Episode 18: Author Tom Ryan and Movies Being Too Literal

Will Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, or any of the other fictional teen sleuths ever grow up? We spoke with Tom Ryan, whose novel We Had a Hunch throws adult versions of kid detectives into several harrowing grown-up situations, from hunting a serial killer to the slow-dawning realization that they’ve become middle-aged.   Plus: are contemporary works of art too literal? It’s no fun if a novel or a movie tells to your face its theme and meaning. That’s the message of our movie, Movies Should Not Tell You Their Meaning.   We Had a Hunch by Tom Ryan is out now.   Works Cited this episode:   Nancy Drew mysteries, Franklin W. Dixon/the Stratemeyer Syndicate Hardy Boys mysteries, Franklin W. Dixon/the Stratemeyer Syndicate The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie Keep This to Yourself, Tom Ryan The Treasure Hunters Club, Tom Ryan Murder, She Wrote, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and The Silence of the Lambs, dir. Jonathan Demme “The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies,” Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker Anora, dir. Sean Baker Cinderella, dir. Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner The Brutalist, dir. Brady Corbet Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison The Trial, Franz Kafka Eradication, Jonathan Miles The Housemaid, Frieda McFadden Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann The Daydreaming Boy, Micheline Aharonian Marcom Outbreak, dir. Wolfgang Peterson Friends, created by David Crane and Marta Kaufman Field of Dreams, dir. Phil Alden Robinson Shoeless Joe, W.P. Kinsella Mikey and Nicky, dir. Elaine May The Parker novels, Richard Stark Tender is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica The Jungle, Upton Sinclair Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser