Happily ever after, the end?

[nekokoban]

FIRST OF ALL, A PIMP! For the record, I do not actually ship the Medicine Seller with anyone. To me, he's a completely asexual being, though I'll write anything at least once -- maybe twice, if interested. *g* However, there is this song:

The Hush Sound - Medicine Man

that is, for me, a Kayo-->Medicine Seller song. It is also super-catchy and I can hear Chira laughing at me all the way over here. :|b

Now, the actual post! This is something I have nattered about before, multiple times, but then this post by Laylah (over on IJ) got me thinking about it again -- that, and the fact that I had this emo spat over the weekend which is gone now, like DUUuuUUUuSSST in the WIIIiIIIiinnnnd-- don't make me sing, guys, you'll regret it forever and ever. :(

But more seriously, what Laylah was talking about is something I've seen before -- granted, not in the same context as her -- her creative writing classes -- mooooostly because. Well. I took only one creative writing class, and that was back in high school a-and I realized that, um. Most of the people were taking it for an easy grade (our teacher was a super-sweet woman, but prone to be overly-forgiving of deadlines and the like), or were the sort of Arteests that I can't stand. What I do have is roughly twelve years (?!?!?!) of active-ish participation on the internet and fandoms, though less now than when I first started out. And it's really not unusual, sadly, to see people declare that things must have ANGST and ANNNNGST and YET MORE ANGST in order to be "deep" or "meaningful" or -- and I think this is the worst bullshit of all -- be "worthy writing."

This isn't to say that I think dark/angsty things don't have redeeming value -- sometimes, a story just needs to be dark. There are times when that's just how the cards fall, and that's awesome! But that doesn't make it any more artistic or a better read than a happy story -- a comedy has just as much potential to be poignant and touching and move you as much as a tragedy. (Perhaps not the modern slapstick comedy so much, no, but hell, much as I hate the genre, that's part of the appeal of "romantic comedies," isn't it?)

However, I think I'd expand that -- and I'll make a confession:

I really don't like "tragically noble" types.

Nine times out of ten, noble suffering gets my hackles up and just ... irritates me. Stop me if you've heard this story -- someone is wrongly accused of HORRIBLE TERRIBLE THINGS!1! and is punished for them, but believes THEY DESERVE THIS PUNISHMENT!1!!! because somewhere along the way, they've at least partly internalized the world's finger-pointing, and now they have TRAGIC NOBLE ANGST as they struggle valiantly to NOT LET HISTORY'S MISTAKES REPEAT THEMSEEEEEEELVES!

I just. I can't. Oh my god, when I run into characters like that, I want to whack them on the back and say CHEER UP EMO KID because-- well. That's kind of what Noble Tragics do to me. This is not to say I dislike them all, because I believe there are exceptions to every rule, but as a general whole? No thank you.

That's not to say my favorite sort of angsty character -- I am super-super weak the smiling "I've got a secret" ones who play their parts as tricksters and jokesters and yet have terrible, terrible backstory (cough cough gee, I wonder who in my current fandom(s) are like that :p) -- aren't irritating, either. But the thing is, I like that element of lightness and comedy to a character. Even if it's ultimately a charade -- though with my favorites, I would argue it's NOT -- it feels, to me, like they have more depth than your Noble Tragic or your Quiet Brooder. The Fake Smile has at least two notes to their personality, even if you don't see the second note till it's almost too late.

And honestly, guys, what is UP with hating on characters just because they're happy? Why is a character shallow if he/she is outgoing and upbeat and prefers a smile over a frown? Why are they seen as idiots compared to their angstier companions? (I mean, all right, the general rule in fiction is that happier characters might not be as bright academically, but they tend to have very good instincts emotionally -- and normally they have some pretty insightful views/beliefs on human nature and the heart. AND EVEN THEN, that's not always the case; there are plenty of happy characters who're academically smart as well.)

Just. I don't know, I can't speak for the world as a whole, but for myself? I actually feel a lot more satisfied with a happy ending than a tragic one -- I find a story that ends with hope infinitely preferable to the downward spiral finally hitting rock-bottom. I think that's why characters matter so much to me -- I will forgive a weaker plot if characters are awesome, but an awesome plot with lukewarm characters or even a wannabe awesome plot insert rant about certain games that anyone who's actually talked to me know what I mean usually loses my interest super-fast.

I have to like your characters before their tragedies mean anything to me -- and I grow to care about characters by seeing their joys.

Part of it is that, like I said in my comment to Laylah, fiction isn't all escapism for me. Or more accurately, storytelling isn't escapism: I do it all the time. "There was this thing that happened to me and a friend," or "I'd heard that this was--" or "oh man, I just got back from [xx]." And my life, guys, is not all tragedy and woe -- it's not even a LITTLE tragedy and woe. Most of my angst comes from internal sources, rather than the world dropkicking me like a game of hackeysack.

There are so many little joys in life. Missing out on that is a terrible thing, imo.

TL;DR version: I think angsty characters are actually more shallow and one-dimensional than happy ones. It is so easy to find something to be sad about, guys. There are times where the stronger person is the one who looks past the grim and the dirt and ugly twisted sadnesses and sees the beautiful underneath.

Next time, I think I might awaken on a bandwagon and do that not-quite-a-question-meme that mackzazzle started. :|b

Comments

[secondfish.livejournal.com]

...laaate comment!

But I wanted to emerge from the shadows for a moment to say word. I, uh, I think sometimes people confuse "dealing with serious topics" with "angst!" and there -is- a major difference, which is really in a - metafictional sense, I suppose.

I'll try and put down some kind of coherent response! The thing with the Noble Tragic done badly, or even just sort of indifferently/averagely, is usually not that the self-contained character themselves is GUILTY and QUIETLY SUFFERING but that the world and people around them just sort of...bend to accommodate this! Especially in some fanfiction, I think, the sense that none of the usual laughter or - inappropriateness, really, of life, the way that all kinds of things intrude and intersect on whatever your emotional state is. Or at least on you, as a person, even if you remain miserable; mixing 'bitter' subtly into 'sweet', or wistfulness/nostalgia into a comedy, is pretty par for the course, but I think there's a sense that unhappiness CANCELS ALL.

So it's writing on one note that I object too, and sort of tiptoeing around the 'broken' character. The idea that their trauma sort of radiates off them and adds a constant dignity, and that people either automatically notice and respect them or that their uncaringness just points up how alone. And tragic. And sad the protagonist is. U-unlike you, I don't automatically want to smack them and tell them to cheer up, but I usually want someone around them to do it. XD. Because, you know, others can be inappropriate! Sometimes it stops raining! All of that. And, again, tragedy doesn't automatically render a character intelligent, or wise. It just renders them...someone who's gone through something awful, and has problems! That doesn't result in One Type, or it shouldn't, anyway, but I think the thing gets rendered down to that anyway.

So it's not "suffering", per se, as used in fiction I have a problem with, but the perceived worth of ANY SORT OF TRAUMA, especially piled on the way it can be in comics these days (THIS LEADS TO WOMEN IN REFRIGERATORS AND MAKES ME A SAD FAN) as an instant story-improver. Uh. No. It doesn't work like that. Someone...wrote a really interesting article on PTSD drawing from their own experiences, which I can dig up, by a fan for fans among other things, which contained a section on 'don't fall in love with your beautiful suffering'. The idea that, uh, this makes a character special, this should be clung on to.

I'll also add that I find it really, really strange that it's considered to be a literary achievement to write something to bring all the characters down to rock-bottom, and yet it would be considered pretty weird were someone to write a novel with the express purpose of making everyone as happy as possible at the end, ahaha. I think it's because authors are...meant to want the best for their characters? So if a weird/deus ex machina kind of plot device turns up and completely screws everyone over, it's not considered half as implausible as when something turns up to help them, because one is seen as the author stepping in to SAVE THEIR BELOVEDS and the other as reflecting the sudden horror of real life. Et cetera.

And I have nothing at all against sad stories, and actually most of my absolute favourite books are -incredibly- depressing, but I think both are valid, and that it is a really odd cultural paradigm. In conclusion, word! Tl;dr word, but nevertheless.

....also, walking past a Baptist church today and brooding over these complex thoughts, I saw a sign on the door saying "JELLYBEANS CANCELLED". Which I suppose sums it up.

[nekokoban]

Late comments are okay too! *g* It's not like there's an expiration date on this LJ.

I would definitely agree with you here -- writing serious/heavy material (at least in fandom) is one of those cases where I think authorial intent becomes a lot more obvious. On a meta scale, I'm much more likely to be kind of off-put by a fic where I know the author is TRYING for sweeping! drama! angst! and suchlike; it's one thing to say "I feel like this story had to be this way, so I tried to do that," but it's another to essentially go, "but this is THE ONLY WAY TO TELL A STORY TO MAKE IT HAVE MERIT" and then apply it to ... all fiction. There are other schools of thought on that, certainly, but I just ... have a really hard time taking it seriously when an author tries to be dramatic and angsty or conflicted with everything they write. Fiction, for me, isn't just about escapism -- it's another way for the writer to express her/himself, and life isn't always about the big sweeping things, or even the little tragic things. Sometimes, it's just about going to the store and watching the birds fly away and thinking about what a nice day it's been.

My biggest beef with the Noble Tragic, honestly, is how the world/characters accomodate (that's a good word for it!) their suffering. People rush to fawn or admire them for their stewing in their regret and their grief, and hell: that's not healthy in real life. That's not going to be healthy for a fictional character, either. People have triggers, certainly, and the fascination/frustration of humanity is that there's no real way to predict them. Triggers can be stupid and irrational and it's not anyone's fault that they react -- but it becomes skeevy, I think, when that gets coddled and even praised in a backhanded sort of way. You get this a lot with fandom's treatment of Noble Tragics, I think; they rush to go "Oh, woobie" and bandaid it better, which is all well and good -- but I very rarely find myself drawn to the sort.

(And, okay, fair: when I say "I" want to smack them a bit, I usually mean "I-in-the-vehicle-of-a-character" which is possibly a bit self-insert-y, but I try to refrain most of the time. *g*)

Part of me resents, I think, the perception that you're only a deep and intelligent character if you've seen or done horrible things, or suffered through a terrible past. I resent the implication this casts on real people, too, because I've known people who've had terrible lives and are still about as irritating and shallow as you can get, and I know people who've lead ordinary comfortable lives who're a lot more profound than I think I could ever be. I also don't like to think that I'm stupid, admittedly -- I'm not the brightest, but I'm not stupid, even if my life has been pretty damn awesome thus far. "Don't fall in love with your beautiful suffering," though, I like that. I don't want to make it sound like I'm saying characters shouldn't suffer, or that they should always be happy -- I just don't like the idea that it's better when they are cut down and taken apart and not allowed even a breather before it all goes wrong.

When I write original fiction, I write with the idea that I would like to have a happy ending. Whether it actually happens is another story altogether.

... man. I'm not terribly fond of Baptists (a certain branch of them has sort of soured my thoughts on them all), but cancelling jellybeans?! The fiends! :(