
Synopsis/Details
Sydney Mitchell is drowning. Her mother, Claire, obsessed with preparing for nuclear war has inadvertently confined herself to the house with a constantly crying newborn, while her father, Henry has reverted to his old friend whiskey to aide in his enforcement of harsh family guidelines. Sydney soon finds refuge in an eccentric feminist and a softhearted outsider whose encouragement results in her signing her father’s signature for a scholarship that promises to take her out of state. But, as her parents slip deeper into their grisly fixations, an unexpected rival and a decline in grades prompts Sydney to ingest copious amounts of pharmaceutical speed to help her study, forcing her into a claustrophobic nightmare where she realizes that she must fight for, not only her freedom, but the freedom of someone she had hoped would never exist.
Story & Logistics
Story Type:
Escape
Story Situation:
Falling prey to cruelty/misfortune
Story Conclusion:
Bitter-sweet
Linear Structure:
Linear
Moral Affections:
Accusation, Bad Man, Condemnation, Contempt, Detraction, Disapprobation, Disrespect, Guilt, Illegality, Impurity, Innocence, Intemperance, Knave, Punishment, Scourge, Selfishness, Sensulist, Temperance, Vice, Wrong
Cast Size:
Many
Locations:
Few
Characters
Lead Role Ages:
Female Middle Aged, Female Teenager, Male Middle Aged
Hero Type:
Ordinary, Unfortunate
Villian Type:
Authority Figure, Bully, Mentally Disturbed, Pure Evil
Stock Character Types:
Bad boy, Damsel in distress, Girl next door, Ingenue, Loathly lady, Lovers, Professor, Town drunk, Tragic hero, Vice, Villain
Advanced
Subgenre:
50’s, Action Suspense-Thriller, Addiction, Adult, Atomic Age, Childhood, Coming of Age, Conspiracy, Disaster, Drama, End of World, Escape, Fallen Woman, Fantasy, Generation Gap, High School, In Peril, Life Story, Love, Lovers on the Run, Military, Mysteries, Nostalgia, Older-Woman-In-Peril, Period, Political, Psychological, Rape, Romance, Social-Class, Social Commentary, Survival, Suspense-Thriller, Teen/Youth, Tragedy, Victim, World War 2, Youth Culture
Subculture:
Beat Generation, Prepper, Preppy/Valley girl/Popular clique, Teenybopper
Equality & Diversity:
Female Protagonist
Life Topics:
Adolescence, Birth, Childhood, Coming of Age, Death, Loss of Virginity, Mid-life Crisis/Middle Age, Middle school/Junior High, Near Death Experience
Drug Topics:
Illegal Drugs, Legal Drugs
Time Period:
The Fifties (1950–1959)
Country:
United States of America (USA)
Time of Year:
Autumn/Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter
Illness Topics:
Psychological
Relationship Topics:
Abusive relationship, Attachment, Bonding, Child, Concubinage, Courtship, Dating, Domestic, Emotions and feelings, Endings, Family, Husband, Infidelity, Intimacy, Jealousy, Limerence, Love, Non-monogamy, Passion, Repression, Romance, Separation, Sexual, Sexual activity, Sexuality, Significant other, Transgression
Writer Style:
Ingmar Bergman, Oliver Stone, Orson Welles
Coverfly All-time Overall Top 25%