Justin Kownacki

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America

Avengers: Endgame movie poster from Marvel Studios spotlighting the six original Avengers: Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Captain America and the Hulk / Bruce Banner
Storytelling

How Avengers: Endgame Fulfills the Emotional Arcs of Marvel’s Characters

Avengers: Endgame owes its success to one word: character.

By Justin, 4 yearsApril 28, 2019 ago
Storytelling

Why Damien Chazelle’s First Man Feels So Empty

Why, despite some stellar filmmaking, does First Man fail to satisfy?

By Justin, 4 yearsOctober 27, 2018 ago
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt and Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow in Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Storytelling

What’s the Mission: Impossible Franchise Really About?

Ethan Hunt is surprisingly bland for a lead character, but what really holds Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise together are its recurring themes.

By Justin, 5 yearsAugust 2, 2018 ago
Dwayne Johnson leaps off a supercrane and into America's heart in the movie Skyscraper
Storytelling

6 Ways to Interpret Skyscraper as Dwayne Johnson’s Defining Movie

The missing ingredients in Skyscraper accidentally define Dwayne Johnson’s true appeal.

By Justin, 5 yearsJuly 16, 2018 ago
Heath Ledger as the Joker and Christian Bale as Batman in Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight
Armchair Sociology

Why We Replaced Heroes with Antiheroes

From Superman to Iron Man, the difference between a hero and an antihero was always clear.. until now. Here’s what changed, and why it matters.

By Justin, 5 yearsJuly 12, 2018 ago
The Hollywood Sign over Los Angeles
Business Advice

11 Surprising Facts About How Movie Box Office Works

How Hollywood and America went crazy over box office reports… and why the numbers aren’t always what they seem.

By Justin, 5 yearsJune 6, 2018 ago
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on AMC's TV series Mad Men
Armchair Sociology

What the Existence of Don Draper and Katy Perry Really Says About You

Why we need to stop living vicariously through our pop culture heroes and start living our own lives like we mean it.

By Justin, 12 yearsJune 16, 2011 ago
Armchair Sociology

8 Ways to Lead a More Interesting Life

Facebook is making us boring. Our perpetual digital connectivity has warped our minds into believing that others are hanging on our every word… even when those words are all about our allergies, our retail woes, our opinions about pop culture, politics, and other inanities. In other words, the very stories Read more…

By Justin, 12 yearsApril 13, 2011 ago
Armchair Sociology

The Popularity Paradox: Why Do We Hate Pop Culture?

I don’t know anybody who loves pop radio. I know people who listen to it ironically, as though they’re not comfortable admitting they don’t entirely hate Lady Gaga.  And I know people who admit to liking just Lady Gaga, or just Usher, but still insist they “hate the radio.” But Read more…

By Justin, 13 yearsJune 21, 2010 ago
Social Media

I Tweet, Therefore I Am… Empty?

What if our newspapers were filled with articles on how to write for newspapers? What if the only books we printed were books about how to sell books? What if TV shows consisted solely of monologues about TV? I doubt we’d have much use for them at all. So why Read more…

By Justin, 13 yearsMay 24, 2010 ago

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Popular Posts

  • • What Makes Game of Thrones So Addictive?
  • • This Storytelling Flaw Ruined the New Star Wars Trilogy
  • • Why Does Every Marvel Movie Tell the Same Story?
  • • Cobra Kai: How to Build Character Through Conflict
  • • How Iron Man Created the Formula for Every Marvel Movie

Latest Posts

  • • Worldbuilding and Exposition: 6 Writing Tips from Dune
  • • Writing a Perfect Scene: Bunk vs. Omar in The Wire
  • • Screenwriting Lessons from ALIENS
  • • The Story Problem at the Heart of the Snyder Cut
  • • WandaVision's Biggest Question Gets Deep
  • • Why The Queen's Gambit Is Such Smart Storytelling

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  • • Marvel
  • • Star Wars

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