User talk:Geyser/Test2

Welcome to my collapsed moral universe

(SAID BY KONOKO ON Page 1)

---

GC

HERE you find an m4a file of mine. As the title says, it has something to share with that sentence of yours: "Konoko: Welcome to my collapsed moral universe."

---

AF

Credit for that line goes to a book I recently read. It's titled: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, by former war correspondent Chris Hedges. Quite a remarkable statement on both modern society and the human condition, and short to boot, so it's worth checking out. I've been pulling a lot out of it lately, honestly.

---

geyser

Complementary reading/watching suggestions :

1. an interview with Chris Hedges : best read before or instead of WIAFTGUM (much shorter still, less "poetry" and pathos, and all the relevant points are there)
2. Every Five Seconds an Inkjet Printer Dies Somewhere : a short article trying to explain "pointless" massacres (running amok). A few considerations (primarily in the first half) are general enough to apply to war : public theater, some kind of heroism VS manifestation of evil (condemnation VS acceptance/glorification).
3. Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Two memorable quotes :
   1. "Believe it or not, but under fire, Animal Mother can be a wonderful human being. All he needs is somebody throwing grenades at him 'til the end of his life."
   2. and:
      • Git some! Git some! Git some, yeah, yeah, yeah! Anyone that runs, is a VC. Anyone that stands still, is a well-disciplined VC! You guys oughta do a story about me sometime!
      • Why should we do a story about you?
      • 'Cuz I'm so fuckin' good! I done got me 157 dead gooks killed. Plus 50 water buffalo too! Them's all confirmed!
      • Any women or children?
      • Sometimes!
      • How can you shoot women or children?
      • Easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much! Ain't war hell?

---

geyser

Borrowing the first sentence of a narrative from an existing piece doesn't seem right. No matter how thoughtful and original a book is, you can't just go "pulling a lot out of it" ^^

So, verbatim or not verbatim?

---

AF

Not verbatim, different context, but probably recognizable. It works though.

---

geyser

If Konoko talks about her moral universe with as much distance as Hedges talks about his, doesn't that make her inconveniently lucid?

If she's spent 4 years rationalizing on her past and present, isn't she well-armed enough to face the future?

---

---

Narrative

(FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE, MORE SPECIFICALLY)

(FROM KONOKO'S POV, EVEN MORE SPECIFICALLY)

---

geyser

One thing to bear in mind about the medium is that unless you show Konoko talking, no one will know it's her.

In movies, the verbal message is complemented by the actual voice. Here, an off-panel monologue has the text as its only support.

That can be a drawback, but also a powerful means to achieve ambiguity. Does the narrator have to be Konoko? Food for thought...

For the same reason, androgynous characters work out nicely on paper : no disambiguation through voice.

---

geyser

Idea : Consider the scene as coming directly after the scene that marks the beginning of Avatar's new life... Avatar too had his "moral universe" shattered when the ACCs blew up.

Actually, the narrative of the story-so-far can be first-person and impersonal. If no specific information is provided, the reader assumes it's Avatar talking. The page/panel layout can then be minimalistic : fade to black, white text over black background, period.

When and if you "fade in" to a series of shots "starring" Konoko, there will be a sort of gradual transition from one narrator to the other. Not too intuitive, but worth the shot.

---

geyser

Another idea : if you want to show a desolated landscape (wasteland, destroyed ACCs, dead cities), you can introduce Konoko gliding over it rather than walking through it.

With her CHAPTER 07 . A FRIEND IN NEED glider. Reminiscent (of course) of Miyazaki's Nausicaä, but also of Lorraine Reyes McLees, whose homepage was named after Nausicaa's Mehve.

AF

As for Nausicaa, check out Miyazaki's comic as well if you can -- I liked it more, but it'll be harder (looks like I can order it online. geyser) (and more expensive (For 70 bucks. geyser)) to get ahold of.

geyser

I went to a rather large Miyazaki-Moebius exhibition (Flash site HERE) in Paris, (February/March 2005) : quite inspiring too.

GC

I Understand NAUSICAA a Bit More than I Did a Little While Ago (a long interview with Miyazaki about Nausicaä's universe and characters) (BTW, there's war in Nausicaä, too... geyser)

---

geyser

That gliding sequence can be a semi-flashback (day)dream of Mai's (the story would start when she wakes up). Thus some details can be surreal : her glider, for instance, can stay in the air for longer than "expected".

Landing at the end... or not. Also, the picture of destruction can be exaggerated, or echoing other post-apocalyptic references (e.g. in manga). Various dream-friendly artistic effects, too.

If the narrative covers the skipped period in time (e.g. four years), then you don't even need to put a note saying "FOUR YEARS LATER".

As for the smooth transition from one narrator to the other, Avatar's plane can be shown flying away into no man's land at first, shrink to a tiny winged speck in the distance, and then come back as a gliding Konoko.

geyser

As for the landscape over which she'd glide, I'd suggest a snow-covered wasteland (acid/toxic snow, anybody?). Then again, since a 4-year fast-forward is covered by the scene, different seasons can be pictured : spring/summer/autumn would be even closer to Nausicaä's universe (see Wilderness Preserve).

The time scale can thus be distorted, similarly to the way (day)dreams are experienced : the whole (day)dream/nightmare seems to be played back super-fast at the moment you wake up.