Talk:Slice of life story

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Hi

Who knows other interesting SLICE OF LIFE STORIES (or films)?

Let me know...

thanks

Bernie 20:12, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] No Plot?

It is untrue that a 'slice of life story' is defined by a lack of plot-- the story can have a plot-- the best works in this genre tend to have a clear plot-line. It's the art of making the story seem as if it was just a random moment and then-- finding the significance in these random moments and the drama etc. that make this type of work popular. Some slife of life stories seem to be plotless, but not all. Lack of plot isn't a defining factor here.

I think this article has a negative tone and it should be more balanced. I think the statements about slice of life having "no-plot" need to go. You could say: "some may not even have a plot..." but making it sound like the goal is to write something without a plot is absurd. futurebird

I agree. I added a POV tag about that for now... --Fritz S. (Talk) 08:26, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Well I am going to look around, but saying that Slice of life has no plot is not even close to what it the genre is. I will modify to the best of my ablities.--Link25 23:11, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Slice of life stories definitely are NOT categorized by lack of plot. Pretty much, S.O.L. just means that it is a story that can be "cut out" or contain "cut-outs" of someone's life. That could mean that there can be plot or no plot, depending on the story.Christoph Jenkins 04:28, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

To me, "slice of life" refers to a genre of British movies of the 60s, above all others, "A Taste of Honey" a movie starring Rita Tushingam - well, starring now by popular acclaim - the credits make clear that she was a relative unknown at the time. Another title would be "Saturday Night and Sunday Morming", "Room at the Top", and many others. I think that it's important to note this because "slice of life" became a term-of-reference for critics of the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.132.194.245 (talk) 22:09, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] then how about an example or two?

I do not think the article so far (which I wrote) has a negative tone - in fact, I love some slice of life stories (see examples). Also I think your arguments are interesting, but if you think "the best works in this genre tend to have a clear plot-line", then please give us some examples! Bernie june 23, 2006

I believe you did not intend it to be negative, but when I read it, it seemed sort of dismissive, as if it described a lazy or haphazard way of writing. I think of slice of life as a kind of realism having the following two characteristics, at least:

  • The characters represent only themselves, unique personalities we are getting to know for their own sake, rather than stock characters serving as allegories.
  • All of the story takes place in a linear fashion within a clearly defined period ("slice") of time, with no use of flashbacks or flash-forwards. Any background information we need to know about the characters is revealed through conversations or actions taking place in the present.

In this category I would place the films of James L. Brooks ("Terms of Endearment," "Spanglish") and many other comedy-dramas, such as "The Weather Man," which I saw today. Richard K. Carson 04:58, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

I saw "The Weather Man" yesterday and thought quite positively of it, and when thinking about a way to describe it, "slice of life" came specifically to mind. I wanted to see how "the web" defined that phrase, and I agree that despite Bernie's stated intentions, the article reads as if it has a negative take on a "slice of life" story ("a story which has no real plot"). Kengaroo 17:52, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Quotes?

I agree that the article is imbalanced. More pressing, in my opinion, is the "quotations" section. These quotes seem to have nothing to do with the "slice of life" genre, except that they are quotes taken from works that are said to be in that genre. If the quotes are relevant to anything, they're relevant to the works themselves, and in any case they belong on Wikiquote, not Wikipedia. I'm taking them out. 69.140.12.199 16:40, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Also - Calvin and Hobbes? Friends? How are they any more "slice of life" than any other comic strip or sitcom? There are probably more on the list that don't belong there, but I don't know them well enough to say. Also, the "weblinks" section doesn't really seem to belong. I'm tempted to just slap a {{cleanup}} tag on the whole damn thing, but the article's got enough hideously ugly tags as it is. It definitely needs fixing, though. 69.140.12.199 16:45, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Calvin & Hobbes wouldn't be considered a slice of life comic strip, because it doesn't show a period of calvins life that could be "cut out" from the entirety. Calvin's life doesn't really progress and doesn't really follow one certain "set out" plot. (Don't hold it against me, I love C&H. It just doesn't fit under the slice of life catagory very well.

As for Friends, it could very well be added to the list of slice of life stories. The show's plot line could very easily be "cut out" from the character's lives.
According to that reasoning, Heroes or Scrubs or any show on TV could be considered a "slice of life". I think the idea is that it's a particular slice of life, a one off, just looking at an ordinary person and telling a particular story. ArekExcelsior 19:47, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Christoph Jenkins 04:23, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] amazing arrogance

it is interesting to see that the person who deleted the quotes is not even identifiable. Also, he or she is amazingly arrogant. If he/she does not understand the quotes, that may be because of him and not the quotes themselves. Especially the one from the Jack London story is very clear indeed. Bernie 16:52, 10 February 2007 (UTC) Feb 10,2007

Oh, I dunno. I understand the quotes themselves, but I agree with their removal as they do not help explain what a slice-of-life story is. —Quasirandom 22:30, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV / Negativity (randomness)

My impression is that this line: "The term slice of life is actually a (more or less) dead metaphor: it often seems as if the author had taken a knife and cut out a slice of the lives of some characters, apparently not bothering at all where the cuts were made." gives an unnecessarily negative view of the genre. Specifically the assertion that there might be no care as to "where the cuts were made". Being explicit about the metaphor (slicing out a piece of the life) is fine, but the quoted line suggests to me that the slicing was done in a careless fashion. Proposal: perhaps the notion of careful description (observation) of mundane (quotidian?) activities is a better approach, than saying that things included were essentially random, which seems to imply lack of craftsmanship. --Bob 69.180.201.215 04:31, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree that that quote is the locus of POV issues here, and tagged the statement as such. Which means we have a chance of improving things, with a concrete issue identified. If others agree, we can remove the large NPOV banner and then work on giving this more ballance. —Quasirandom 19:30, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Brokeback Mountain?

I was watching Brokeback Mountain last night, and I think that it would fit neatly into this category. It can be taken out from the characters lives, it has no clear plot, climax or resolution, etc. What do you guys think? --Keramac

[edit] Anime series?

Can anyone list a few slice of life animes?

I think we have enough now. —Quasirandom 22:18, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Azumanga Daioh —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.103.186.27 (talk) 01:08, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Already listed (and has been for a long time). —Quasirandom 04:23, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

What about Yotsuba&! ? It's a manga about a 5 year old, and the everyday adventures she goes on, Like going to the shops, or going next door. Made by the same guy who made Azumanga Diaoh, Which is also listed on this page. Frexe 09:10, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Well *I* think a pure manga, without anime, series would be good. 'Course I could be saying that because I'm a raving Yotsuba fanboy. "Today is always the most enjoyable day." —Quasirandom 14:39, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
In that case, I'll add it. Frexe 13:06, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Katri, Girl of the Meadows (1984), Little Women (1987). Taran Wanderer 20:35, 02 January 2008 (UTC)
I'd think for Little Women it'd be better to use the original novel. —Quasirandom (talk) 03:22, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Citations need for examples

Since whether a work is a slice-of-life story is something of a subjective call, all the examples really need citations in order to pass WP:V. I've put a couple on, for works I already knew where to find them, but the rest need them little footnotes. Using the quote parameter the way I did is also a useful thing. —Quasirandom (talk) 16:06, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

I've put in a couple more citations, but haven't found anything substantive for the others, and so have tagged them individually as needing verification. —Quasirandom (talk) 21:26, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
I just cited the one anime I put up there (the anime/manga To Heart ) and cited the anime/manga someone else put up there ( Kare Kano ) Hope that helps this article - Prede (talk) 00:47, 8 February 2008 (UTC)
Up, helps. Thanks. Though to be honest, I don't think the reference on To Heart can pass scrutiny as a reliable source per Wikipedia guidelines, as being a self-published reference. —Quasirandom (talk) 01:19, 8 February 2008 (UTC)
Yeah no problems. As for the To Heart thing I also felt it really wasn't the BEST scource, but it was something. There are TONS of beter scources out there for it I'm sure...but for now it's fine I think. - Prede (talk) 02:38, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Can the Anime News Network encyclopedia be used as a source? For example, can this be used as a source for Boys Be... being a slice of life story? Cattus talk 19:46, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Given that the encyclopedia is user-edited, it doesn't meet the requirements of a reliable source, alas. (It's the experience of the WikiProject Anime and Manga that the ANN encyclopedia can be used cautiously for information that comes directly from a release, such as publisher, release date, or episode titles, but isn't reliable for information requiring interpretation, such as genre.) This is as opposed to ANN's news and reviews, of course, where they definitely are a reliable source. —Quasirandom (talk) 20:09, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
Whoa, that was fast! :) Thanks for the answer. Oh well, I guess I'll have to hunt down reviews (I'm lazy...) Cattus talk 20:21, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
Yeah, I'm with you on the lazy. :-/ —Quasirandom (talk) 20:51, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Definition

Slice of life is a term loosely and erroneously used to refer to minimalist fiction and other literary works. Within a workshop situation, the term "slice of life" is used to suggest that the story does not have a plot: it is a gentle but obvious reprimand. "Episodic" stories are deemed incomplete, and lacking literary value: hardly the case with the examples provided here as episodic stories. The writers mentioned as examples of slice of life are in fact writing plots. For a clearer understanding of plot, one should read critical works by Edgar Alan Poe, Flannery O'Connor, John Gardner, James Joyce and E.M. Forster. Then it will become clearer to the reader that writers like Carver, Hemingway, Steinbeck and many others mentioned mistakenly in this category are, in fact, writing quite stupendously well-defined literary plots, NOT "slice of life." There is a general tendency of the public to mistake action with plot, or plot with story. This may be due to Hollywood's prevalence and aggressive claim of the term "plot" to define action-driven narrative. It is true that many minimalist and modern fiction stories lack "action" or action-driven narrative, but they do not lack plot. In the case of many literary stories, plot is character-driven rather than action driven. Therefore, I would throw out the entire definition provided here as lacking in accuracy or scholarship. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Writerlystuff (talk • contribs) 04:11, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

If you could provide a reliably sourced definition, it'd be appreciated. —Quasirandom (talk) 14:24, 15 May 2008 (UTC)