Episode 14: Fridging vs. Red Shirts

This week's episode has less to do with the paranormal and more to do with the themes we often see in paranormal, fantasy, and Sci Fi writing, movies, and comic books. Our special guest, Michael G. Munz. joined Camela Thompson and Z.D. Gladstone to discuss Fridging and Red Shirts. They look at the definitions, illustrate with several examples, and explain the drawbacks and benefits to both.

Fridging is a technique writers use to motivate a protagonist. A person or group of people close to the protagonist are brutalized in a public manner, meant to motivate the protagonist into action.

The term "red shirt" comes from Star Trek. A minor character with little or zero tie to the protagonist is killed to alert the audience to a presence of a malevolent force. They are often killed in a way that hints at the capabilities of the killer (is it a monster? how does he/she kill? etc.).

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