It was a slow week.
Apr. 9th, 2022 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rogueslayer452++ I'm still accepting questions/prompts for the fandom meme, which I'll be answering shortly. :)
++ I've been thinking about the kinds of narratives that I like seeing in fiction, ones that aren't as used as frequently, at least from the things that I consume. And I kind of want to talk about them briefly.
01. Friendship breakups / fall-outs. Fiction will almost always focus on the breakup of a romantic relationship, but it's rare when it comes to how equally heartbreaking and tragic friendship breakups are. Whether it's from a specific incident or gradually drifting apart, friendship breakups can be just as painful as anything. I feel like we've been fed this "romance comes and goes, but friendships are forever" mentality which, yes, friendships are important to have, but even they can have expiration dates and seeing those fall-outs played out in fiction can be rather cathartic, especially if it's open-ended. Will they reconcile in the future? Will they just learn to accept that things can never go back to the way it was? Will they forever stay bitter and hold a grudge? I like that. It's bittersweet and angsty, but it's something that I really like because it's so meaty since there are a lot of factors that can go into it.
(Additionally to that, the fact that we get to see the slowly falling out of love with said friend or even a romantic partner, that we see the gradual shift of how these people, who were once so close, are just not on the same page anymore. It hurts, it's painful, it can get messy, but it's necessary.)
02. Reformed bully. Having characters who were former bullies, usually kids and teenagers, turning over a new leaf and spending the rest of their lives atoning for those mistakes and misdeeds is something so juicy to me. I like seeing their continued struggles, of attempting to better themselves, of figuring out how to unlearn the things that they had hurt people with before in the past, of them going through those motions of people not believing in them, not forgiving them, that past relationships/friendships might never be restored, etc, and seeing them still fighting regardless because of their guilt, of feeling remorse, and wanting to do better, be better. I've seen people recoil from this narrative because sometimes redemption arcs aren't that well-handled in fiction since there's a lot of those steps I just mentioned that are skipped, or aren't explored enough.
03. Character regression. When a character is going on a journey, and we see them progressing throughout the story, throughout their arc, only for them to go through some shit, and suddenly they start circling back around to where they first started out just in a completely different place, that's also juicy and meaty. When done well, that is. Sadly, a lot of times it's done without rhyme or reason or simply for shock value, which sucks, because I do believe that it is still character development even when it's going down a negative road, it just has to have a narrative reason for why that happened.
++ So....I watched the first episode of Guardian. I honestly didn't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. None of the gifsets or the few things I learned via fandom osmosis prepared me for that kind of an opening to the series. I'm actually surprised I managed to remain as spoiler-free as I did, considering how much I see of it everywhere. I do have a little bit more on my plate right now (still winding down from my other shows, and just mentally in generally), and I mainly just wanted to test out the first episode to see if it was going to be a drama I'd be interested in down the road, and I'm not gonna lie, it has gotten me curious. It'll be on my "to watch later" list.
++ I've been thinking about the kinds of narratives that I like seeing in fiction, ones that aren't as used as frequently, at least from the things that I consume. And I kind of want to talk about them briefly.
01. Friendship breakups / fall-outs. Fiction will almost always focus on the breakup of a romantic relationship, but it's rare when it comes to how equally heartbreaking and tragic friendship breakups are. Whether it's from a specific incident or gradually drifting apart, friendship breakups can be just as painful as anything. I feel like we've been fed this "romance comes and goes, but friendships are forever" mentality which, yes, friendships are important to have, but even they can have expiration dates and seeing those fall-outs played out in fiction can be rather cathartic, especially if it's open-ended. Will they reconcile in the future? Will they just learn to accept that things can never go back to the way it was? Will they forever stay bitter and hold a grudge? I like that. It's bittersweet and angsty, but it's something that I really like because it's so meaty since there are a lot of factors that can go into it.
(Additionally to that, the fact that we get to see the slowly falling out of love with said friend or even a romantic partner, that we see the gradual shift of how these people, who were once so close, are just not on the same page anymore. It hurts, it's painful, it can get messy, but it's necessary.)
02. Reformed bully. Having characters who were former bullies, usually kids and teenagers, turning over a new leaf and spending the rest of their lives atoning for those mistakes and misdeeds is something so juicy to me. I like seeing their continued struggles, of attempting to better themselves, of figuring out how to unlearn the things that they had hurt people with before in the past, of them going through those motions of people not believing in them, not forgiving them, that past relationships/friendships might never be restored, etc, and seeing them still fighting regardless because of their guilt, of feeling remorse, and wanting to do better, be better. I've seen people recoil from this narrative because sometimes redemption arcs aren't that well-handled in fiction since there's a lot of those steps I just mentioned that are skipped, or aren't explored enough.
03. Character regression. When a character is going on a journey, and we see them progressing throughout the story, throughout their arc, only for them to go through some shit, and suddenly they start circling back around to where they first started out just in a completely different place, that's also juicy and meaty. When done well, that is. Sadly, a lot of times it's done without rhyme or reason or simply for shock value, which sucks, because I do believe that it is still character development even when it's going down a negative road, it just has to have a narrative reason for why that happened.
++ So....I watched the first episode of Guardian. I honestly didn't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. None of the gifsets or the few things I learned via fandom osmosis prepared me for that kind of an opening to the series. I'm actually surprised I managed to remain as spoiler-free as I did, considering how much I see of it everywhere. I do have a little bit more on my plate right now (still winding down from my other shows, and just mentally in generally), and I mainly just wanted to test out the first episode to see if it was going to be a drama I'd be interested in down the road, and I'm not gonna lie, it has gotten me curious. It'll be on my "to watch later" list.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-12 01:04 pm (UTC)And I've noticed when we DO deal with that, the friend usually dies or is dying, rather than it just being a rough breakup. Which is why I won't read or watch a popular novel adapted to netflix (no spoilers). I knew without spoiling myself that one of the women was going to have terminal cancer or something in the end, because that ALWAYS happens, and sure enough, when I looked it up to see if I should try... it ends with one of the women having terminal cancer. FFS.
(It's also why when I was watching A League of Their Own I kept waiting for one of the sisters to get hit by a rogue ball and die. That never happens, they're fine, but I was nervous.)
I agree that friend breakups hurt. I've lost close friends (drifting, nothing morbid!) and that shit hurts. I cried over it. I went through a similar cycle where you blame the other person, blame yourself, and it goes on and on and on. I'd like to see that portrayed more. And you're right - friendship doesn't always last forever. Which honestly, is okay. It sucks, but it's okay to just... let what was have been. If that makes sense. I don't regret most of my friendships, not even ones that ended badly, because with a few exceptions they still brought something to my life. However, they ran their course - in some cases crashed and burned, in other cases we just drifted.
I'm trying to think of some good fictional examples and I'm struggling, which probably proves your point. I guess the closest I can come up with is Faith from Buffy, where I also think Faith was the "bad kid" friend I think we all had in our teens and twenties. I can't really think of any adult examples at all.
I've seen people recoil from this narrative because sometimes redemption arcs aren't that well-handled in fiction since there's a lot of those steps I just mentioned that are skipped, or aren't explored enough.
I think it's also quite exhausting dealing with terrible people. I love Schitt's Creek, but you have to get through two seasons of all four characters... kind of being the worst before they finally start becoming better. But people DON'T just become better people overnight.
adly, a lot of times it's done without rhyme or reason or simply for shock value, which sucks, because I do believe that it is still character development even when it's going down a negative road, it just has to have a narrative reason for why that happened.
Yeah, I think I need a reason for the character to circle around. It's fascinating to read/watch but has to be done well. If the character just doesn't seem well developed, there you go. :/ And you're right, it often is done for shock value, rather than with respect for the character and the reasons they keep spiraling.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-13 02:18 am (UTC)I can only think of three that I'm more familiar with in recent years, and they were all messy and complicated but had their purposes for being so. It hurt, it was angsty, but it was necessary, in my opinion anyway, and they left off being more or less open-ended (one of them is still ongoing and idk how that'll be handled in the continuing canon, so we'll see).
But I do think there needs to be a good balance of showing the complications of all relationships, and that sometimes, they do run their course, for better or for worse.
I think it's also quite exhausting dealing with terrible people. [...] But people DON'T just become better people overnight.
This is a fair point, but it's also true that, even when characters don't start off as good people, they have to reach that point of becoming better people, and that simply doesn't happen overnight. If it happens too quickly in the narrative, it'll be considered bad writing, but if it happens gradually, people might not be as engaged with seeing that journey unfold, especially if they have already associated that character with being a "bad person" -- as fandom oftentimes do, hyperfocus on a particular trait and only categorize that character as that trait even though there's more to them than just that.