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David Stevens' The Sum of Us

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1. Why study a film script and how does it differ from a play script?
Most of us are now quite used to reading plays. However, any study of the play on the page that does not take into account an imaginative construction of how that play might appear on the stage will be not a complete study of the play. It is true also wit

2. Enticing the audience
Both plays and films need to be economically viable and so both need to advertise themselves to their potential audiences. There is little difference in the need of each to create a narrative image in their display advertising. The main difference would a

3. The Film of Sentiment
Samuel Richardson in his preface to Pamela in 1740 wrote: If to divert and entertain, and at the same time to instruct and improve the minds of the youth of both sexes:

4. What is this thing called love?
The script begins with a scene depicting love, that between Gran and her grandchildren and, even though it is only a hint in the background, of the love between Gran and Mary. This is a comfortable kind of love, the love of belonging, of companionship. Th

5. The importance of the ordinary and the role of the unexpected
How indeed does the script create a feeling of ordinariness, coupled with the unexpected and the entertaining, to make a serious point about human life and values; that we have a common need for 'true love and companionship' and that there are 'all sorts

6. Notes and further reading
The Sum of Us, David Stevens (script of the original play from which the film was adapted), French's Playscripts available in Aus

7. Questions and discussion topics
The film script gives us two examples of parent reactions to a child's revelation of his sexuality. Identify these reactions.

8. The Sum of Them: SMH article
This article is reproduced by kind permission of the Sydney Morning Herald, Catherine Armitage and Julie Delvecchio. It was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1994.

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