Monday, May 05, 2014

I Am A Stranger Here

So many movies deal with the issue of someone new entering a society. In some cases, like UNDER THE SKIN, which I saw and liked a lot last week, the stranger is from another planet or world. But often it's an immigrant or a new kid on the block.

What are some of the best movies and novels that use this plot device?
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9 comments:

George said...

The obvious movie choices are E.T. and COMING TO AMERICA. For TV, KUNG-FU. With books...where to begin. Nabokov's PNIN, MY NEW AMERICAN LIFE by Francine Prose, and
MIDDLESEX by Jeffrey Eugenides for starters.

9:31 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Oh, have not read the Prose book. MIDDLESEX is a great pick.

9:36 AM
Charles Gramlich said...

hum, I'd have to think about this probably. ET perhaps.

9:43 AM
George said...

I'm a big fan of Francine Prose's work. MY NEW AMERICAN LIFE is terrific.

9:47 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

What I've read I've like too. The newest got great reviews. Or is this it?

10:04 AM
Rick Robinson said...

The film AVATAR certainly fits.

1:25 PM
Deb said...

One of the enduring tropes in fiction begins "a stranger arrives in town." Sometimes we see the story through the stranger's eyes; other times, through the eyes of those who are affected by the stranger's arrival.

2:05 PM
Ron Scheer said...

Obvious, I know, but THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET. There are countless westerns that begin this way. I'm struck, though, by how often popular fiction sets a story around a character returning home after a long absence.

7:57 PM
J F Norris said...

This is probably one of my favorite themes in literature, film and theater.

FILMS: Star Man, The Man who Fell to Earth, Bad Day at Black Rock, Lars and the Real Live Girl, Edward Scissorhands, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The Elephant Man...

BOOKS: Oliver Twist, Sarah Canary, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon, Stranger in a Strange Land, Kaspar, Pilgrimage: The Book of the People (and other story collections by Zenna Henderson)...

5:33 PM

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