A Series of Unfortunate Events is set in an unusual, anachronistic time period that is ambiguously set sometime in the 20th century, with old and new inventions used. A variety of inventions and technology are mentioned. For example, there are helicopters, cars, phones, a microphone, and an advanced school computer in the TV series, the computer looks like a computer from the s and early s.
At another point, typewriters, telegrams, and carriages pulled by horses appear. This paints a very changing landscape of an industrial time, with technology not yet homogenized in all places in the series. In addition, the Baudelaire children are illustrated wearing very Victorian-era clothing. This aspect is made even more absurd in the TV series, as Count Olaf mentions he bought an hourglass "online" implying the Internet and he prefers "streaming television in the comfort of his own home", a reference to Netflix.
The cars that some characters drive is also confusing as well. At the end of book 1, Mr. Poe is seen driving a car that looks like a Royal Model, while Count Olaf drives a car resembling one from the s. The location is the series is unknown; three of the books 1, 6, end of 11, 12 are set in an unspecified urban city. The Baudelaires visit a myriad of locations, such as a lakeside town, a boarding school, hinterlands, mountains, etc.
The film, however, is an exception. During a courtroom scene where a judge grants Count Olaf custody of the orphans, an American flag is present. In the finale, a letter addressed to the Baudelaires mentions the city is Boston, Massachusetts, meaning the Baudelaires are American in at least this continuity. The ambiguity of both the time and the setting are likely intentional decisions by Daniel Handler, who when asked, said, "A Series of Unfortunate Events takes place in the city and regions surrounding it, during the week and sometimes on weekends.
All The Wrong Questions takes place earlier, in a smaller town. A Series of Unfortunate Events is also depicted as being full of diverse and multicultural mentions, from its locations, food, language and people. For example, Peru is mentioned in the second book, a Vietnamese restaurant is mentioned in the sixth, Hector may be of Hispanic descent as he cooks Mexican food in book seven, there is an Indian restaurant in book twelve, etc.
Charles and Sir in book four are heavily implied to be a gay couple. There are mentions of rabbis throughout the series and different religions, traditions and culture.
Handler also wanted a more ethnically diverse cast in the TV series. The series focused on Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. Violet has a talent for inventing, Klaus has a talent for reading, and Sunny has a talent for biting. While they are portrayed very intelligent children, they are not perfect "superhumans" and have their own flaws. For example, Violet can overlook the obvious and doesn't know what leeches are, Klaus can be rude and doesn't know what a "xenophobe" means, etc.
Sunny could be considered a superhuman to a degree, as she is a baby who has a sword fight with her teeth in the fourth book and climbs up an elevator shaft with her teeth in the sixth. They may also be interpreted as a tiny bit spoiled, as they later complain about doing chores for Count Olaf, although he did force them to do so and treated them like slaves.
They become extremely unfortunate, unlucky and depressed children after their parents perish in a fire that destroys their entire home , going on to live lives full of sadness, stress, misfortune, misery, and woe. The Baudelaires are soon brought to their claimed third cousin four times removed, the treacherous actor Count Olaf. However, the Baudelaires soon discover that Olaf is an abusive adoptive father and is after their inherited fortune which Violet will obtain when she turns In addition, Olaf claims that once he finds a way to obtain their fortune, he won't hesitate to kill all three of them.
The first 7 books follow the same plot line, where the Baudelaires are sent to a new home with a new guardian. However, at the end of book 7, the series reaches a turning point, as the children are framed for murder, and the last 6 books is about them on the run from the police as well from Count Olaf.
The main thirteen books of the series describe the treacheries that the children face through their young lives while trying to prevent Olaf and his many associates' attempts on getting his hands on the Baudelaire fortune while trying to avoid death along the way while at the mercy of the world. Meanwhile, the Baudelaires must deal with absurd situations, a secret society known as V.
The world in the series often feels dystopic, hostile, corrupt, chaotic and cruel, leading many readers to call it a "crapsack world". However, it is set in a conventional setting without any war, famine, etc where the Baudelaires live, at least. Most of the dystopic elements are often found in sociology, human behavior and often barbaric and nonsensical laws which humanity follows obediently and submissively, and the vast majority of people lack critical thinking skills.
The Council of Elders is a strong example of this. In The Vile Village , the Baudelaires attempt to use "mob psychology" by shouting in a crowd, suggesting that humanity in the series is incapable of free independent thought. Even if an adult is kind-hearted, they often have some other trait which negatively impacts the Baudelaires and endangers their lives, such as Josephine Anwhistle being cowardly.
If an adult in the series is on the more kind and sensible side, such as Uncle Monty, they are usually doomed and will probably die over the course of the series, or their death is implied.
It is unknown if the adults seen in the series are intended to be "normal" or "average" in the world, or if the Baudelaires are simply unlucky when it comes to meeting decent people, as Lemony Snicket calls them magnets for misfortune. The dismal psychology of humanity in the series even extends to children, such as a girl named Carmelita Spats whom Lemony Snicket calls rude and filthy, as well as the students who bully the Baudelaires at school.
After The Vile Village , the Baudelaires' living situation changes drastically, essentially become homeless with an uncertain living situation as they seek food, shelter, and jobs wherever possible in order to survive. Club that he decided to write a children's story when he was trying to find a publisher for his first novel, The Basic Eight. One of the publishers, HarperCollins, passed on The Basic Eight , but they were interested in him writing a story for children. Handler thought it was a terrible idea at first, but met with the publishers to discuss the book.
They challenged him to write the book he wished he could have read when he was He retooled a manuscript he had for a mock-Gothic book for adults, [2] which became "the story of children growing through all these terrible things", a concept which the publishers liked, to Handler's surprise.
When asked what inspired him to write the series, Handler said, "I thought it would be interesting if terrible things happened to three helpless children over and over again. Handler was not heavily focused on a moral message while writing the series, although he was forced to think about this aspect at times.
Instead, he preferred to focus on the actual events of the plot instead of trying to craft the story around a moral message which could seem shoehorned and forced. Handler was inspired by authors like Roald Dahl, Edward Gorey and Zilpha Keatley Snyder, who wrote books about creepy but nonsupernatural circumstances. He did not want to write a book about people casting spells or finding three rings to defeat a dragon. His original contract was four books, so if his series was not successful, it would have stopped at The Miserable Mill , although support eventually got him to write the full series.
Despite that A Series of Unfortunate Events is often categorized as a "children's book series", there is a lot of questionable, disturbing, distressing, violent, and mature content in the series.
Lemony Snicket warns the reader on each book cover that the Baudelaires' lives are unpleasant - there is no happy beginning, no happy end, and very few happy things occur throughout the series.
Daniel Handler admits that he wrote the series because he was sick of how "sappy", "dumbed down" and "optimistic" children's books are, as they tend to always have happy endings, be overtly cheerful and uplifting, and give unrealistic expectations. And every kid kind of knows that. Well what about your adult novels. We Are Pirates is out this spring. What sort of questions are you asking in that book? The moral is: there is no place outside the world.
Mostly I would have felt really self-conscious about doing that kind of research. It was actually in examining this that I learned so many kids were spending time with old people as punishment and how that made everybody feel terrible. What drew you to a piracy story? It was in my head from high school.
We had this list of occupations and you were supposed to check off the ones that you were interested in. At some point I was reading about how pirates worked with local mapmakers — they were in cahoots with them.
Sometimes if you were a ship captain you would buy a map and it would show you a shortcut and then it would turn out to be an ambush. No favorites. I just bought the Emily St. High school students chose them.
But it was always interesting to see what they liked and what hey responded too. One big thing was it was a very diverse group of high school students and the finished anthology is fairly white.
Yes laughing. But for the most part it was a pleasure and I think the anthology is full of good stuff. And some anthologies that are held together by genre are tougher to read.
Daniel Handler, thank you so much for talking with me today. It was wonderful speaking with you. Subscribers receive quality lists of upcoming deadlines for lit mags and contests, free fiction, and exclusive content regarding writing, craft, and interviews from established authors. At The Masters Review, our mission is to support emerging writers. We only accept submissions from writers who can benefit from a larger platform. Typically, writers without published novels or story collections, or, publications with low circulation.
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All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Policy. Did you have to query an agent? How To Watch on Peacock. The book franchise, which inspired the movie of the same name starring Jim Carrey , was a middle school staple for many millennials, who followed the Baudelaire orphans through all their trials and tribulations against the scheming Count Olaf.
Anyone else smell another Emmy nod? When Harry was getting banned in conservative middle schools, however, Lemony Snicket pen name of Daniel Handler was pushed on kids instead, and, interestingly enough, they took to it. Silly administrators.
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