Randomosity.
Uhhhmmmmmmmmffffuuuhhhmmmmbrownie cheesecake ice-cream, work your magic.
I've been thinking about a common fiction trope, namely the "twist" reveal and my issues with it, and then I read something online today that brought everything into focus for a second.
So, if you're following the Buffy Season Eight comics at all, you'll have noticed "Twilight." GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE SPARKLEGUTTER, NOT THAT TWILIGHT. The masked villain, Twilight, who brought back Amy and Warren, who is working with the military against the slayers, who beat the shit out of Buffy in a churchyard and can fly, and who just lately brought an army to Tibet and massacred a bunch of slayers and was last seen taking them away in prisoner transports. That Twilight. I have complained about him before.
And so now Dark Horse flubbed the big reveal of his identity a bit earlier than they meant to (by releasing an upcoming set of covers,) Joss & Co. admitted it was true, end result being that we now know Twilight is actually...
...Angel.
ANGEL. So, if I get this right, ANGEL has been killing slayers and jerking Buffy and her team around. ANGEL got Amy to resurrect Warren so they could attack Buffy's base with magical zombies or some shit. And I am embarassed to say it but the one thing I absolutely cannot deal with, never mind the killing slayers thing, is that ANGEL CAN FLY ? NO. NO. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN A BUFFYVERSE WHERE ANGEL CAN FLY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT SPIKE WOULD SAY ? I HAVE BEEN IMAGINING IT FOR HOURS. IT HAS KEPT ME SANE IN A WORLD GONE MAD.
This reveal drives me crazy for, oh, about eleventy billion reasons. (I'm sure they have explanations and exposition up the wazoo, all well and good, for now it just feels like a ridiculous leap.) But I feel like it's characteristic of a lot of modern fiction writing, maybe especially in sci-fi and fantasy: the big twist. The big giant twist, the game-changer, the more shockingly unlikely the better. The villain is the hero's mom, time-travelled from an alternate future! The hero isn't the hero, he's a robot from the past imprinted with the memories of a long-dead ninja! The villain was never the villain, he was the good guy, he just had to kill a lot of people and act like a villain to get the hero to find the Robot Chip of Destiny! I'm sure this will all be clearer when I get the DVD commentaries!
I appreciate a good twist as much as the next guy, but increasingly I feel that the twist has given way to the trick. A way to cheat the audience, to prove that as the writer, you held the only set of cards all along. A good twist completes the picture: it makes you say, "oh, I would never have thought of that in a million years, but it's perfect." A bad twist makes you say "I would never have thought of that in a million years."
Am I suggesting that all stories be straightforward and telegraph their punches an hour in advance ? Not at all. I'm a lifelong mystery fan. But a truly well-crafted mystery provides clues, motivations, puzzle pieces of the characters and situations, even a red herring or two. The twist rewards you for your curiosity, even when your guess is dead wrong. The trick rejects your curiousity, your natural impulse to leap ahead, to speculate, to imagine. For me, it says "don't bother."
Frankly, I've always felt Joss was better than that. The secret of Serenity, Miranda, was like nothing I imagined- but the horror of population suppression gone wrong fit perfectly into the world he'd created, where rebels and outcasts chafed at a controlled future-state. He knows how to write a deeply satisfying twist. Twilight is Angel ? It would take a lot of ink to convince me, and frankly, I'm not sure I care anymore.
Of course, your mileage on this particular trope may vary. I'm sure there are some brilliant examples of twists/tricks that worked perfectly and thrilled the audience. I just feel it's increasingly becoming shorthand for "we wanted to surprise you with the rich storytelling, but life is short and we had this spare jack-in-the-box."
Aaanyway. Enough ranting. Classes start tomorrow. Er, class. It's my last class in the program, if all goes according to plan, and I'll also be working on my thesis. AHHHH. And also WHEEE.
The "Help Haiti" auction ends tomorrow, so here's one last pimp for my services. Watching the responses at that community has been pretty amazing. At moments like this I'm reminded why I love fandom so much.
I've been thinking about a common fiction trope, namely the "twist" reveal and my issues with it, and then I read something online today that brought everything into focus for a second.
So, if you're following the Buffy Season Eight comics at all, you'll have noticed "Twilight." GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE SPARKLEGUTTER, NOT THAT TWILIGHT. The masked villain, Twilight, who brought back Amy and Warren, who is working with the military against the slayers, who beat the shit out of Buffy in a churchyard and can fly, and who just lately brought an army to Tibet and massacred a bunch of slayers and was last seen taking them away in prisoner transports. That Twilight. I have complained about him before.
And so now Dark Horse flubbed the big reveal of his identity a bit earlier than they meant to (by releasing an upcoming set of covers,) Joss & Co. admitted it was true, end result being that we now know Twilight is actually...
...Angel.
ANGEL. So, if I get this right, ANGEL has been killing slayers and jerking Buffy and her team around. ANGEL got Amy to resurrect Warren so they could attack Buffy's base with magical zombies or some shit. And I am embarassed to say it but the one thing I absolutely cannot deal with, never mind the killing slayers thing, is that ANGEL CAN FLY ? NO. NO. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN A BUFFYVERSE WHERE ANGEL CAN FLY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT SPIKE WOULD SAY ? I HAVE BEEN IMAGINING IT FOR HOURS. IT HAS KEPT ME SANE IN A WORLD GONE MAD.
This reveal drives me crazy for, oh, about eleventy billion reasons. (I'm sure they have explanations and exposition up the wazoo, all well and good, for now it just feels like a ridiculous leap.) But I feel like it's characteristic of a lot of modern fiction writing, maybe especially in sci-fi and fantasy: the big twist. The big giant twist, the game-changer, the more shockingly unlikely the better. The villain is the hero's mom, time-travelled from an alternate future! The hero isn't the hero, he's a robot from the past imprinted with the memories of a long-dead ninja! The villain was never the villain, he was the good guy, he just had to kill a lot of people and act like a villain to get the hero to find the Robot Chip of Destiny! I'm sure this will all be clearer when I get the DVD commentaries!
I appreciate a good twist as much as the next guy, but increasingly I feel that the twist has given way to the trick. A way to cheat the audience, to prove that as the writer, you held the only set of cards all along. A good twist completes the picture: it makes you say, "oh, I would never have thought of that in a million years, but it's perfect." A bad twist makes you say "I would never have thought of that in a million years."
Am I suggesting that all stories be straightforward and telegraph their punches an hour in advance ? Not at all. I'm a lifelong mystery fan. But a truly well-crafted mystery provides clues, motivations, puzzle pieces of the characters and situations, even a red herring or two. The twist rewards you for your curiosity, even when your guess is dead wrong. The trick rejects your curiousity, your natural impulse to leap ahead, to speculate, to imagine. For me, it says "don't bother."
Frankly, I've always felt Joss was better than that. The secret of Serenity, Miranda, was like nothing I imagined- but the horror of population suppression gone wrong fit perfectly into the world he'd created, where rebels and outcasts chafed at a controlled future-state. He knows how to write a deeply satisfying twist. Twilight is Angel ? It would take a lot of ink to convince me, and frankly, I'm not sure I care anymore.
Of course, your mileage on this particular trope may vary. I'm sure there are some brilliant examples of twists/tricks that worked perfectly and thrilled the audience. I just feel it's increasingly becoming shorthand for "we wanted to surprise you with the rich storytelling, but life is short and we had this spare jack-in-the-box."
Aaanyway. Enough ranting. Classes start tomorrow. Er, class. It's my last class in the program, if all goes according to plan, and I'll also be working on my thesis. AHHHH. And also WHEEE.
The "Help Haiti" auction ends tomorrow, so here's one last pimp for my services. Watching the responses at that community has been pretty amazing. At moments like this I'm reminded why I love fandom so much.