Stomp on the mystery box
Blog » First, go and watch The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
J. J. Abrams has this storytelling device which he uses, which he calls a "mystery box". Me just telling you those two words, and then pausing for a little while as you think about all of the works of J. J. Abrams you've ever seen, might be enough for you to work out what a "mystery box" is all by yourself.
The basic idea, upon which he elaborates in this TED talk, is that you, the writer of the story, construct an elaborate mystery which causes the audience to ask questions. You construct figurative or, quite commonly, real impenetrable barriers in the story — an opaque "box" — and don't show what's inside the box, and then you make it really important to know what's inside the box. A few great examples are:
the locked hatch in the first season of Lost
the purpose of the works of Milo Rambaldi in Alias
Rey's parentage in The Force Awakens
Snoke's identity and origins in The Force Awakens
Having constructed this mys...
J. J. Abrams has this storytelling device which he uses, which he calls a "mystery box". Me just telling you those two words, and then pausing for a little while as you think about all of the works of J. J. Abrams you've ever seen, might be enough for you to work out what a "mystery box" is all by yourself.
The basic idea, upon which he elaborates in this TED talk, is that you, the writer of the story, construct an elaborate mystery which causes the audience to ask questions. You construct figurative or, quite commonly, real impenetrable barriers in the story — an opaque "box" — and don't show what's inside the box, and then you make it really important to know what's inside the box. A few great examples are:
the locked hatch in the first season of Lost
the purpose of the works of Milo Rambaldi in Alias
Rey's parentage in The Force Awakens
Snoke's identity and origins in The Force Awakens
Having constructed this mys...
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