Wow. That subject line is so brief I can’t believe I wrote it. But I will have to ruin its concision. The conflict needs to be central to the story, and it needs to be specifically stepfather/stepson or uncle/nephew. Oedipus doesn’t work; neither does Cinderella or Snow White. The medium matters only a little; I’d prefer a play, novel, or short story to a movie or television show. And of cousre I’d like the name of the author.
Suggestions, anybody?
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“Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey … The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”
Dickens’ David Copperfield has some conflict between David and his stepfather, but I don’t know if you would say it was central to the story or not (it’s been years since I read it).
There’s always Prince Caspian for the conflict between Caspian and his uncle what’s-his-face, if that works for you.
Skald, how many threads have you started? You never seem to run out of ideas for discussing ideas.
I’m assuming you’re wanting an example to inspire something you’re working on yourself. With stepfather/stepson, two men are sharing the attention of a common woman; one for romance, the other for nurture, and they’re fighting over how to divide the time. But you also wanted an uncle/nephew relationship, so maybe you’re not looking into the familial angle as much.
So are you looking into a relationship between rivals, or should I say, a rivalry between relatives, one older and one younger?
This time it’s for the book club. I had a similar thought in reference to a story I was working on, but I just shrugged, wrote “Oedipal,” and let it go.