loading . . . Tinglepost 392: How The Grunch Stole Chris’s Ass power-handmaiden:
> First off, THAT TITLE. God, what a great tingler title. I know this is probably so obvious of a point that I donāt even need to say it but Iām going to say it anyway. The title of this tingler is INSPIRED. I only actually read the tingler today but ever since I saw it posted, Iāve been saying the title whenever possible. (Someone at the dumpling-making party my family does every year actually asked me about āAll I Want For Christmas Is To Eat Out My Christmas Treeā because Iām the go-to person for this type of conversation now. Even though I also love that tingler I was SO ready to drop this tinglerās title in conversation too because damn, seriously, itās just so fun to say!!!)
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> Actually reading the tingler did not disappoint, either. Rather than a straightforward parody like Pound Hard, this is an inversion of the Grinch story made to convey a different moral entirely. This story has a very clever use of an iconic character that reinforces its message on a meta level. The central story focuses on the townās pre-conceived idea of the Grunch, and it relies on the cultural idea of the Grinch for the reader to understand and relate personally to their perception. This means the story manages to do a lot, in an emotionally believable way, within the short wordcount of a tingler.
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> Tinglers like this make me think about fanfiction as a unique type of writing with the potential to play with ideas in a distinct way from original fiction. There is an entire metatextual element that gets introduced when using known characters, and I love how Dr. Tingle plays with varying approaches, from strictly sticking to a canon interpretation, to flipping the story on its head entirely. Getting to compare them all felt like a Christmas present for me! I think the approach of this story is particularly brilliant, with a parallel existing between the story readers will be familiar with and the hearsay passed around in the tingler. https://drchucktingle.tumblr.com/post/803970958377517056