Proof that mindless tragedy doesn't mean great storytelling.

[insanepurin]

So far, I've listened to the demos of the Raggedy Ann musical, and save for several eye-rolling moments, it wasn't as traumatizing as I was expecting. Mainly because it was just the songs and didn't have as much dialogue from the show itself. But then we get to the Broadway soundtrack, which is basically a live recording of one of the five

Comments

[amelia_seyroon]

So glad you're enjoying it! I love me some musicals!

[insanepurin]

Erm... if you read the entry, you could see I clearly do not (enjoy that particular musical, that is). <.<;;;

[amelia_seyroon]

My bad. I did not fully wake up this morning. >.>;

[dioschorium]

In your estimation, is this musical better or worse than what you've seen of The Brave Frog? This loose adaptation of a beloved children's series sounds grueling, to say the least.

Now I'm wondering whether I'm guilty of Compassion Fatigue in the book I'm writing. Does this trope apply when your novel has a robot protagonist and is inspired by Justine?

[insanepurin]

It's better than Brave Frog, by far. Some of the songs are much more memorable than the ones in the movie's second half, while others aren't so good. The acting is at least more competent than Brave Frog, thank god. Ivy Austin does a great job as Raggedy Ann. :o

I think it depends on the work in question. Is your work trying to make a point (see: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Ringing Bell) or are the characters suffering only for cheap drama? I'm not the best judge of tragedies, but I think one can tell when a work is genuine and when one is just trying to make a short-cut to pathos.

[dioschorium]

It's hard not to be better than The Brave Frog, so the question was loaded to a certain extent, but in any case, at least some merit can be wrung from something needlessly bleak.

My novel is an attempt at bitter social commentary. The first-person protagonist is a robot whose owner forces it/him into prostitution. I wanted to use this perspective to remark upon power imbalances—there's no straightforward allegory going on, but depending on the situation, Ariel (the robot) can analogue to a woman, a gay man, or a transgender person. No matter what, he/it's always a sex object. The problem is that some people reject narratives framed from the perspectives of sexually abused characters, either because they feel that the topic is too disturbing or because they think it makes the character too sympathetic for criticism. What do you think?

[insanepurin]

I believe a sexually abused MC can still be looked at objectively. Heck, take a look at the Mary-Sues in "legolas" by laura and "forbiden fruit: the tempation of edward cullen." Both Sues pulled the Rape is the New Dead Parents card, and while they try to play it up for drama, it instead reads as silly because they see rape and abuse as an annoyance rather than something traumatizing. I think your book sounds original (social commentary on objectification through a robot protag!), and a publisher would have to be crazy to reject it. :)