Ten years ago, I wrote my first Cinematic Chiasmus article, which was about RoboCop. That one exploded in popularity, which took me by surprise.

Since then, I’ve published about three dozen of these types of articles. They’re some of my favorite things I’ve ever written, and yet they’re also some of the most difficult and time consuming to put together. That is why there are not 100 or more of them so far. I have a huge list of ideas for films to analyze, but I lack the time.

The Challenge of Writing These Articles

I want to publish more of these articles. In fact, I’ve got two films ready to go right now, and there are five other films that are nearly ready. The problem is that in order to prepare them for publication, I currently have to do three things, each of which is a big ask:

1. Watch a film and summarize its events to find the chiasmus.
2. Write a detailed analysis (which is always more than 3,000 words) based on the summary. The Pride and Prejudice one is 12,000 words long!
3. Get dozens of pictures from the film to showcase the chiasmus in a visual format.

As you can see, this is no easy task. That is why I have been unable to publish as many Cinematic Chiasmus articles as I would like. It’s a wonder I’ve been able to do so many over the years.

Of course, I should mention that four films’ chiasmus summaries were sent to me by an awesome reader named Jay, saving me the first step: Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Goodfellas, and The Big Lebowski. Also, Alien and Alien³ were handed to me on a silver platter by another reader after I completed my Aliens analysis. And let’s not forget Jordan, who has sent me numerous ideas of films to examine: Tron, Escape from New York, Dreamscape, Akira, and Conan the Barbarian. And he’s not finished yet!

A Radical Change

I’ve thought a lot about how to make it possible to publish more Cinematic Chiasmus articles. I find that the idea of writing new articles is so intimidating that it prevents me from beginning.

So here’s my plan.

I’m going to radically change my publishing process. Instead of doing steps 2 and 3, I’m just going to do step 1. I’ll find the chiasmus in its most basic form, and then I’ll publish it. The nice thing about doing so many detailed articles over the past 10 years is that I trust that my readers are now used to my writing style, and they can fill in the details themselves.

There are so many subtle nuances to scene comparisons, and I could spend (and have spent!) hours poring over them and listing them all. But I think the most important thing is the broad overview. That is what allows the chiasmus to become visible.

Win-Win Scenario

I see this as a win-win scenario for both you and me. You will get more Cinematic Chiasmus articles in an easy-to-digest format, and I will be able to push past my worries and just do more of what I love.

This is not a change I take lightly. It may be jarring at first. But I hope you’ll stick with me and still be able to appreciate the beauty of the symmetrical storytelling structure found in many films you have already come to know and love.

I plan on publishing at least seven new Cinematic Chiasmus articles in the coming weeks. We’ll see if I can come up with even more. I’m really excited. Some of these I’ve been sitting on for more than a year. I’ll see you soon.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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