Protagonist, Antagonist and just plain gonist.

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Castiel (Supernatural)

Castiel (Supernatural) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before I get started, I want to warn those who might not have watched Supernatural, this post is basically one big long spoiler.

 

As a writer I find Castiel‘s character fascinating and exceedingly complicated.  I know some people disagree, I have only to scroll through the 100s of tweets I got earlier this month for confirmation of this.  They feel he has no place in the narrative and should be removed as a character.

What they are refusing to see is actually taking away a huge chunk of the narrative.  It would be like reading The Hunger Games and ignoring Peeta, or watching Iron Man and ignoring Pepper, or playing Devil May Cry and ignoring Virgil.  His character is integral to the plot and has been since 4:1.

The wiki has a nice explanation of what a protagonist is, but I would like to expound on it a little bit more.

So first who is the protagonist?

Well it could be one person or several people depending on the story and plot.  Supernatural started with two main characters; Sam and Dean.  Sam was the clear protagonist because he was the one with the most to lose, his girlfriend, budding career, et cetera.  Dean was a catalyst, almost a foil for Sam to react against.  Dean was already set in his way.  The pilot episode showed Sam as the clear protagonist by taking away all he held dear and forcing him into a life he did not want.  The audience was meant to sympathize and identify with him where Dean was more the mentor role.  He was Gandalf to Sam’s Frodo, the one who showed up and once again altered his world.

Sam was the more emotionally accessible of the two which also helped the audience to relate.  During the second season their roles became more interchangeable, they each took turns being the protagonist and this helped to develop their characters.

By season three there wasn’t as much characterization happening because the two main characters were no longer the protagonists. They no longer fit the definition.  This left the writers scrambling to come up with season arc that would still have some sort of meaning.  The stakes had to be raised and one of the brothers had to be reinstated as the protagonist.  The opening of the Hell Gate put the world in danger but neither of the brothers had anything to lose at this point, Dean had already sold his soul.  Sam was resurrected, John was dead and Bobby was doing what he’d done for years.  Dean and Sam were main characters but not the protagonists at this point.  By this point the episodic guests have more to lose than either of the main characters and are more emotionally accessible.

Its not until the last few episodes of season 3 that Dean emerges as the protagonist.  His time is running out and they are beginning to realize that there is nothing they can do to stop him from being taken to Hell as Ruby warned them.  He has the most to lose at this point with Sam working to prevent it.

Season three ends with Dean in Hell and Sam allied with Ruby.

Seems like the end of the story at this point and it very nearly was, until someone came up with the idea to introduce a brand new set of characters.  Thus, a whole new dynamic was set up.

Season four opened with a huge shocker.  After months of being dead and suffering in hell Dean is resurrected in the most bizarre way. At least bizarre to him and his brother.  They and Bobby are at a complete loss as to how Dean is now alive. After a horrible seance where a dear friend is maimed for life trying to get the information all they have is a name. Castiel.

Now things start to get interesting.  We still have no clear protagonist except maybe Dean who has his newly restored life/body, or it could be Sam who has his brother back but has been sleeping with Ruby.  Sam has the potential to not just lose his brother, but lose his brother’s respect.  This still doesn’t make either of them the clear protagonist.  Remember the protagonist is the one with the most to lose in the given scenario, the one the audience is expected to connect with emotionally.  They are the one who must go through the most change for the sake of the plot.  Yet Dean and Sam have changed already.  Dean is alive, albeit changed from his time in hell. Sam managed to find a way to continue hunting without Dean, though it involves demon blood.  So where is the plot arc and the protagonist for this storyline?

I’m getting to that, keep your panties on, or take them off, I don’t care.

Season four episode one and we are introduced to Castiel. An honest to goodness angel.  Of the lord.  This is when Dean’s emotional arc is revealed.  He lacks faith and doesn’t feel he deserved to be saved due to what he did while in hell.  This can be seen as him being tapped as the protagonist, but he has a more reactionary than proactive role.  Sam on the other hand is desperate to hide his addiction, this also makes him reactionary instead of proactive.  The only proactive person is the angel and we quickly learn that he’s not any ordinary hammer of god.  This angel has doubts.  He is certain about his role in Dean’s life, but uncertain about the larger picture.  For the rest of the season, he will be the protagonist as he has the most to lose.

Castiel remains the protagonist through the end of the season.  He has the most to lose, his family, his position in heaven, even his status as an angel and his very life are risked to save Dean and Sam.  Unfortunately, we only see him through Dean and Sam’s eyes so a lot of his character development and narrative must be inferred from their interactions.  Sam and Dean for their parts are pawns of both Heaven and Hell.  Sam is used by Ruby to open Lucifer‘s cage which is where we end Season 4.

Season 5 opens with Sam and Dean mysteriously saved from meeting Lucifer face to face.  Sam decides he wants nothing more to do with the hunting life and leaves Dean to continue on his own.  Dean and Castiel will now be the two main protagonists. They are proactive trying to find a way to stop Lucifer and the Apocalypse.  Sam does eventually rejoin Dean while Castiel leaves to try and find God.  This is when the roles switch to some extent. Sam and Dean are finally back to being proactive protagonists. Cas is still a protagonist of his own story arc which is subordinate to and mirrors Sam and Dean’s overall arc.

In the next few seasons his character did create a catch-22 for the writers since he was so powerful and the only way to go was down, so they had to keep coming up with ways to strip him of his powers.

Next time I will discuss seasons 6-8 and how the roles of the various characters changed.

 

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It’s My Fandom, Get Your Money Grubbing Hands Off.

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As you know, I am a huge geek.  I love my fandoms.  I especially love fan fiction.

There is something raw and visceral about a lot of fan fiction and I don’t just mean the horrid grammar, atrocious spelling and lack of knowledge of basic english.  No, it’s the willingness to push characters and situations to their very limits.  Yes technically it is copyright infringement and yes I understand the legal implications involved.  Though it’s difficult to remain sanctimonious about it when so many famous authors got started in their careers by writing it.  My shortlist:

Yes, you read those names right.  There are many, many more where they came from.  Fan fiction is like training wheels on a bike.  You read or watch something that you cannot stop thinking about. Soon a story blossoms in the dark reaches of your mind and festers there.  You’ve never written anything before.  Never sat on that bike.  Yet you can’t help but wonder where these characters might take you. So you hop on and crash a burn.  No worries, we all are terrible when we first start.  Therein lies the beauty of fan fiction.  It’s a relatively safe place to learn the mechanics of writing outside academia.  You post your story to fanfiction.net or livejournal.com or A03 and pray you get feedback.  You will and a lot of it will consist of; ‘This is great. More please.’ ‘This sucks.  You don’t know the characters.’ and the ubiquitous ‘Nice job.’  What really matters is that you are writing.  Because only by writing will you get better.

That’s not the only reason to enjoy fan fiction.  Readers love it too.  It can help fandoms live long beyond their end show or last publication.  It keeps interest fresh and new even when there is no longer any new content from the creators.  You have only to look at the Buffy the Vampire fandom to see this miracle of fan creation at work.  Currently airing or recently published works also benefit from fan fiction.  Go to fanfiction.net click on TV shows and see which shows are in the top three with the most stories.  Those shows have the most active fandoms across all social networks.  Check Tumblr if you dare. (I am not responsible for any mental and/or emotional trauma that results.)  I promise you the fandoms are massive and they love to spend money, create memes and sail their many ships.

It’s the spending money part that has caught the attention of Amazon.  They posted a press release earlier today.  Here is the opening paragraph:

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May. 22, 2013– (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Today, Amazon Publishing announces Kindle Worlds, the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so. Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division for its New York Times best-selling book series Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith; and plans to announce more licenses soon. Through these licenses, Kindle Worlds will allow any writer to publish authorized stories inspired by these popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store.

So the basic premise is, if you meet their sure to be uber strict criterion you will get your fan fiction published.   Here is the catch taken directly from the Amazon website:

Kindle Worlds for Authors

Kindle Worlds is easy to use. When the Kindle Worlds Self-Service Submission Platform opens, you will be able to upload your story easily—along with a title, editorial description, and other information. Sign up to be notified when we launch the platform.

  • Kindle Worlds will accept novels, novellas, and short stories inspired by the Worlds we have licensed.
  • Using our Cover Creator, you will be able to design a cover for your Kindle Worlds story.
  • World Licensors have provided Content Guidelines for each World, and your work must follow these Content Guidelines. We strongly encourage you to read the Content Guidelines before you commit the time and effort to write.
  • Stories will be available in digital format exclusively on Amazon.com, Kindle devices, iOS, Android, and PC/Mac via our Kindle Free Reading apps. We hope to offer additional formats in the future.
  • You will receive monthly royalty reports and payments for all copies sold.

Start Writing Now

Here are the details that will help you get started:

  • All works accepted for Kindle Worlds will be published by Amazon Publishing.
  • Amazon Publishing will pay royalties to the rights holder for the World (we call them World Licensors) and to you. Your standard royalty rate for works of at least 10,000 words will be 35% of net revenue.
  • In addition, with the launch of Kindle Worlds, Amazon Publishing will pilot an experimental new program for particularly short works (between 5,000 and 10,000 words). For these short stories—typically priced under one dollar—Amazon will pay the royalties for the World Licensor and will pay authors a digital royalty of 20% of net revenue. The lower royalty for these shorter works is due to significantly higher fixed costs per digital copy (for example, credit-card fees) when prices for the entire class of content will likely be under one dollar.
  • As with all titles from Amazon Publishing, Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of customer sales price—rather than the lower industry standard of wholesale price—and royalties will be paid monthly.
  • Amazon Publishing will acquire all rights to your new stories, including global publication rights, for the term of copyright.
  • Kindle Worlds is a creative community where Worlds grow with each new story. You will own the copyright to the original, copyrightable elements (such as characters, scenes, and events) that you create and include in your work, and the World Licensor will retain the copyright to all the original elements of the World. When you submit your story in a World, you are granting Amazon Publishing an exclusive license to the story and all the original elements you include in that story. This means that your story and all the new elements must stay within the applicable World. We will allow Kindle Worlds authors to build on each other’s ideas and elements. We will also give the World Licensor a license to use your new elements and incorporate them into other works without further compensation to you.
  • Amazon Publishing will set the price for Kindle Worlds stories. Most will be priced from $0.99 through $3.99.

Content Guidelines for Kindle Worlds

  • Pornography: We don’t accept pornography or offensive depictions of graphic sexual acts.
  • Offensive Content: We don’t accept offensive content, including but not limited to racial slurs, excessively graphic or violent material, or excessive use of foul language.
  • Illegal and Infringing Content: We take violations of laws and proprietary rights very seriously. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that their content doesn’t violate laws or copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights.
  • Poor Customer Experience: We don’t accept books that provide a poor customer experience. Examples include poorly formatted books and books with misleading titles, cover art, or product descriptions. We reserve the right to determine whether content provides a poor customer experience.
  • Excessive Use of Brands: We don’t accept the excessive use of brand names or the inclusion of brand names for paid advertising or promotion.
  • Crossover: No crossovers from other Worlds are permitted, meaning your work may not include elements of any copyright-protected book, movie, or other property outside of the elements of this World.

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_375976462_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1001197431&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_r=14ABJT04TRVMYENW24QN&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=1558663102&pf_rd_i=1001197421)

Well the first content guideline rules out about 90% of all fan fiction ever written. The second one rules out another 5-7% and oops there is number four.  Looks like we are down to 100% of fan fiction currently available on any posting platform being unpublishable by their standards.  They want G-rated fan fic?  Are they serious?  Most of those shows are PG-13 at least.

As someone who loves fan fiction I’m a bit frustrated that they want to monetize something that is free for everyone.  Fandoms and fan fiction are the fan’s domain, not the CEO’s.  We already buy the books and the DVDs, go to the conventions, buy the swag and give them free advertising so why are they trying to take away one of the last free things we have?

On the other hand I have read some fan fic authors that should be published. Like, yesterday.  They are that good.*  Do I think they should publish their fan fiction.  No.  I think they are good enough, talented enough to create their own original work and create all new fandoms for us to run after with open wallets.

Do I think Amazon is in the wrong here?  No, they saw a legitimate way to monetize something that millions of people are getting for free at the moment and also bring great writers to the public’s attention.

Do I have reservations?  Absolutely.  There are a myriad problems that could and will crop up once the platform goes live.  I expect it to crash repeatedly and be so backlogged they shut it down.  Then there is the creative side of things to consider.  Who protects the author and their rights?  35% royalties sound nice until you stop to consider that this is on the NET profit of the story. So all Amazon’s bills have to be paid and the author then gets 35% of what is left over.  I can tell you it’s not always very much.  I get maybe $1.00 per book that retails for $8.50.

As an author is it worth it?  That’s up to you the author, but I would be very diligent about reading the fine print.  Just remember what Amazon put in their press release:

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. (Italics mine.) These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

(http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1823219&highlight)

Now, I’m going to go read some Supernatural Destiel smut while it’s still free.

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*EL James is on my shit list too, fyi.

I’ll See Your Agenda and Raise You an Angel

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It’s been awhile since I’ve had time to post.  Work and raising a family and all that mundanity that ruins life had to be attended to.  So this week I’d like to go further into the Supernatural Universe.  Today I read a rather poorly researched and heavy handed article about the character Castiel.  However, she did have a few valid points to make which I will discuss.

When we are first introduced to Castiel he comes across as the Invincible Hero.  Nothing Bobby and Dean throw at him fazes him. Mostly because they are used to hunting demons and what hurts demons won’t hurt an angel.  This does create a conundrum for the writers as Misha Collins himself points out:

“The writers are always trying to figure out a way to deal with Castiel’s character to somehow make it so that Sam and Dean aren’t aligned with a superhero who can make their lives easy.  He’s always encumbered in some way, or going through some weird emotional or mental strife, or being crazy … or being God. There’s always something that’s sort of veering him off so that he can’t be that helpful to Sam and Dean.”

Just because Castiel is an angel doesn’t mean he’s invincible.  It just means that tactics have to be changed, new lore learned and new hex bags made.  As the boys are always saying when it comes to hunting, you have to figure out what you are fighting, then you kill it with what you know.  Problem is they don’t know much about angels and that fact is not ever really expanded on for several seasons.  We gradually learn that there are runes, sigils and other ways to either summon, trap or hide from angels.

Ms MacKenzie states in her article:

“The need to either incapacitate Castiel or put him at odds with the Winchesters has taken a significant toll on the character’s overall arc and development. Castiel has been on the show on-and-off for five seasons, now, and will be returning in a full-time capacity for Season 9, but the character is constantly being reset, regressed, or just plain ret-conned, which makes for an inconsistent and underwhelming story.”

She goes on to cite Season 7 as being proof of this “inconsistent and underwhelming story”  inasmuch as Castiel was nowhere to be seen after the beginning of the season after all the revelations and character building of Season 6.

“Castiel’s character was written out at the beginning of the season, right when it seemed that he finally had a powerful set-up for a strong arc, be that arc a descent into villainy and madness or a redemption from his nearly unforgivable actions in Season 6. He then returned at the back end of the season, an amnesiac who experienced a moment of personal victory before attempting to atone for his sins and landing in a mental institution. His struggles were played up for comedic relief instead of actual storytelling, and then a quick fix trip to Purgatory magically relieved him of his complicated mental issues.”

Castiel as the New God had become too powerful, too absolute and there was actually nothing the brothers Winchester could have done to stop him.  He had to be taken down from the inside, literally from within and this set the stage for the Leviathan arc of Season 7. Castiel was for all intents and purposes the vessel for that new conflict.  It was an homage to the idiom that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’  He was the cautionary tale of trying to do too much, even for the best of reasons.  His reasons being keeping the Apocalypse from moving forward by defeating Raphael.  After Castiel disappears into the lake we don’t see him again until The Born Again Identity.  This is where, once he regains his memories of being a celestial being he attempts to ‘atone for his sins’ by taking Sam’s memories of being in the cage as his own.

This is where I have to agree with the fact that his struggles were made light of.  Many of us with mental illness have to contend with this, as societal perception of our condition is dictated by media representation.  However, this show is not about Castiel’s mental illness, it’s about the brothers Winchester.  If anymore time had been spent on just what Castiel suffered there would have been massive outcry, not to mention that we’d already seen how Sam suffered.  I am of the personal opinion that Castiel’s hallucinations would have been an order of magnitude worse due to the fact that he was terrified of both Lucifer and Michael to begin with.  Yet, he voluntarily broke into the cage to try and rescue Sam.  This time without a contingent of angels to back him up and facing not just demons but two archangels both of whom had killed him at least once prior.  Having to remember what he went through just to get Sam out, then taking Sam’s memories as well drove him into a catatonic state.  No one mentions this.  Not the show, not the fandom (I can’t even find fanfic on it, though I’m sure it’s out there).  Honestly, it doesn’t need to be brought up within the context of the show.  Castiel himself would never admit to it due to his reserved nature and desire to please Dean.  Which in this case he failed.  Again.

“Thus, we began Season 8 with Castiel in Purgatory, still encumbered by the guilt of his actions way back in Season 6, when he went on a power trip, waged civil war in Heaven, and broke Sam’s brain by demolishing the “wall” that protected him from his gruesome memories of hell — a wall that Dean had risked his life to put there. Castiel felt so guilty that when he had the opportunity to leave Purgatory, he just… stayed. We never really figured out why. There wasn’t any good for him to do there except wallow in self-flagellation, and if anything, it added more guilt to Dean’s plate, which he needed like a hole in the head. The writers had to keep Castiel away from the Winchesters at the beginning of the season in order to force Sam and Dean to figure some things out on their own, but they did it at the expense of his character actually growing.”

I disagree completely with this interpretation of Castiel’s actions and reasoning behind staying in Purgatory.  First you have to understand Purgatory isn’t just Hell for monsters.  Purgatory is a place of atonement, of purification.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It notes that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).

The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. (http://www.catholic.com/tracts/purgatory)

Even Dean speaks of the purity of the state of being while he was in Purgatory.  Castiel himself tells us why he chose to stay.  (See video below)  Is this lack of character growth?  Only if you are not watching.  Dean is growing as a character, realizing how deeply he cares for Castiel to the point of making himself sick with guilt.  Castiel is learning to try and make his own decisions and atone for what he’s done in a way that makes him feel whole.  Castiel had no way of knowing that Dean was blaming himself for Castiel’s still being in Purgatory.

Then we get introduced to Naomi.  Unlike Ms MacKenzie I do not see this as retconning the previous angel mythos.  We are given precious little knowledge about the true hierarchy of the angels other than archangels are the most powerful and that currently heaven has no leadership.  Someone like Naomi fits right into this and in no way negates anything that was stated in previous seasons.  It does take away the one thing that Castiel  was truly beginning to embrace.  Free will.

“Here, though, it not only contradicted the information we have about angels, but it contradicted the foundation of Castiel’s personality, and why the audience fell in love with him in the first place. Castiel was introduced as a soldier of the Lord, who was ultimately so profoundly moved by the Winchesters, and his relationship with Dean in particular, he went rogue and did the unthinkable: He began to exercise free will. This was such a key element to Castiel, fans began calling the Sam-Dean-Castiel trio “Team Free Will.”

I completely disagree.  As I stated before, no where does it specifically negate what we know of angels.  It simply adds another layer to what we thought we knew.  I go back to Anna in season 4.  She taunts Castiel at one point about how he was always the good little soldier, following orders no matter what.  Yet we know he doesn’t always.  It was evident in Season 4 and nothing Naomi says or does contradicts what Anna or Uriel stated.  Even Lucifer calls Castiel ‘odd.’  In no way, shape or form does this new information contradict the ‘foundation of Castiel’s personality.’  He himself mentions having been hauled back to heaven after the episode The Rapture for reconditioning.  You can substitute reconditioning with reprogramming and no this does not make Castiel and the other angels emotionless robots.  It does however make them obedient.  Which was always part of the angelic code.  Obedience is absolute.  There is no free will.  If anything Naomi’s interference confirms, validates and cements the reasons we have come to love Castiel so much.  His loyalty to Dean above all else is what made her have to get involved.  The traditional ‘reconditioning’ wasn’t working on him because at his very core Dean has changed him.

But we don’t really know who Cas is. Is he a strong, capable warrior? A power-hungry villain? A self-pitying, sad sack of guilt and angst? A computer to be hacked and re-wired? A confused, bumbling vehicle for comedic relief? The romantic hero who might just be Meg’s “unicorn”? Right now, the only thing we can count on is that he’s a guy who betrays Dean, atones for it, then betrays Dean, then atones for it, lather, rinse, repeat.

Again, I disagree.  He is all of those things, and more.  He’s a complex character and when he does seemingly betray Dean it’s usually with Dean’s best interests at heart.  Dean and Sam have betrayed and belittled him repeatedly yet no one calls their character into question.  Castiel is always loyal to Dean, even if it doesn’t seem that way from Dean’s limited perspective.  Dean has no way of knowing what Castiel is doing when he’s gone and their biggest interpersonal issue is communication so there is plenty of room for mind bending angst and drama.

In last week’s episode, we saw more of the same. While Sam and Dean are investigating Sam’s final trial to close the gates of hell, Castiel goes out to get pie and porn for Dean. While he’s out, he agrees to help Metatron shut down the gates of Heaven by completing three trials himself — trials that kick off with murdering an innocent. Again, he doesn’t feel it necessary to have a conversation with Sam and Dean about this, despite their repeated begging him to be a part of their team and treat them like family, as they treat him. Again, he doesn’t trust them enough to consult them before he starts killing.

Did Sam and Dean consult Castiel before starting the Hell Tablet trials?  No.  Do Sam and Dean consult Castiel before doing pretty much anything they decide to do?  No.  They contact Castiel when they are in over their heads or up to their assess in trouble.  As Castiel has said, trust goes both ways.  Does this mean he’s in the right.  No.  It means that he tends to see the bigger picture and that other forces are in play.  Castiel is a soldier.  Soldiers follow orders and free will or not, its extremely difficult to ignore an order from a superior like Metatron.  It doesn’t help that Metatron plays upon his guilt and then supplicates his love for Dean and humanity by alluding to the fact that war in heaven easily becomes war on earth.  If Castiel has proven anything it’s that he will risk his entire being and existence to keep Dean safe,  Metatron knows this and uses it against him as any good predator does.

“Tonight’s Season 8 finale, “Sacrifice,” will reveal whether Castiel succeeds in locking the Pearly Gates. Since Collins is a regular in Season 9, we assume that if he does “shut down Heaven,” Castiel will remain on earth, which would suggest that one of his trials is getting rid of his grace — the essence of what makes him an angel. (At least, according to what we learned in Season 4. It’s possible that there’s a new twist with all this “coding” we learned about this season.) Heaven would be out of the picture, freeing us from the angel stories that have grown convoluted over the years, and Castiel would no longer be an all-powerful force, freeing the “Supernatural” writers from the trouble of impairing him every year.

Maybe then, finally, Castiel can actually develop in a linear, organic way, instead of being kicked back to square one three times a season.”

I personally will be very disappointed if the gates to heaven are closed so easily.  Sam has suffered for weeks through the Hell trials and the Heaven trials should be just as difficult and debilitating.   Honestly, the only thing that has been kicked back to square one is Dean and Castiel’s relationship and even then not completely.  Dean now understands just how much Castiel means to him and it’s up to Castiel to open up to Dean now.  As for Castiel losing his grace, its only one of several ways to limit his powers and I don’t see them pulling an Anna on him.  She fell to earth and was reborn human, as a baby.  Yeah no, they need a work around for that.

As for Castiel’s character development, it has come in fits and starts, but it is still there.  You try teaching a million plus year old soldier of god how free will works and see how long it takes you to get through all that conditioning, profound bond or not.  There are going to be setbacks, miscommunications and outright confusion at times.  Something we’ve seen Castiel struggle with repeatedly.  Even if it’s played for comedic effect it’s still character development.

It’s Not Always About Love, but Sometimes It Should Be

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Why Supernatural Should Take it a Step Further

I’ve recently joined a new fandom (yes another one, what can I say).  I was reluctant at first.  It didn’t seem like it was going to be my thing.  I’m more of a robots and time travel type girl and this is more vampire and holy water stuff.  For the record I hate vampires.  All vampires in every iteration without exception.  Big ass mosquitos.

Anyway, this fandom has been around for something like 8-9 years and it’s constantly on my Tumblr and I see references to it everywhere.  So three weeks ago I broke down and started watching it.  It was like crossing the event horizon of a black hole.  At first there is just a gentle pull but the gravity increases with each episode until you are being ripped limb from limb and hurled into an alternate dimension full of  gunpowder, salt and tears.

It was here that I found an amazing example of a close intimate relationship that reminded me of the dynamic between Kirk and Spock or Sherlock and Jon (BBCs Sherlock).  Those types of relationships cannot be written into a script.  Well they can, but it takes something special between the actors to really make it click.  It’s often referred to as chemistry.  You’ve seen when it works and you’ve seen when it doesn’t work.  Gigli comes to mind.

“Research has shown that attunement between two people can accurately and reliably be recognized by others. This awareness often results in spontaneous, descriptive expressions such as “chemistry,” “on the same wavelength,” “soul-mates,” “in the flow,” and “in the moment together”.” –Measuring and Contextualizing “Chemistry” in Movies Tracy Sutton and Gregory Fouts, Ph.D. (http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/film_chemistry.html)

Something amazing seems to happen when fans recognise the chemistry between two characters.  They become invested in the relationship.  This is where much (if not all) fan fiction is born.   Fans pick up on even the subtext between characters.  Sometimes even when the writers don’t.

The recent blog post by tiptoe39 Fans & Fantasy: Shipping as… Activism(?) made this point:

And part of being organic is showing the natural diversity that occurs in the world, to pick up on existing chemistry between characters and to explore the very real possibility that it could lead to romantic or sexual relationships. And if, for example, the only women a male character knows are brought in as love interests, as opposed to characters with their own stories, why shouldn’t we believe he’s more likely to fall in love with a character he knows well and has been through hell with, even though that character may also be male? You don’t fall in love with a sex, you fall in love with a person, and usually, by the time you’re in love with them, you already know them well.

This is where my new fandom has excelled.  Right from the first moment the two meet each other there is an intense dynamic, not just between the characters, but between the actors.  There were literally sparks.  The fans noticed within moments of the scene airing if the message boards and forums are anything to go by.  So what made this duo different?  If you have not watched Supernatural through season 3 the video below is a spoiler.  Proceed with caution, though I still recommend watching it.

Right from the start there is tension and an unspoken connection between the two.  The writers for the show initially only planned on the character of Castiel being in 6 episodes.  Then the fan mail hit their inboxes.  The new character had brought in a completely different dynamic beyond the brothers-in-arms that the show previously featured.  Their relationship has only grown from there.

Now in their fourth season together they’ve faced horrible odds, fought with each other, saved each other, admitted their reliance on and need for each other.  Their level of intimacy is pretty much as close as you can get without having a sexual relationship.

To illustrate:

  • They have repeatedly taken care of each other when they were sick or injured.
  • Dean has adjusted Cas’ clothes for him
  • Cas has finished Deans food
  • They have shared secrets only with each other
  • They have provided each other moral support during major events/crises
  • Dean has cried in front of Cas
  • Repeated sustained eye contact
  • They have comforted each other
  • Cas often watches Dean sleep or sits/stands closer than is customary
  • They have put each other to bed on several occasions
  • Cas has woke Dean from his nightmares
  • They have been on long trips together
  • Dean allowed Cas to take his necklace
  • They often share the same hotel room
  • They have saved each other’s lives multiple times
  • They have each risked their lives for the other on numerous occasions
  • They have made medical decisions for each other
  • They have watched each other die

This video also illustrates other points in their relationship.  Again major spoilers.

This is how you develop an intimate non-familial relationship.  It’s happened slowly, organically with all the missteps and confusion of a real-life relationship.  Both have made mistakes and taken the other for granted yet they cannot seem to help but come back together.  It’s no wonder the fans (myself included) would like to see their relationship develop further.

It would be very refreshing to see to non-stereotypical gay men in a romantic relationship.  Too often shows make one of them (or both) too effeminate to be realistic.  They are not a man and a man pretending to be a woman, (though I understand and appreciate that works very well for some couples, more power to them) they are two men who love each other and would do anything for each other.

However, I do not think the network as the balls to allow the show to take what to many of us is a very obvious direction. If they surprise me and do then they will be setting a benchmark, a new paradigm for not just television but societal perception of relationships.  Much like James Roberts has brought a new level of awareness to the Transformers fandom with the More Than Meets the Eye series, it would be nice to see Supernatural shake off the chains of outmoded societal dictates.

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Within You

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Cognitive immersion, absorption, deep reading.  Whichever term you use to describe it, if you have ever found yourself so caught up in a narrative that you forget where you are, then you have experienced it.

Reading is a unique experience.  It literally requires us to think differently.  Unlike viewing a movie or a piece of art or engaging in sports it makes us set aside all need to act or react.  Instead we allow ourselves to relax into the narrative, knowing that nothing we do externally or otherwise will change the outcome.  No other medium allows us such an intimate look into the thoughts and motivation of another person.

French novelist Marcel Proust wrote in 1906 “that which is the end of [the author’s] wisdom appears to us as but the beginning of ours.”  In other words, we take the authors words and from their sensory clues build a world and an understanding of how it works.  We learn vicariously through the experiences of the characters.

Editor Peter Dimok made the statement in 2010 that ‘[this] kind of reading, then is a time of internal solitary consciousness in which the reading consciousness is brought up to the level of knowledge of the author-the furthest point another mind has reached, as it were . . .”

Norman N. Holland’s essay Literature and the Brain discusses this phenomenon.   As stated in Nicholas Carr’s blog Thinking about Reading.  (http://www.roughtype.com/?p=1565)

‘“We gain a special trance-like state of mind in which we become unaware of our bodies and our environment,” explains Holland. “We are ‘transported.’” It is only when we leave behind the incessant busyness of our lives in society that we open ourselves to literature’s transformative emotional power. That doesn’t mean that reading is anti-social. The central subject of literature is society, and when we lose ourselves in a book we often receive an education in the subtleties and vagaries of human relations. Several studies have shown that reading tends to make us more empathetic, more alert to the inner lives of others. The reader withdraws in order to connect more deeply.’

In essence the author has shared their mind with the reader.

There have been multiple studies conducted to measure and quantify how the brain reads and what, if any changes, take place.   Many postulate that deep reading makes us more sympathetic.

Gale Roebuck in her blog post Technology is not the enemy in the battle for the book noted that:

‘Psychologists from Washington University used brain scans to see what happens inside our heads when we read stories. They found that ”readers mentally simulate each new situation encountered in a narrative”. The brain weaves these situations together with experiences from its own life to create a new mental synthesis. Reading a book leaves us with new neural pathways.

The discovery that our brains are physically changed by the experience of reading is something many of us will understand instinctively, as we think back to the way an extraordinary book had a transformative effect on the way we view the world. This transformation only takes place when we lose ourselves in a book, abandoning the emotional and mental chatter of the real world. That’s why studies have found this kind of deep reading makes us more empathetic, or, as Nicholas Carr puts it in his essay The Dreams of Readers, ”more alert to the inner lives of others”.’

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/technology-is-not-the-enemy-in-the-battle-for-the-book-20120102-1pi8s.html#ixzz2P84DHnTu

So what are your thoughts on this issue?  Does reading make us more sympathetic?  Should we be concerned over the ‘fast food’ style reading that permeates our culture now?

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Without You

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This week I was treated to a massive dose of sanity threatening emotional issues.  Some were happening in real life, the rest happened in two of my favorite fandoms.  I won’t bore you with my real life issues that involve being pregnant and having to move.  However, I was rather surprised by the strength of my reaction to two different story plots.  It led me to wonder what causes us readers to become so emotionally invested in characters that we weep over them as though they were real.

The first thing I realized was that each story line was excellently crafted, the characters expertly fleshed out and realistic.  The fact that both subplots that emotionally devastated me were romantic ones is nothing short of ironic.  I am not a romantic person.  Ask anyone who knows me personally.  Typical romances bore me to tears.

So how did these characters manage to drag me into the narrative and hold me there over months?  Lets look at them.

Let Your Light Shine

First I will discuss Green Lantern: The Animated Series since that was the first blow to hit last Saturday when the final episode aired. Just the fact it was cancelled after one season was harsh enough.  Then I had to deal with the tragedy that was affectionately referred to by fans as Razaya.

Razer and Aya

Over the course of the season we watched Razor grow and change and fall in love with the ship’s AI, Aya.  Both characters started out seemingly one dimensional but very quickly we were treated to various aspects of their personalities.  Razor grew from being the angry Red Lantern to a multidimensional, complex and conflicted individual.  Aya quickly went from the ship’s navigation computer to a full fledged member of the team.  Both made misjudgments  said things that were taken wrong and just generally where adorable together.  All you have to do is search Tumblr for the tag #Razaya to see how much the fans loved this pairing.

There was a lot to love about it.  It was realistically portrayed and organically developed over the length of the series.  Even the creators were surprised at how loved the two became.  So how did they achieve it?

More on that in a moment.  Now on to the second source of my woe.

Never Let You Go

As many of you know, I am a huge Transformers fan and have been reading the current IDW Publishing series Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye.    The past Wednesday the newest issue, #15, was released.  I had been dreading this issue.  Mostly because I knew the happy times were over and things were going to get bad.  People were going to die. And they did.  Horribly in some cases and horribly tragic in others.  (If you have not read the series, please go do so as from here on there will be major spoilers.  You can find the entire run on Comixology.)

One pairing I’ve spoken about before, Chromedome and Rewind pretty much took center stage this issue.  Mostly due to Chromdome’s involvement in the accidental release of the unstoppable and extremely deadly Overlord.  In a scant thirty minutes the entire crew of the Lost Light is subjected to his murderous rampage.  He is only slowed when Rhodimus utters a trip phrase that Chromedome had implanted in his subconscious.  Fortress Maximus, having been released from the brig by Rung, drags Overlord back to the temporal prison he’d escaped from.  It is at this time that Chromedome decides that having the Phase Sixer anywhere near them, even in a prison cell, is too close and goes to jettison the cell.  Except a sword is preventing the mechanism from closing.  Rewind, Chromedome’s life partner, sacrifices himself to get the doors closed and ends up trapped in the cell, floating in space with Overlord.

The phrase that will come back to haunt Chromedome forever.

It’s at this point that Chromedome realizes that Overlord is going to kill Rewind in the slowest and most painful way possible and does the only thing he can think of to spare his lover any more pain.

This panel still makes me tear up.  These two had a very long history together, had been by each other’s sides when they faced death, fought together, with each other and generally behaved like any other loving married couple.  The writer, James Roberts, skillfully wove their relationship into the narrative while developing their personalities and backstory.

Forever and Always

In both of these cases the writers took great pains to make sure the characters were realistic and relatable  None of the characters are human.  Yet we the reader/viewer find ways to identify with them.  Maybe it’s Razor’s rage and inability to control it or Aya’s need to be accepted as her own person.  Or it could be Chromedome’s desire to be useful.  Or even Rewind’s desperation to keep Chromedome safe and healthy when his line of work is so dangerous and mentally detrimental.  It could be all or none of these things.  Either way, most of us have faced something similar at some time in our life and it is by tapping into this that the writers help us to understand and sympathize with the characters.

They created people, not just characters.  Each of them had their own motivations, goals, dreams and flaws.  They each acted and reacted according to what happened around them, just as we all do.  They had emotional, sometimes visceral reactions that ended up leading them to make wrong and in two cases, deadly choices.

We as writers must always strive to give our reader as much emotional input as possible in our stories.  It would be a disservice to our readers to do other wise.  We owe it to them to help them not just empathize, but sympathize with our characters.  Too laugh and cry along with them.  In doing so we build not just an artificial world, but a reader who is capable of much greater sympathy out in the real world.

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I’m Not Male, I’m Not Female, I am Me.

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Our perception of gender is tainted by the media, by what we are told is feminine and beautiful and strong and masculine.  Strong and feminine aren’t supposed to go together just as beautiful and masculine should not.   Right?

Wrong.

Gender bias is just that bias.

bias

As recently brought out in the article Gender Dichotomy is a Fairy Tale We Have Been Telling Ourselves to Sleep at Night on The Mary Sue  Anika Torruella addresses the difference between being physically male or female and being mentally male or female.  Surprise, mentally there is little to no difference, other than things we are conditioned by society to think is gender appropriate.  She quotes a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, “Men and Women Are From Earth: Examining the Latent Structure of Gender,” headed byBobbi J. Carothers and Harry T. Reis, who are from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Rochester.  Their goal was to “provide empirical evidence that sex and gender are not the same thing.”

So what did they find?

‘122 unique indicators from 13 studies comprising 13,301 individuals provided later, Carothers and Reis point out “clear empirical evidence to support the belief of researchers who see psychological gender differences in dimensional terms”. In other words even among those with strong and unambiguous gender identities, men and women do not exhibit all the characteristics and behaviors expected of their sex and “may also display some of the characteristics and behaviors associated with the other sex.”’

So in other words when physical gender is ignored men and women are remarkably similar.

Well I could have told you that.  And so could James Roberts, writer of the IDW Publishing comic series Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.  He’s done a masterful job at writing physically gender-less characters while still allowing them to have multidimensional personalities that either gender could identify with.  This was beautifully illustrated in Issue #13 as I will explain in a bit.

That Giant Gun Totting Robot is Female?

When you have no gender and do not identify with either gender having someone try to fit you into one role or the other can be infuriating.  So why do we do it?  Why must things that ‘look’ male automatically be male and vice versa?  Can we not choose what we feel best represents our psyche.  For myself personally, I have never identified fully with either gender.  Intellectually, I know what biology says I am but that has never affected my self-perception.

I am going to use the comic I mentioned earlier to illustrate this point.   I’m going to use two of the characters in Issue #13.   First will be Whirl, second will be Ultra Magnus.  If you are unsure why I am using Transformers, its for the simple reason that they have no gender.  They are not male or female or anything in between.  They do not reproduce sexually (at least not in the established canon, fan fiction begs to differ).  They are giant, non-organic, intelligent life forms.  (For more on their interpersonal relationships see last week’s post.)

A little backstory:

In issue #13 of IDW Publishing’s Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye the Autobots of the ship Lost Light are on shore leave on the planet Hedonia.  Being giant metal beings, they are not always welcome by the smaller organic beings who squish easily.  Sensitive to this, a few of them agree to adopt holomatter avatars in order to scout out locales where they will be welcome to come and unwind for a bit.  The program they install to adapt these avatars has been upgraded so that their avatar more closely represents their personalities.  Which makes sense because the risk for being misunderstood would jump considerably if you were uncomfortable with, or misrepresented by your avatar.

Rhodimus explains the new avatars (MTMTE #13)

Rhodimus explains the new avatars (MTMTE #13)

Probably the biggest shock to fans was the fact that the sometimes rather insane and violent Whirl had this for ‘his’ avatar.

Autobot Whirl’s holomatter avatar. MTMTE Issue #13

In case you are unfamiliar this is his actual form:

Autobot Whirl

That’s right.  That bot that the Transformers wikia describes as  ‘ . . .a rather reckless fighter and can take damage because of it. He’s okay with that, because he absolutely LOVES his job . . .’ has what looks to be a preteen girl for an avatar.  A very tomboyish girl who obviously loves her weapons, but that’s Whirl.    Honestly, I love the fact that his avatar is so fun.  It’s obviously a perfect reflection of his personality, forget anything about it being a girl.  He didn’t choose this avatar.  The program, after analyzing his personality, chose it for him.

On the other hand we have Ultra Magnus.  He is first and foremost a soldier.  His loyalty and self-sacrifice are tempered by his reluctance to form close bonds with anyone.  That and his strict adherence to rules and regulations to the point of being obsessive compulsive.  Magnus chose his own avatar.   He chose the likeness of the one human he felt closest to who just happened to be female.

MtMtE cover issue #13

Ultra Magnus is front and center of the cover looking quite sexy with his avatar.  (Love the power pose he’s got going on.)  Those who have followed the comics will recognize the woman.  For this post her identity is not important.  What is important is that Magnus respected her enough to want to use her likeness to represent himself.  He was not concerned that she was female.  I’d wager that thought never occurred to him.  To him she was simply a human he admired and called a friend.

Maybe They are on to Something

So why do we get so hung up on the male/female dichotomy?  Why does it matter so much in our daily interactions?  Why can’t we just see people as people instead of their gender?

It goes back to what I said in the beginning, we are conditioned to think this way.  We can, however, unlearn it.  And a good way to start is by realizing that just because I look a certain way doesn’t mean I’m going to behave a certain way.   Just like with the Transformers.

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Transformers, Sex and Why Science Fiction is Socially Relevant

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The Role of Science Fiction in Literature

I’ve been reading science fiction since I was very young.  I honestly don’t even remember the first sci-fi book I read.  I do remember the first one that made a huge impact on me.  It was a short story by Ray Bradbury called All Summer in a Day.  After that I couldn’t get enough.  Somewhere along the way I read I, Robot and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick and realized that science fiction wasn’t just great stories.  It was a commentary on our society and our place in that society.  The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge further cemented this in my mind.  Then I read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  My whole perception of myself and my world view changed with that one book.  It was profound thing for a young preteen to realize that other people, other beings, even those vastly different could have the same emotions.  They might not be expressed the same way or be overtly recognizable as such but they were there if you kept an open mind.

In the years since, I have read much science fiction.  Some of it was just fun others of it required a more cerebral approach. I also expanded my reading selection to include literary novels, mysteries and non fiction.  I discovered something.

Science fiction is our modern day fairy tale.

Its the morality story, the cautionary tale.  It serves as both entertainment, enlightenment and instruction.  It takes a social problem, stigma or perception and shines the light of truth on it in a way that is not always obvious.  Now this is not true of all science fiction.  Not every novel can be The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) or Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes).

Transformers, Sex and Intimacy

I was recently introduced to the IDW Publishing line of Transformer’s comics.  Among them was the title More Than Meets The Eye, written by James Roberts.  At first I was put off, nearly incensed by the story line, but I set aside my prejudices and allowed myself to be caught up in the story.  I would have deprived myself of so much, had I not.

The way Roberts writes these characters is fantastic.  As good as any of the sci-fi novel’s I’ve mentioned.  The stories are in turn funny and poignant and at times down right sad.  The issue that came out yesterday encapsulated all of that.

Issue #13 brought up some interesting discussions among fans about gender roles, sexuality and what makes a character identify ‘male’ or ‘female’ when their species has no gender bias.  The interpersonal relationships have been expanded upon in ways that I had only ever seen in fan fiction.  He treats these giant non-organic lifeforms as if they are actually people and not just giant weaponized automatons.

MTMTE #12

It is these relationships that intrigue me.  Much is implied, and in issue #12 it was even stated that they have a relationship status called conjunx endura that is sealed by a ceremony involving the two ‘bots in question.  Yet they are an alien race.  They do not have genders or a need for genders of any kind.  What they do have is a basic need for intimacy as any intelligent life does.  Intimacy does not have to equal sex.  Being intimate can be as simple as holding hands or as complex as taking care of someone with a chronic illness.  Both require trust, commitment and love.

MTMTE #12

This point was eloquently stated in the latest post by DorkDaddy.com entitled:  It’s Just Sex, Dammit!

“There are a thousand things necessary for a successful day and a successful life. Balancing the checkbook. Reading to the kids. Visiting your parents. Maintenance on the house. Laughing. Resting. Playing. Growing. Learning. These are the things of life. These are the things that determine whether we are fulfilled, whether we are successful in life. None of them require intercourse. And yet still we venerate sex as the ultimate goal in life, as if everything else is just a way of occupying time between sexual interludes. We high-five our friends when they “got lucky” or “got some” or “got some action” as if to say “Well done. You got that taken care of. Now you can move on to all the other stuff.”

Granted, there is no better way to foster intimacy with your partner than sex. It connects you and makes you vulnerable and draws you together with another person like no other way can. But when considering intimacy, it isn’t even necessary for that (blasphemy, I know). Imagine the potency of your partner gently running her fingers through your hair, or down your back. Picture those moments when you’re lost, looking into your partner’s eyes, and neither of you has to say anything. Think for a moment on the lasting rewards of gently holding hands, or on the way you can totally lose yourself in a deep, committed kiss. These too are the things of intimacy. Because of them, even if you never knew sex, surely you could still know intimacy.”

This is what I find so fascinating about this comic and the way Mr. Roberts has written these characters.  They are realistic, deeply thought out and interesting.  I care about them.  I relate to their struggles, their insecurities, their quirks in ways I have never related to ‘human’ characters.  They allow us to explore relationship dynamics without the added pressure of sex.  There is no sex for the sake of intimacy.  The intimacy comes from other means but is no less potent.

The Wordsmiths Forge on Livejournal lists multiple ways of displaying non-sexual intimacy.  Among the things she lists are personal care, spacial closeness including sharing the same sleeping space.  Living arrangements which include a measure of trust involved such as sharing passwords, bank accounts and/or living quarters and cleaning someone else’s room.  She also talks about urgent situations up to and including risking  your life or making medical decisions for someone.

Each of these things have been featured in the comic.

Comradewodka on Tumblr had some interesting things to say about the ‘married’ couple in the comic:

” . . . Chromedome and Rewind. I’m not sure what I could say about them that hasn’t been said, so— let me just say this. Any sentient race, regardless of whether they’re mechanical or actually capable of anything sexual or not, is going to feel emotions and form relationships, even to the point that they feel romantically about someone. Even to the point that they want to spend the rest of their lives with that someone. Every sentient race, if they find something pleasurable in life—even if that something is as innocent (and non-sexual by our standards) as fond, platonic or romantic touches—is going to seek out that pleasurable something with others. It’s biology.

Chromedome and Rewind aren’t “male”. They don’t have genders. They’re not unusual in considering each other “spouses” either, if everyone else’s reactions are any indication. But to a whole heck of a lot of people, they LOOK “gay”—and sometimes it’s almost easier for us humans to refer to them that way—so them being canonically in a romantic relationship isn’t just a big step for a franchise in which we’ve generally been given a grand zipola about how relationships work, it’s a big step for comics and media in general. One more pebble on the pile of change.

That being said, though I and many others really freaking appreciate Chromedome and Rewind for a number of reasons, I don’t think Roberts had some big overt gay rights agenda when writing them. Which brings me back to my main point— that he’s just THAT good at writing them as what they are—fully fleshed out characters that just happen to be giant gender-less robots. So they happen to look kind of masculine by human standards? Roberts don’t care. Roberts don’t give a fuck. He just write what he wants.”

-(http://comradewodka.tumblr.com/post/42373291213/did-someone-ask-for-a-big-post-gushing-over-gender)

 

Are all Robots Male?

She made a good point.  Just because something ‘looks’ male in our perception does that mean it is male?  Some fans had their worlds turned upside down by the appearance of holomatter forms of the Transformers.  It was stated that these new forms were an exact representation of the robot’s psyche.  So in other words, the human forms the program assigned them was based on their personality.  Not all of them identified as male or even adult.  Tailgate was an infant being carried around in a backpack by Swerve.

Comradewodka on Tumblr made some excellent observations on this subject as well:

“Yeah, most of them have features we associate with masculinity, and that’s fine and dandy, but they actually do not fall into any kind of gendered roles in their culture.

So why the hell CAN’T big warriors like Ultra Magnus or Whirl relate or identify, psychologically speaking, with representation as a human female—just so long as that human female still accurately represents who they are as a character?

Answer: there’s absolutely no reason why they couldn’t. They’re a blank slate, gender-wise. They can have the biggest most “masculine” bodies ever, be called “he”, have what I assume to be masculine voices and features, and still feel like a human female body is a more accurate representation of their psyche.”

Assigning gender roles to gender-less species is like saying pink is feminine.  Pink is pink it has no gender.   A hundred years ago women would never wear pink.  Men did.  Pink is a color that societal norms have shifted into a different perception.  The terms male and female  differentiate sexual reproduction roles.  They do not apply to colors any more than they apply to a species that does not reproduce sexually.

The fact that giant robots might see themselves as better represented by a human female form should say a lot.  I will leave that topic for my next post.

This is why I love science fiction so much.  It allows us to explore themes that would be and are taboo in other forms of writing and it does so in a way that is digest able for the larger audience.  It illuminates aspects of society that might otherwise go unnoticed and in doing so educates us about being human.  Yes, we can learn from giant alien robots how to be more human.

 

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. 
-Arnold H. Glasow

 

In this age of the digital frontier, making meaningful human connections hasn’t just become a challenge, its a fading art.  Those of us who are used to communicating via text message, email, by Facebook or Tumblr have many acquaintances,  Those nebulous connections to people we will never see or hear and only know through their words and choice of avatar.

It takes something very special to make a true connection to a person through the internet. More than just shared likes or dislikes, it takes honesty and openness.  Something we are taught never to be on the internet.  Though the anonymity the internet provides allows those of us who are too shy to speak up in real life, a stage on which to express ourselves. Sometimes when we do so we are shot down, other times we make a friend for life.

It has been my great privilege to meet and get to know three very select people, only one of whom I have met in person.  One passed away last year and the other I hope to meet some day.

I am close to each of them in different ways.  My friend who passed was a wonderful conversationalist and we would have lengthy discussions on everything from science fiction to particle physics.  I miss him greatly.

My other two friends, while younger than myself share a lot of my likes and sensibilities.  They are two of the very few people with whom I have shared deeply intimate details about myself.  I’ve grown to love both of them dearly and consider them among my very closest friends.

Aya is immensely talented and never ceases to amaze me.  She is as beautiful as she is intelligent.  Misaki is brilliant and adorable and is able to do things I could never imagine, much less accomplish.  

Aya has a very promising career either as an author or a model/actress.  She’s overcome a lot in her life and has been there to help me through some of the very toughest moments of mine.  I honestly don’t know what I ever did without her.

“Queen of Cocoon” Work done by J’s Design Class Students (ADB) Photography by
Saryn Christina Photography

Misaki is studying to be a child psychologist, which just blows me away  I couldn’t possibly have more respect for her but she’s constantly proving ever more worthy of it.  She has encouraged me to keep writing when I was ready to give up and when I was too depressed to even think about writing.  She and I have shared many things with each other.

These are the people who inspire me and keep me writing.  This post is dedicated to them.

Your Happy vs. My Happy

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English: Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

English: Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

 

I recently wrote a story, a fanfiction in the one fandom I will actually write for.  It had a rather dark theme and one I myself feel very passionately about.  In it a certain character, one I identify very closely with due to our similar personalities and overall way of dealing with others, faces an ordeal.  He has something forced on him. Something most people equate with pleasure and happiness.  He had never experienced it, never realized that such a thing existed.  The experience leaves him traumatized and questioning himself and his relationships with everyone around him.

 

He had been fine with the way things were but others around him couldn’t comprehend that.  They didn’t understand that he was happy.  His own version of happy, not theirs.  His happiness was contentment.  Their happiness was fleeting, a simple emotion.  His contentment was a state of being.  Now that is not to say that he didn’t suffer from stress, anger, doubt or all the other emotions that plague intelligent life, but his contentment mitigated a lot of it from ruling him.

 

Even his best friend didn’t understand this, thinking that his reluctance to join in after hours parties with co-workers or his penchant for remaining solitary meant he was depressed.  There were further misunderstandings due to their differences in communicating.  His speech tended toward formal, with a large vocabulary.  His friends were more colorful and colloquial. This lead people who didn’t know him to assume he was snobbish.  Even his work ethic set him apart from others.  He enjoyed his job and was excellent at it, yet was never satisfied with himself or the results, he always pushed himself to try harder and do better.  Other people never understood it and would tell him he was making them look bad.  It wasn’t his intention to do so, he simply wanted to do his very best.

 

True some of the disconnect was partly his fault.  He didn’t attempt to understand why his friend and their co-workers enjoyed what they did, the same as they didn’t try to understand what made him happy.

 

In my story it resulted in a terrible thing being done to him in an effort to get him to ‘lighten up.’  This is not a far-fetched or even foreign concept.  I cannot count how many times I’ve been forced to go places or do things I take no joy in simply because it is considered ‘normal’ to do so.  I do not need constant stimuli to be happy.  In fact it exhausts me and makes me grumpy.  I like to enjoy pleasurable events as much as any other person, but my psyche likes to take the time to absorb the experience, to revel in it, to pick it apart moment by moment.  forcing me to move from one thing to the next without time to absorb leaves me reeling and off balance.

 

Many people don’t understand this.  At a party I will either sit quietly and listen or only engage 1-2 people in conversation.  I am perfectly content with this.  My lovely sister on the other hand simply must talk to everyone in the room.  She loves it.  It would send me into a dark room to gather my wits.  After many years I’ve finally discovered why.  Its because I devote my whole being to the person I’m currently speaking with.  To do that with each and every person at the party is beyond exhausting.  This is not saying my sister is shallow, she is far-far from it.  She simply has a different way of assessing and communicating with people.

 

This leads me back to what equates to happiness.  Happiness is as individual as the person experiencing it.  It is an emotion and everyone has their own reasons for feeling them, whether they understand them or not.

 

 “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

 

—Viktor Frankl  Man’s Search for Meaning

 

 Constantly searching for the elusive emotion of happiness can blind us to our contentment.  Being content equates to being satisfied, understanding that our attitude shapes our happiness in the moment.

 

I’m not finished with my story yet, so I am not entirely sure how he is going to recover from what happened.  Or if he can.  Some things, once experienced can never be purged, they have to be assimilated into our being, into our contentment as we gain a better understanding of self.

 

So don’t be content to just be happy.  It won’t last and you’ll be left struggling to find it once again.  Find your contentment, your meaning, then happiness will find you.

 

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