Anyway, the first hero
will be revealed in full very soon. My
current plan is to stick to a once-a-week schedule on that front; I don’t
expect each post to be as in-depth (or long) as, say, posts for the Kingdom Hearts Retrospective or random
video game discussions. Hopefully, they’ll
be about the same length as a chapter of I
Hraet You, which generally run to 2,000 words -- well, give or take. So they won’t be too strenuous, and I’ll be
sure to balance out the humor with the twinkly-eyed sales pitches.
But before I get too
ahead of myself, I want to make sure I’m clear on what’s going to go down -- a
definition, of sorts. So let’s make sure
we’re clear on what’s to come before I make a fool out of myself on the
internet. Let’s go over what I mean when
I say “spirit”.
It has nothing to do with horses...yet.
“You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘spirit of _______’ in one form or another.
A spirit of adventure! A spirit of wonder! Each one brings with it
colorful connotations -- qualities that make a story unique and
affecting. If you can sum up a story’s essence in one word -- one
adjective or noun that brings with it a plethora of feelings -- then chances
are that the story’s not only pretty good, but also worthy of being remembered
by virtue of its character.
“But a story’s spirit is largely a matter of conveyance. Writers
(or creators in general) have plenty of tools available to them to show their
story’s spirit, be it the characters, the world, the events, the themes, and of
course their minds. With the limitless canvases that fiction provides,
there’s no reason why any creator should go without giving their product some
much-appreciated flair.”
...And there was some mention of a certain under-appreciated badass. Fun times.
Hopefully I got my
point across from that little section, but I want to expand on that a bit. Ask any writer -- or heck, any person -- what
they think is the most important part of a story, and they’ll probably say “characters”. That’s a given. It seems so obvious that I didn’t even bother
mentioning on my list from way back when.
But characters (the leads, especially) are a key determinant of a story’s
spirit; bad characters lead to a bad spirit, which leads to a bad story. As a reader -- as a person who enjoys
stories, no matter what medium they appear in -- you can probably name some
examples.
But for argument’s sake, let’s
pick on a notable example.
As far as I know,
everyone seems to love (or at least like) the original Star Wars trilogy. And as
far as I know, the prequel trilogy is universally reviled. There are probably a lot of reasons for this
-- with the Plinkett reviews likely naming each and every one -- but let’s talk
about the Skywalkers each trilogy centers on, Luke and Anakin. It would probably help if I was a major Star Wars buff, but let’s see if I can
make my way through this.
Luke Skywalker is our
hero. He’s the lynchpin of the original
trilogy, in spite of being just a small component of the story as a whole. He’s a character we’re meant to identify with
in a sense, and sympathize with. He’s
the perfect outlet for introducing an audience to the varied worlds of the
franchise, but more importantly he serves as the road viewers are meant to
travel. He starts out as a nobody on a
desert planet that wants more out of life, and gets it -- he becomes entangled
in a battle that spans the entire universe, becomes part of a ragtag crew,
trains in the art of the sword, braves the revelations brought about and
endures the call of darkness, and OH MY GOD Star
Wars sounds almost exactly like a JRPG.
Pictured: an early design of Luke. Scrapped due to zoning clearance required on shoes.
Cross-cultural and
generational similarities aside, Luke is the hero of The Hero’s Journey. He starts with nothing but a good heart, but
ends up growing into a powerful warrior with allies by his side, stakes to his
name, and tragedies fresh in his head. But
in the end, it’s his goodness that ends up becoming his greatest weapon, even
more so than his energy katana or sweet robot hand. While he’s inevitably shaped by the people
and circumstances around him -- as heroes often are -- it’s his innate
qualities and lessons learned that bring some semblance of a satisfying
conclusion to the story. There are a lot
of things you could declare as the original trilogy’s spirit (heroism, justice,
adventure, virtue), but if you’ll let me do a bit of wordplay I’ll name the
spirit “peace.” The protagonists all
campaign for peace. Becoming a Jedi --
at least one of the noble ones -- requires inner peace, as I imagine any
samurai would espouse. Saving the
universe requires not only stopping the empire, but bringing peace to the
Force. Luke manages to bring peace to
Vader’s heart before the lord’s death, and manages to convince him to perform a
redemptive sacrifice. Basically, Luke is
a good guy. We want to follow him
because he’s out to do something noble, and it’s reflected upon both the world
and the story at large. And thus, the
story gets its spirit.
Anakin, on the other
hand, hasn’t been so well-received. Kid
Anakin starts out as a kid (and I mean kid)
who’s pulled into a galactic…er, trade dispute from his sandy home planet, in an
obvious parallel to Luke. Outside of
some improbable piloting and podracing skills, Anakin doesn’t have too much of
a presence in The Phantom Menace --
which may be a bit of a blessing -- so his stake in establishing the story’s
spirit is comparatively weak. In Attack of the Clones, he’s given more of
a focus -- along with a forbidden love angle that serves as a precursor to his
downfall. But beyond that, Anakin isn’t
nearly as enjoyable to watch and follow along as Luke is. He’s impulsive, irritable, self-important,
and commits the worst sin any character can in a story: he’s whiny.
Pfft. Walk it off, ya baby.
Say what you will about
how much we needed to hear Vader’s origin story, but what’s important to note
is that we have to (or should at least try to) consider the prequel trilogy as
a story with its own merits. If this was
its own separate tale -- concepts and legal issues aside -- would it be able to
hold up on its own? Probably not,
because Anakin is a pain to watch.
Ignoring the fact that his conflicts are generated via stupid actions,
Anakin himself doesn’t do anything to win viewers over. He revels in angst. He makes some really bad decisions. He has a shallow love interest that probably
should’ve gone running to Kashyyyk before marrying the clearly-unstable
murderer. His character arc is all over
the place, both in terms of the trilogy and in each movie. It’s impossible to feel anything for a
character that’s irredeemable thanks to his stupidity and remains thoroughly
unlikable throughout. So in other words,
he’s a bad JRPG protagonist.
Again, what a person
decides to call the trilogy’s spirit will vary -- but in my case, I’d call it “tragedy”. It’s a tragedy by design (by poor design), and it’s a tragedy in the
sense that it wrecks the names of both George Lucas and his franchise. Anakin is supposed to be a tragic character,
which I get, but the thorough incompetence brings down both his presence and
the story as a whole. So the moral of
the story is simple: get your lead all sorted out and make him good. If you can’t, don’t bother making a story at
all.
Pictured: an early design of Anakin. You can just feel the disappointment.
Now, to be fair, there
ARE other elements of a story’s spirit.
Themes go a long way, for example, as you probably noticed when I talked
about the original Star Wars
trilogy. The hero (and other characters)
serves as vessels to convey those themes, most notably through their cooperation,
conflict and even basic interaction.
Likewise, the setting itself plays a HUGE part in establishing the
spirit. Speaking as someone who’s played
too many video games in his life, there’s a distinct difference in feeling and
overall effect from a game like LittleBigPlanet
-- which looks like this:
As compared to a game that
looks like this:
You can use the world
and the events therein, in conjunction with your characters and themes, to give
your story the spirit you want. You can
twist those expectations at your leisure if you’re bold enough (can you imagine
Sackboy exploring a place like Sao Paulo?).
So, let it be known that the options available to creators are
incredibly varied. But in my case, I’d
prefer to have the key defining characteristic of the spirit be my lead
characters -- the heroes.
Why? Because they’re the first and last thing one
should -- and often does -- remember about a story. People are drawn to heroes, to exploits and
adventures well beyond anything the average man can bring about. People associate things with faces, and
heroes can offer them something worth taking to heart; you see, behind each
hero lays a set of ideas and traits that one can agree or disagree with. A story at large functions as a way for a
hero to prove him/herself and those ideas, AND the story’s spirit -- and
because of it, they have the potential to elevate themselves into the public
conscious in a very big way. Fandom,
inspiration, or just plain entertainment -- there’s a lot riding on them, but
if they’re worth their salt they can pull off a win.
And that’ll just about
do it for now, I think. See you guys
around -- I’ve got some work to do, you see.
If I’m going to prove that my own heroes and their respective spirits are
worth your time, I’d better put in the hours.
I’m starting to get a
little hyped. Aren’t you?
(By the way, there’s
something that always bugged the crap out of me with the prequel trilogy. Did they ever explain why Anakin aged ten
years while Padme and Obi-Wan stayed almost the same? Do they have different physiologies that affect
the speed in which they age? Isn’t it weird
that Padme -- a senator and a queen -- ends up marrying a boy from a backwoods
planet at least ten years her junior?
Was he even of age? How big of a
time skip was there? And if there was
one of at least ten years, wouldn’t Obi-Wan and Anakin have a much better
relationship than what’s shown in the movie?
I’m sure these are all valid questions, but the simple answer is likely that
the prequels sucked lemons dipped in hot glue.)
Next: Hope you like swords, because this guy has...well, two at the most.
Next: Hope you like swords, because this guy has...well, two at the most.
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