Hitchcock
~
I hear Alfred Hitchcock talk about Suspense and I think Appendicitis. A bomb strapped under the table that only the audience can see? No—a vestigial organ in everyone’s abdomen.
Continue reading “Appendicitis: The Narratively Perfect Disease – Hurt/Comfort”
Sebastian Nothwell 