"What is a Narrative Arc in Cli-Fi?": The Oregon State Guide to Climate-Change Literature

How does climate change alter our understanding of typical narrative arcs? How can you spot these changes in cli-fi? In this short video, MA student Jackson Cooper juxtaposes a close reading of the movie Shrek with Jenny Offill's cli-fi novel Weather to answer these questions. The series is designed to help high school and college English students understand how common literary terms and literary devices change in our era of changing climate.

We have designed a free (OER) lesson plan tied to this video for teachers and students who wish to join the conversation. Check out that lesson at the end of the transcript here:
https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/w...

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction to Narrative Arc
1:22 Freytag's Pyramid in Shrek
3:13 Narrative Arcs in Other Genres
4:33 Narrative Arcs in Cli-Fi
6:11 Why Anti-Climaxes Matter
7:08 Final Questions

The series is sponsored by the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University. For more discussions of literary topics and essay writing tips, please subscribe to the SWLF YouTube Channel or visit https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/ .

In the comments section below, please feel free to suggest other terms that you would like us to cover in this new series. Liking, sharing, and commenting on these videos will help us to build a rich digital learning environment around this pressing problem of the 21st century.