{"id":10877,"date":"2019-03-27T16:16:23","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T21:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hilbertthm90.wordpress.com\/?p=10820"},"modified":"2019-10-01T08:28:04","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:28:04","slug":"the-oa-is-the-best-show-you-havent-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amindformadness.com\/2019\/03\/the-oa-is-the-best-show-you-havent-seen\/","title":{"rendered":"The OA is the Best Show You Haven’t Seen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The OA<\/em> is a Netflix original series by Brit Marling<\/a> and Zal Batmanglij. You may know Brit Marling from Another Earth<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This series has some of the most inventive and suspenseful storytelling I’ve seen. It is constantly original and surprising. It hooks you with question after question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not even sure I can tell you a genre or two for the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, this series is really best experienced with no foreknowledge. But I also want to talk about what we can learn about storytelling from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I’ll organize this post in three sections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. No Spoilers<\/li>
  2. Minor Spoilers<\/li>
  3. You May as Well Skip Watching It if You Read This Section<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    You can then jump to the bottom Overall Thoughts<\/strong> section to get a spoiler-free conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    No Spoiler OA Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    So…I guess I’ll give you the premise based on the first five minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It opens with vertical cell phone camera footage taken by a kid in a car of a girl running across a bridge of traffic and jumping off to her death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Except, she wakes up in the hospital having miraculously survived. She says her name is “The OA.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We cut to an older couple who receive a phone call. The person tells them to go to Youtube to watch this video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The couple shows up at the hospital and claims to be her legal guardians, but they think her name is Prairie. There’s strange scarring on her back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She has no memory of the people claiming to be her parents. The mother takes the girl’s hand and puts it on her face. The girl closes her eyes and says, “Mom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The father tells the nurse that she went missing seven years ago and was blind. She’s never seen them before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Open Loops<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    I know what you’re thinking: why did you tell me all of episode one? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I didn’t! That all happens in the first five minutes, and the pacing is brilliant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One highly effective way to hook someone with a story is to use something called an “open loop.” This is where the story forces the reader\/watcher to ask a question and then doesn’t answer it right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some of the loops open and close right away: <\/p>\n\n\n\n