Essays
On Authorial Intent
“But instinctively, just as I am naturally, I tend to fall on the other end of this spectrum. I believe that intention matters, that it inevitably drips into what we make and what we take in. Sometimes, I get caught up in thinking that, while creative works are welcome to individual interpretation, when it comes down to it, there is only one explanation or reason or meaning—one fixed, true intended answer dictated at the time of creation by the author, the writer, the artist, and I’ll linger by the door to hear them say it.”
Sloan examines the ethics of the adult animated series, BoJack Horseman, both through its characters and the people who wrote them. Sloan explores the discomfort the show’s creator felt from viewers misinterpreting the series, and how he actively sought to change their perceptions through the show’s writing.
While analyzing the CBS show, Ghost Whisperer, Sloan interviews John Gray, the series creator, and explores the push and pull dynamic between writer and network executive.
Is Tom an unreliable narrator? That is a frequently debated question after a viewing of (500) Days of Summer. But while combing through interviews and reading between the script’s lines, Sloan poses a new one: What if the unreliable narrator is the screenwriter?
On Effects of Media
“I was 15 when [Pretty Little Liars] first aired. At 16, I was preyed upon by my 27-year-old drama teacher. I distinctly remember using the Aria/Ezra storyline as a mental touchstone with which to justify my “relationship” with this teacher, because Ezria were so in love and it was meant to be! …Right? Even years later I struggled with why this storyline felt so romantic, even though I knew it was wrong. This video is SO incredibly cathartic for me. It feels romantic because they MAKE IT feel romantic. We were groomed to view this kind of relationship as star-crossed, rather than wrong. I was young, naive, impressionable, AND their target audience. This storyline had very, very real consequences… my own story being one of them.”
Sloan breaks down the inappropriate relationships between the teenaged protagonists and their adult love interests in the series, Pretty Little Liars. By exploring the concept of perception framing, Sloan aims to prove the show’s deliberate romanticization of the underage relationships, and their negative effects on its young audience.
Sloan weighs out the effects of how gay characters are portrayed in Modern Family and explores the show’s influence on Americans’ perceptions of the LGBTQIA+ community through its least progressive character.
“My stepdad (someone I haven’t really ever gotten along with) is SO MUCH LIKE JAY, down to how he looks and talks. So when Modern Family first came out he was so adamant NOT to watch it with us on the couch because he wasn’t okay with Cam and Mitchell. Then SLOWLY and eventually started watching it with us as he really liked Jay’s character. I think it helped him become more understanding...”
On Storytelling
“The best word is subtext. It’s easy to think of subtext solely in relation to dialogue—what’s actually being said under what’s literally being said. But subtext doesn’t just exist inside dialogue. It can just as easily lie under what is visually shown on screen—what arises when we look a little closer, and ask ourselves what that action or object implies. ”
Sloan analyzes how Avatar: The Last Airbender’s episode, ‘The Puppetmaster,’ uses narrative structure, audience preconceptions, and subtext to build layers of horror within its limited page length.
Sloan takes a look at the high school comedy, Easy A, exploring how the film utilizes narrative structure, compares different drafts of the scripts, and examines how it refreshes and subverts genre-prevalent tropes.
Sloan breaks down the CBS series, The Mentalist, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, and distinguishing its differences from similar procedural detective shows.
“So much of the horror lies in everything that isn’t said, in the questions we don’t have answers to. This is a significant part of what makes ‘The Puppetmaster’ so genius—the subtle, whispered allusions to something we can’t form or define, but only limitlessly guess at and imagine. Again, from a screenwriting perspective, these instances barely take up any space in the script. They layer over what events already need to occur narratively, expanding on another level to create depth, add rewatch value, and effortlessly build suspense and unease in the audience.”