Banshee story
An egotistical director challenges a skeptical young writer to investigate the nearby woods to find out if the banshee said to haunt the woods exists. Directed by: Douglas Jackson. Story by: Ray Bradbury.
10 total · 6 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| creative writing | major | The protagonist, Douglas Rogers, was a writer. The story concerns Douglas visiting an enigmatic film director, named John Hampton, at his manor in the Irish woods to discuss a screenplay that Douglas' had written. John was impressed with the screenplay, but maintained that it needed some cutting. It also came to light that Douglas had written a book of stories, which John had apparently lambasted in the Irish press. In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writing. |
| falling out of friendship | major | Douglas and John were well-acquainted, old friends who had an axe or three to grind. Things came to a head when Douglas visited John at his lodge in the Irish woods, and he ended up listening gleefully to John's dying screams. |
| ghost | major | The story turns on Douglas encountering the ghost, or banshee, of a woman in a wooded area nearby of a lodge in the Irish woods. |
| practical joking | major | Douglas did not appreciate his host John's sardonic sense of humor. In something of a practical joke, John goaded Douglas into going out alone for a late-night stroll in a supposedly banshee infested wooded area surrounding John's lodge. Alas, the joke blew up in John's face when it turned out there really was a banshee lurking in the woods. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | The banshee sought vengeance against someone named William who had been unfaithful to her. Douglas tricked John to go out and meet the banshee because John had apparently done some unfriendly reviewing. |
| the restless dead | major | The titular banshee, the ghost of a woman who dwelt in the woods outside of John's lodge, could not find peace until she was reunited with her lover. |
| cowardice | minor | John accused Douglas of being "yellow" due to his hesitance to venture out alone for a late-night stroll in the nearby woods. |
| romantic infidelity | minor | The banshee sought vengeance against someone named William whom had been unfaithful to her. |
| the nature of creativity | minor | In his introduction, Ray Bradbury gave his viewers an intimate window into his writing room, and some of the self-professed sources of creativity that lay about within it. |
| womanizing man | minor | John boasted of having slept with hundreds of women. |