Ryan Davis
3/18/14
CRTW 490
Process
Paper
Creating a story outline for this project has by far
become the most challenging project I have ever attempted as a writer. With this project, I really, more than
anything else, wanted to push my boundaries by taking my understanding of
modern adventure stories and applying my style to a more retro aesthetic. This way, I could take the best of both
worlds, from the classic feel of an old adventure narrative, and update it with
modern pacing, characterizations, and themes, while not pushing so far as to
lose the classic feel that I want to capture.
To complete this task, I needed to research two things: ways to perfect my understanding of modern
adventure stories, and I needed to investigate the original sources of the
retro aesthetic that I wanted to explore.
For the most part, I have focused the majority of the
first half of the semester on perfecting my understanding of modern adventure
stories. Much of my expertise in this
area is derived from the works of comic book writers from the Marvel and DC
franchises. This has been extremely
helpful, as not only are both relevant in the modern day, but DC especially has
roots in older, more “classic” style adventures. For every cynical, witty modern hero, I have been
able to dig up examples of old, noir style characters that bring a very
different set of ideas to the table.
Working through all these is what helped me to understand the two
different tones I am trying to blend, and helped me find strong direction.
As I began to work on researching ideas for the premise
of my modern approach, I found a great deal of inspiration came from the hyper
stylized genre of anime. Starting with
the twenty six episodes, I was able to watch something very similar to the goal
I had in mind. This show, while set in a
cyberpunk distant future, takes the themes, tone, and humor of cyberpunk, and
applies them to the retro aesthetics of a much older genre, the western. While the characters all feel very much like
fully realized, three dimensional people, they also manage to all fit into
archetypical roles traditionally found in westerns. Main character Spike is a laid back, calm and
collected hero, who is mostly motivated by the desire to save his own skin and
enjoy life as much as he can. His dry
sense of humor feels very contemporary and his apathy towards other people
seems like a possible reflection on the cynicism brought on by a postmodern
world. However, he also fits into the
role of the gunslinger with a dark and troubled past, who just can’t ever
manage to put everything behind him. He
and other characters in the show often have very intense discussions about the
danger his past puts him in, using minimalist dialogue very much in line with
old west style. No matter how many ties
to his past spike cuts, there is still one he refuses to completely let go of,
and over the course of the show, he is slowly pulled back into the life he
tried to leave. It’s a classic story,
and it feels very weighty, yet the cyberpunk setting manages to not clash with
it at all. This use of archetypes has
fascinated me, and it helped me realize that using an archetype is a strong way
to capture the feel of an older story, but still allowing enough room for
modern perspectives to be applied without clashing.
As for a more modern perspective, I found a great deal of
inspiration actually came from an anime called Fairy Tail. The show is, on a surface level, about the
exploits of a wizard guild, but simply by watching it, the show becomes obviously
about a group of ruffians and warriors who have banded together as a sort of
family, and their dedication to each other is tested many times over the course
of the show as they venture off on missions together. This set up proved to be quite addictive, and
I soon found that this premise was certainly strong enough to be molded into my
own. This was how I came up with the
idea for the main cast to be a pirate crew.
There is a kind of camaraderie that feels very classic and retro, and
the way they are sent off on missions fit like a puzzle piece when I remembered
my interest in the conflict of freedom vs. control, while also allowing for a
quicker, more modern pace than the original classics were able to muster. On a more contemporary level, Fairy Tail also
helped inspire me to put a strong emphasis on varied yet vitally important
female lead characters, which I feel is a very valid way to update a more
classic kind of pirate story. Rather
than cutthroats sailing to rescue maidens, my story can be about cyborgs whose
physical abilities make their genders irrelevant, as they rescue each other
from the dangers of a dark universe.
There are still the archetypes of swashbuckling action adventure present
aesthetically, but with a modern approach to creating it. I don’t want to overpower the swashbuckling
so that it feels at odds with the tone of the story, but I do want it to feel
like something relevant to today’s world, not something that already exists. My feminist lens can help enhance the
original archetypical stories, so that those old feeling scan still be enjoyed
without feeling out of date.
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