Well, as I warned in my SLR, I had excised two parts from
my ALSW Y2K since I thought they were starting to become two
really big digressions. But alas, my Muse, the chain-saw
wielding maniac she is, revved up the motor on her chainsaw she
calls Little Bess and started in on me like there was no
tomorrow.
And because of that these babies came into being.
So without further adieu, let us begin...
Disclaimer:
These are not my opinions. So this isn�t my fault. It�s all
Ranma�s fault. So any flames go to:
Saotome@myfault.com
All praise and accolades however are welcome at the current
address. BTW, a few spoilers for various books, movies, mangas
and fanfics are mentioned so please be careful.
***********************************************************************
On The Necessity Of Cruelty And Pain:
An Examination of the Use of Physical and Psychological
Abuse of Fictional Characters for Various Reasons
************************************************************************
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
-Oscar Wilde
The Ballad of the Reading Gaol, Pt. i,vii
The scene opens to a city in ruins. Crystal Tokyo has
fallen. All but two of the Senshi are dead. The King and Queen
are no more. It is a sight of despair and death.
We are in a dank dungeon. The Water Knight Umi Ryuuzaki is
in chains, naked, the dark bruises on her body, a mark of what
she has undergone. The blue hair that had been her pride and joy
had been shorn away, leaving her with a bald scalp. Her sobs
echo in this chamber of sorrows.
We are at the bottom of an embankment, where the ruins of
a car is located. A bloodied hand and the body connected to it
is slowly dragging itself out of the chassis, the shaggy mop of
blonde hair tied in a double ponytail are the only identifying
signs of this child who would have grown into one of our most
loved heroines.
A countless scenes: rapes, murders, abuse, mutilations; a
torrent of images that should belong only to real life, but have
managed to slip into most of the fan fiction. We can even see
it in the mass-market books and films that come out.
A writer for all respects and purposes is a god or goddess
of her own little universe or universes in some cases. Whenever
our characters or other fictional characters rage at the Fates
and ask the great question 'Why?', we and our fellow writers are
the ones who are being asked...'Why?'
And that is the mostly the question: Why? Why do we inflict
such pain on characters we supposedly love? Why do we hurt them?
Why do we make them go through hell, sometimes literally?
Most of the time, the simple answer is because an author
has to. A pretty...well...broad reason to kill, maim, traumatize
or otherwise hurt our favorite anime characters. It is also
another mainly used reason for characters found in manga, books,
films and anime.
We really just have to hurt them. Not for the sake of
hurting them, no, as every author worth his salt knows that
there should be more to that than the simple need to hurt. There
must be logic to it. Again, the question comes up: Why? Why hurt
them so?
Often, the logic for doing really bad things to characters
are because, well, they�re set in the plot, a necessity for the
story. A really good example of this would be the first scene I
mentioned above. The fall of Crystal Tokyo, as told to us by
Angus Macspon in the fanfic Sailor Moon 4200.
For the record, I would like to say that I really hate
Angus� guts for writing that particular piece, but also in a
strange way, I love the guy for doing it. Strange, but that�s
what you usually get when you play around with a Bibat�s head.
^_^
I love the writing, I really liked the earlier chapters,
the exploration of new faces and somewhat new places. But there
was that underlying thought that Crystal Tokyo had fallen, that
most of the Senshi died, only Artemis and Rei were. Well,
there�s Pluto but she doesn�t count.
Then chapter nine came. Angus had divided into four parts
for easier reading and ease of download. So I started on it as
always with a smile on my face and nice little tune in my head.
Well, that�s a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean.
Parts A and B were nice and good and everything was looking up,
then I remembered that this was the chapter where Angus
explained everything about the Fall of Crystal Tokyo, and as I
started on part C, I had that feeling. The same feeling I got
when I started reading Chanson de Roland or Le� Morte de Arthur.
The knowledge that every major character was going to die,
probably in very painful and very gruesome ways, and Crystal
Tokyo, like Camelot, would fall.
I was right.
To quote my letter to Angus about the chapter, he is one
�very bad man! BAD MAAAN! Mommy keep the bad man away!�. And I
should also quote that I praised him on how he totally killed
off the Senshi and got that right feel of despair, sorrow and
loss as a dream died.
Damn you, Angus Macspon. With love. ^_^
My response is probably the result of me being a strange
mix of being very rational and very emotional when I read a fic
or a book. As I read part C, I was occasionally standing up,
walking around, and of course, punching the wall. I punched the
wall hard enough to leave spider-web thin cracks in it, and I
had an aching hand for days. I actually cried when Haruka died.
Now let�s repeat something again.
DAMN YOU, MR. MCSPON!!!! ^_^
Tears are coming again to my eyes as I remember the scene
in all its brutality. I hate that scene. Yet, I totally agree
with that, the paradox of being both a sensitive person/reader
and being a professional, in procedure if not in sales, writer.
As any constant reader of mine would know, I like Haruka. I like
her a lot, since she basically reminds me of my college days,
but that�s another story. And to read of her dying like that, I
think you might understand what I would feel. A part of my mind
was seriously considering going to New Zealand and personally
kicking Angus� ass, a fact that I didn�t state in my private C&C
to him, since I manage to calm down by then. The other part of
me, the more detached part knew the scene to be necessary and
needed. Angus had let it slip in an earlier chapter that
Haruka�s death was horrific enough to be remembered with a
shudder from her successor. He obviously had to deliver that
death.
Note that I am no stranger to brutality and cruelty. I�ve
seen my share of dying people, cadavers, blood and a few
unethical experiments that made my stomach curdle. When I was
five I got to have dubious pleasure of being there for a dog
slaughtering. You know, where I get to see my father and
grandfather tie that extra dog of ours to a tree and go at it
with two-by-fours. I also had the even more dubious pleasure of
getting a swing in. There is no need to tell of the dog�s blood
occasionally spurting. Then they cooked the dog and served it
for dinner. My relatives in the province do the same thing with
chickens, goats and sheep, though the chickens do get to be
thrown in a bag first, then set upon by either metal pipes or
two-by-fours. Pops and Gramps don�t kill and eat dogs anymore,
mostly because Gramps is insane now and Pops doesn�t have any
dogs in the house anymore and Pops usually goes for goats
nowadays, though I still do occasionally eat blood pudding or
blood soup.
But still, the Haruka�s death scene wasn�t exactly that
curdling, but I had that feeling in my stomach, a bit heavy, and
I was breathing hard and my sight was blurry from crying. I
turned off the computer and decided to finish part C the next
day.
Let�s just say that Haruka�s death was just the beginning,
though actually it started with Chibi-usa, who died a lot
earlier, but still the full emotional effect for what Angus was
probably reaching for, for me, was reached by Haruka�s death.
And it only got worse. Senshi after Senshi fell and I cried a
little more each time, until the end.
Angus does have to be praised however. Considering my
feelings when I read it, it could only have been harder for him.
And to quote my C&C he �must be praised for killing my Senshi in
the most painful and heart-aching way possible�. It takes a lot
courage to write something like that. It takes a solid stomach
and a hard heart. It also takes the mind of a master sadist and
an unfeeling puppet master, something that a writer should be
from time to time. Also you should note that there were a few
nice little touches to lessen the effect and detach the reader:
the Interludes, the way that the Senshi are called most of the
time by their planet names not by the names we know them, and
sometimes a noticeable decline in narrative description and
flow. Angus is a very considerate person, don�t you think?
What Angus did was necessary. Crystal Tokyo had to fall
and the only way it could fall with such defenders as the Senshi
was against a brutal, merciless opponent. The only way that it
could have ended was with everyone dead, because Crystal Tokyo
will fall, since we started the fanfic seven hundred years after
its fall. It�s kind of like Camelot, reading about it from Le�
Morte de Arthur of Malory, we know it�ll fall, because if it
didn�t there�d still be a Camelot or something like that.
Necessity calls a writer to do a lot of things, from being a
merciful god to a murdering demon.
Another reason for doing cruel and nasty things to one�s
favorite characters is to provoke character development or a
change in character or even maybe to even flesh the character
out. This is usually the main reason why writers use this.
Example of this can be seen in various media; in fanfiction, we
see an example of this in Ranma 2096, a fanfic by Chris Willmore
were really bad things happened to the original cast, and
another one would be Sukeban Senshi, the scene above being the
cruel act I mentioned. There are also tons of other fics where
cruelty, violence and murderous mayhem reign. I�ll just try to
go over them, �kay?
The abuse us writers usually dump on our characters are
mostly grouped into two groups: physical and psychological or
emotional. But usually it isn�t easy to divide the two since
physical abuse/trauma usually spawns and appropriate
psychological and emotional effect that correlates with level of
harm done, resulting in a change in character. A good example of
this would be Sukeban Senshi�s infamous car accident, a scene I
mentioned at the start of this article. The physical trauma
resulted in the Soban�s crippled state, leading indirectly to
Soban�s personality change. Also the trauma of the accident
would be hard on a girl of that age. The accident also leads to
Soban being orphaned and being raised in an environment that
isn�t exactly conducive to nice, positive feelings. The
character of Soban as we are introduced to her at the beginning
of the fic is different because of all that she has undergone.
More devastating examples can be seen in the fic Ranma
2096. The death of Ranma causes a chain-reaction of events that
stem from the emotional/psychological pain that the characters
of the cast suffer because of Ranma�s death. This pain
transforms the world resulting in a skewed world, with the
current generation of 2096 paying for the sins of the past. The
world shaped the characters, the pain and cruelty, the
misfortune, brought to bear on them being the hammer that beat
these characters into shape.
For a more mass-market example let�s look at Yuu Watase�s
manga opus, Fushigi Yuugi, where quite a few examples exist.
Yui�s rape, even though at the end Watase cops out on that one,
is a driving force for the great change in her character from
best friend to all-time bitch. The rape drives her to do things
that she wouldn�t have done normally, giving us a logical reason
for some of the events in the manga. By the way, I am disgusted
at the thought of rape and almost tore out the page from my
copy. But if viewed from an author�s standpoint, the event is
necessary to create conflict and the creation of a plot twist.
Heck, I sure as hell didn�t expect it. But again, as I say
Watase-san does have a conscience, and she cops out in the end.
Another event from the manga is the massacre of Tamahame�s
family by Suboshi. This event is something I really hate. I
don�t like seeing little children bloodied and dying, especially
in the graphic manner that Watase-san draws the scene, an arm
torn off here, a spatter of blood there, an obvious hole in the
little girl�s chest. If I were the author I would have
considered another approach, but Watase-san seems to be going
for the dramatic effect here. It also gives us a somewhat biased
look at Suboshi, a viewpoint that would start to crack later as
we come to know the little bastard. And it is effective. Of all
the characters that I know from the manga, Suboshi and Amiboshi
of the Seiryuushichisei are probably the most memorable,
considering Watase-san used the ambigous morality approach in
their creation. Nakago comes close, but he�s too much of a
bastard.
By the way, as long as we�re on the topic of family
massacres, I would like to make a little prediction for Angus
Macspon�s fic SM4200: Miyo�s family is toast. With the way
Argent is going through anyone who encounters Senshi and the
fact that enough digging could easily reveal the identity of
Miyo�s family, the Hayashi family will most probably be found in
their living room, blood on the walls, dismembered, internal
organs tied into balloon animals. How do I know this? This is
something I would think of and Angus is light years ahead of me
as a writer that he would think of it as a logical progression
of events and I know for a fact that he doesn�t pull any
punches. A massacred family is a small price to pay for good
character development and a nice dramatic effect. So expect in
two chapters or more from now, Miyo goes on a rampage. ^_^
And now that I�ve revealed to the world this fact,
hopefully he�ll pull his punches to prove me wrong. ^_^
And now back to FY, the death of Suzakushichisei is
another decision of Watase-san that inflicts incredible
emotional pain on both the reader and her characters. But it
emphasizes the fact that this manga is not a fairy-tale like
story, enhances the drama, and gives us incredibly nice
character development as the remaining character on the Suzaku
side face the death of their comrades. Though Watase-san cops
out on this premise again, bringing the Suzaku dead back, at
least in ghostly form and reincarnating them in volume 18.
There are several more death in FY, and all of them are
incredibly well-done, used to both advance the plot and give us
the nice dramatic effect of seeing a character that we�ve known
die right before our eyes. And as all dads seem to say, it
builds character.
Another useful purpose for pain to flesh out characters is
to give the character a defining event in their lives, but not
physically this time. More psychologically/emotionally this
time. For example, a serial killer on trial using an insanity
plea has a psychologist psychoanalyze him. The psychologist
present to the court an incident in the defendant�s life, where
he finds his little sister dead and sexually assaulted. From the
beginning we are presented with the idea that this man does
killing for fun, now we are presented with a picture that the
man is cannot help himself from doing these things because of
the trauma he has received. We are presented with a more solid
character, attracting both disgust and hate along with pity and
sadness. BTW, this is from a Japanese movie I managed to catch
on a Japanese movie marathon on cable. I�ve got tons of examples
from Japanese modern cinema on the use of violence and buckets
of blood for dramatic effect, but I rather that people just go
out and rent stuff. I recommend Kohei Oguri�s Shi no Toge,
Unagi, a dozen or so Yakuza films (which by the way would give
you a view of how to make the Japanese underworld in your own
fic), most of Akira Kurosawa�s films, especially Shichinin no
Samurai, The Hidden Fortress and the Throne of Blood. And also
browse around, there are quite a few films that come out from
the Asian film market that, if you think and watch deeply
enough, will give you quite a few insights.
Emotional pain is used to good effect in quite a few
fanfics of the more mature vein, creating conflict and
heightening the drama of a work. Nick Leifker�s Ranma fics are a
good example of this. Go through them. Though there are seldom
any martial arts battles, the emotions alone give us incredible
conflicts, most of them to be found in a character�s mind.
Well, let us move on. I�ve already mentioned an aspect of
what I�m going to discuss next, and that is the use of painful
and disturbing scenes of cruelty to enhance the mood or the
dramatic effect. The scene I mentioned above of the Water Knight
enchained and in obvious distress comes from Libby Thomas� �A
Duet of Pigtails�, setting the mood and tone, giving us an idea
of what levels of depravity that the Vanden Plaz would go to.
Most of the time, the authors who use mass violence to set the
tone and advance the plot, use innocent civilians. I have a
really big list of Innocent Civilians/Nice People/Minor
Character Body Counts, just to set the scene or the tone of a
chapter. Violators include from the cream of the crop, the
aforementioned Libby Thomas, John Walter Biles-sama, Rod M.,
Alan Harnum, James Austin Wilde, Nicholas Stone and a plethora
of others.
The worst violators mostly come from writers at the bottom
of the dog pile hoping for the shock value to give their fic
attention. Well, bad news, idiots. If the shock doesn�t come
with an appropriately good reason or a good fic, then you�re
shit. The better writers try to tone down the body count but,
let�s be realistic here, if you�re going for mass violence or
war or Nick Stone�s Halloween Specials, there are going to be
people dead, no matter what you do.
Well, we�ve nearly reached the end here. I�ve tried to
show what I believe are the reasons for a writer to commit mass
murder and various acts of cruelty on the characters he loves.
The question is how can we, the writers, keep on killing these
people? If anyone notices, I seem to treat fictional characters
like they�re real people. Because, for any writer worth his
salt, every character should be �real�, real enough for the
reader to fall in love with and be enchanted by. An author would
probably never create or use a character he or she doesn�t like.
Every created character is a creation of love by gods of
somewhat dubious morality: writers.
The characters that a person creates and a fanfic author
borrows for his fanfic are unique and each is our own, breathed
in with a little of ourselves. That�s why it�s quite pointless
sometimes for complaints of OOC, but that�s another essay for
another time. Every good author knows that hurting a character
takes guts and courage, since we�re technically doing it to a
piece of ourselves. But, again, as any good author knows, the
story is foremost, the tale supreme above all concerns. Thus
writers follow the Machiavellian principle of the end justifying
the means. I massacre a family here. I blow up a country there.
I abuse someone over there. All for the sake of the story and
plot, to give the reader and the story the ending they deserve.
We just have to have a good reason for doing these acts of
cruelty or we just become blood-thirsty maniacs out to shock.
But most of all to make the happy ending, or whatever
ending you have to shine brighter, we have to make the
characters we love go through hell. Some may die. Some may not.
But remember, the beauty of the dawn is ever so much more
appreciated after the darkness of the night.
Elsa Bibat
English Teacher
Substitute Guardian of Time
Afternote:
Please note that there may be abrupt stops and starts in the writing
style of this essay. Mostly because this essay was such a pain
in the ass to write and the fact that it's so hot here in the Philippines
that I can only use my computer comfortably at night.
*******************************************************************************
�Usako? Did I just hear you say all five of you?�
At his wife�s smiling nod, all Endymion could response
with was with a leering grin at the five women at the bedroom
door.
-a preview from the upcoming lemon fanfic, It�s Good
to be King.
�Umm�Setsuna? Did I just hear you say all nine of you?
You can�t be serious!?�
Endymion saw Setsuna smile enigmatically, with a hungry
light in her eyes as she locked the door.
�And I get to be first, Endy-chan.� Setsuna�s sultry
voice was filled with desire as she rushed up into his arms
and they fell onto the bed.
-a preview from the upcoming lemon fanfic, It�s Good
to be King: Part 2.
"You know, 'Ruka if we keep on being this close to each
other, I won't be able to stop myself from tearing your
clothes off?"
�So? Tear them off, �Roshi-kun.� The playfulness in her
voice was quite evident as she managed to keep her hands
around Hiroshi, continuin in their somewhat embrace on the
bed.
Hiroshi�s eyes widened in surprise as she looked into
Haruka�s drunken eyes, her pink smiling lips, smelling the
whiskey in her breath and feeling the silken softness of her
hair, while her hands started doing things that they wouldn�t
have normally done if she were sober.
Like unbuttoning his shirt.
Like rubbing his back.
Like going down into his�
- from an excised scene of Elsa Bibat�s fanfic �The
Women They Love: Haruka�.
Don't you just love my new .sig. ^_^ -Elsa Bibat