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realistic characters in realistic systems
Oct. 18th, 2010 09:56 amI saw Wes Craven's My Soul To Take last night - it was actually pretty decent. The plot was a little convoluted, with all the souls splintering and being captured and going into babies and all, but I really enjoyed the characters. They were teenagers - "who look like they're actually in high school," as Christina said - from various social cliques who were not at all cardboard cut-outs. They acted like actual people. They all had flaws as well as positive traits. No one was romanticized or vilified.
But here's the other thing: I think that writers often get the message to build three-dimensional, realistic, balanced characters. But part of that, and the part that I think tends to fall by the wayside, is that these lovely three-dimensional characters are still part of society. They're influenced by social norms, by the expectations others lay on them; they feel more comfortable with some people than others. A lot of them probably want to stay wherever they're comfortable. And in most high school settings, they're going to be sitting somewhere within a hierarchy. In other words, these characters need to reside in realistic social systems, IMO - realistic, of course, for whatever world has been built. My Soul To Take totally nailed this one: the beautiful popular girl isn't going to fall for the unpopular, loser-ish outcast - she's got a reputation to maintain, or she doesn't think he'd be good for her, or she doesn't find his type attractive, or "it just wouldn't work." Does that mean she's a shallow, selfish bitch/whore with nothing more to her? No. Of course not. She's still a whole person, just like the outcast is still a whole person. It just means they don't exist in a social vacuum.
Of course, this is not to say that beautiful popular girls have never fallen for unpopular outcasts, or that I as a rule cannot "buy" a story where that happens. Just that I feel like fictional characters seem to defy society a lot more than real people do. It's also not to say that social roles are straitjackets, because that's crazy deterministic.
How important this is varies from person to person, I know. But I've discovered that it's very important to me. It makes me feel like there's less lying going on, usually about how good the world is (or alternately - in the case of horrific dystopic totalitarian states where EVERYTHING IS BAD and EVERYONE SUFFERS - how bad the world is). Plus I like seeing social systems in action, I guess. There's a reason I majored in political science.
P.S. Watching One Missed Call 2. Could have sworn director Tsukamoto sampled a bit of audio from one of the LOTR movies. Only this time instead of Frodo mesmerized by the ring, we have girl being attacked by ghost. It's all the same, really.
But here's the other thing: I think that writers often get the message to build three-dimensional, realistic, balanced characters. But part of that, and the part that I think tends to fall by the wayside, is that these lovely three-dimensional characters are still part of society. They're influenced by social norms, by the expectations others lay on them; they feel more comfortable with some people than others. A lot of them probably want to stay wherever they're comfortable. And in most high school settings, they're going to be sitting somewhere within a hierarchy. In other words, these characters need to reside in realistic social systems, IMO - realistic, of course, for whatever world has been built. My Soul To Take totally nailed this one: the beautiful popular girl isn't going to fall for the unpopular, loser-ish outcast - she's got a reputation to maintain, or she doesn't think he'd be good for her, or she doesn't find his type attractive, or "it just wouldn't work." Does that mean she's a shallow, selfish bitch/whore with nothing more to her? No. Of course not. She's still a whole person, just like the outcast is still a whole person. It just means they don't exist in a social vacuum.
Of course, this is not to say that beautiful popular girls have never fallen for unpopular outcasts, or that I as a rule cannot "buy" a story where that happens. Just that I feel like fictional characters seem to defy society a lot more than real people do. It's also not to say that social roles are straitjackets, because that's crazy deterministic.
How important this is varies from person to person, I know. But I've discovered that it's very important to me. It makes me feel like there's less lying going on, usually about how good the world is (or alternately - in the case of horrific dystopic totalitarian states where EVERYTHING IS BAD and EVERYONE SUFFERS - how bad the world is). Plus I like seeing social systems in action, I guess. There's a reason I majored in political science.
P.S. Watching One Missed Call 2. Could have sworn director Tsukamoto sampled a bit of audio from one of the LOTR movies. Only this time instead of Frodo mesmerized by the ring, we have girl being attacked by ghost. It's all the same, really.
