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Tag: Pop culture
Worldbuilding and context: the existential questions of Pixar films
Introduction
When creating a narrative, it is up to the author to make the world around the text itself. When it comes to real world stories is this a relatively straightforward task. The references exist to draw upon, and more importantly, there are already rules that the reader will understand. The more removed from this common ground, the more the text needs to explain how it works.
There is an interesting problem in writing, and movie making, where you have a set a specific time to explain how a narrative works, and how the fictional setting works. The more time spent on making a setting work, the less time you can spend on the narrative itself, but without explaining the narrative the story might not work as well.
The less you explain the more holes are allowed to be filled in the text. There is less of a narrative background, and it is more difficult to explain and understand the text when thought about outside of the premise. The more the text is set in a world that is dissimilar to our own, the more things need to be explained, and the more space must be given for the audience to get used to how the world and narrative works.
Pixar movies
Pixar, the branch of Disney has made a large number of amazing 3D animations and narratives over the years, and are very much pioneers in the field. Their stories are heartfelt, complex and often focus on family, friendship and loyalty. Very much following the stories of older Disney filmed. The pixar films are often very good at putting effective visuals to the narrative they are presenting. often is the fact that most, if not all their main characters in the early movies are not human. This allows them to discuss hard questions via proxy- By using humanised robots, toys or cars can you tell stories of death, growing up and loss without having explicitly tying them to humans. THere also let’s be honest, it’s a lot easier to monetize.
With that said, does many of their earlier films have things and settings that are very abstract, and can be downright strange if they are set under too much consideration. This is not a fault of these films, and not a criticism of the art, but rather an interesting analysis of how different stories are told,and what consequences the choices as well as restrictions are set on to a film.
A bug’s life: gender and sex in the insect world
A bug’s life is an interesting little film, and a grand example of early 3d. It is a classic pop cultural exploration of the time. One fascinating thing that seems to plague every animated film about swarming insects, is the concept of gender. In both bugs life, ants and in the bee movie are the main character, the downtrodden worker, a man, while all colones in reality are made out of almost exclusively women.
Cars: classism and racism
Cars is one of the most abstract films that the studio has made, while being the most straightforward on the surface. On a narrative level it is a simple tale of a popup superstar learning the joy of the little things, and the slow life. It is also a love letter to a certain american small town that may or may not have ever existed. It is nostalgic and feels like a good lesson in a simple but enjoyable tale.
The largest consist and the gimmick of the tale is the fact that every character is some sort of car or other kind of vehicle. There seems to be no humans in the setting, and they are never mentioned. With that said, do we later learn that cars are constructed, and it seems that most are made for a specific role in mind. Lighting Mcqueen is a race car so he races, his semi truck driver is made to transport cars, so he transports Lighting Mqueen.
There are some cars shown to not have a clear role to serve, and one school bus is working as a wrestler, or the car related version of wrestling. The general public seems to be made out of personal cars with no job related to them. In the later movies it is introduced that there are new models of cars being made and built explicitly. Before it was implicit since there are older and newer models of cars, especially in the racing circuit where old models are being retired for the newer faster cars to take their place.
Toy story: Rules with no consequences, eternal servitude
There is a rule in the toy story universe where the toys must never be seen to be alive by humans. This is clearly a reference to the raggedy ann movies where the toys die if the humans see a toy moving, that toy dies. This is initially set up as somewhat of a rule in the first movie, until the climactic finale where the toy tortures a struggling depressed from a poor family for the crime of taking out his aggression on inanimate objects. There can be argued that the scare helped ZId, as his behavior could be seen as early
Later it is proven that the toys are not aware originally that they are toys and indeed believe that they are the person they are emptying. Making the rules about not being seen even more strange. In the third movie the implications of being a toe is being seen as a toy, ergo the craft comes to life. A concept that deepens the rabbit hole even further.
The rules are expanded and changed between the movies and does not entirely keep to the same internal logic. Something that is understandable since the goal is not to make a deep deconstruction on how toys work in the universe, but rather themes of growing up and family and aging.
Conclusions
Note that none of these critiques are meant to be critical of the texts, but rather how texts can be formed and presented when the goal is not to make a cohesive world but rather to present morals and a sense of a narrative. The early pixar movies are not meant to be deconstructed in this way. They are meant to present tales and lessons to kids, and in this way they are highly effective.
I write this text as a fun way to discuss and think about narratives, and the implications of what sections in storytelling can lead to. A way of peeling back the curtains and looking behind the walls of narrative writing. There are always limits for what you can tell in a story, there are boundaries for when a story starts and where it ends. You must choose what to tell and what to be left implied. The more fantastical a tale, the more things need to either be explained or left unsaid. For every sentence you lay on explaining a world or a narrative, is a sentence you can not use to drive the narrative forward.
This is why some fantasies can often either feel like they are giving you a lecture, or leaving you in the dark on how the world works. It is a delicate balance to tread, one that I myself struggle with a lot.
The wonder with analysing texts is that it will inevitably tell you something about yourself in the process. Just like telling a story, is there a limit for how much you can say in one analysis before it gets too long, too complex and granular. In this text I have focused on the holes in the canvas of a tale, the places where the set stops. I have done this because it inevitably opens a lot of room for imagination and contemplation.
I can not tell why these decisions were made, only that they were, and that me and many others have noticed them in one way or another. everything we write and not write into a text will have a reaction from the reader. the reader will understand it in one way or another. That is the joy of storytelling, you never have the entire picture, a story is always created in collaboration with the reader.
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Warhammer exploratory essay: Humans in warhammer
Introduction
This chapter will go trough and present some of the basics of the human factions in both Row and Aos. Being human ourselves it is easy to see how this faction, above even the other more humanoid fractions, had been the one that authors have found the easiest to relate to and write about. Fantasy, or at least in the way that is understood is highly focused on western experiences and western cultures. This is particularly true when it comes to what kind of people and factions that the audience is meant to relate to.
WHen other cultures are used in western fantasy they are often used to describe the other or the strange na virgin. Orientalism is very much alive and well in western fantasy. In this essay will I discuss how the ways that warhammer talks about humanity has changed, and what has stayed the same. I will begin to discuss the various kinds of humans that exist in the old world, before going over to discuss those that can be found in Age of Sigmar, as one is a continuation of the other.
This is a way for the readers not familiar with the tone and setting of Warhammer to ease into the analysis, as well as a way for me to catch up on the many changes of the first since I last played myself. Understandably have the setting changed a lot during the many years it has been in production. I will do my best to point out what version of the game, and what edition of that game I am talking about in my essays. When no edition is mentioned, assume it is a topic that is overarching for all or most of the editions.
The Empire and its neighbors
The empire is highly based on germany and the holy roman empire, having german names, and being set roughly around the central northern part of europe. The architecture and the clothing style of the empire humans that we see are also clearly taken from this era and culture for inspiration and world building. It is interesting to note that a British company decided to place their fantasy world not in England, but in Germany, or rather the Holy Roman empire.
They are a parody of the late medieval and early renaissance confidence and sense of culture that was prevalent during that part of Europe’s history. The architecture, art and culture do not at all follow the high ideals of the empire which is where much of the humor comes from. The buildings of the empire for example are ramshackle and and shoddily built. Often they can easily be confused with goblin or orc settlements from other genres. To the north east lies Kislev, a clear example of the eastern European nations like Lithuania and Ukraine of the era, with stout and serious humans with cold magic and a warlike disposition.
The Border princes is another faction that is often tied to the empire and is a small collection of duchies and kingdoms that works as a bulwark between the Civilized empire and the rest of the world, to the east and south.
The empire is a land of many gods and folk traditions, with many faiths coexisting within the nation. The official faith is that of the godking Sigmar, who unified the land and drove off the hated greenskins. Mirroring many a germanic tale. The Sigmarian faith is clearly a parody of the catholic churches’ more warlike traditions under this era. With warrior priests and proclamations of doom and destruction being yelled from grand cathedrals and small churches alike.
Knights and peasants
To the east are the knightly bretton, the other major playable faction, they are knightley and popups to the extreme. they are a parody of the perceived early knightley medieval ages and the actual medieval age of feudalism and extreme class differences. The knights and church keep all but a tenth of all the income from each of the peasants under their protection, and the peasants are illiterate, weak and fearful, and under the total control of their knightley masters. They are highly devout to their lady of the lake, and are deeply built on the Arthurian legend.
The faith in the lady of the Lake is clearly an example of perhaps a more anglo saxon version of the christian faith, but a christian faith nonetheless. To the fact that there have been several crusades from Brittony to the Fantasy Middle East of Araby, One specific crusade drove the Arraby sultanates out of Estalia, the fantasy Sapin, clearly mimicking several specific historical events.
East and south
To he south are two non playable factions of Fantasy spain and italy, and while they are mentioned in the stores and lore are they not very present in the base WF game, but has had more of a presence in the smaller games, mostly as mercenaries or as a counterpoint of actual culture and art compared to the often face and uncivilised cultures of the Empire and Brettonia. It is here that the version of leonardo da vinci comes from, it is here that the renaissance inspirations spring from.
Araby, or fantasy middle east has sadly gotten much of the treatment you would expect from a 1980s british publication written by middle aged white men. Orientalism, turbans, curved swords and a lot of piracy and slavery. They have mostly exist as an antagonist for Brettonia, as well as to add more flavor to the area’s beautiful skeletons and mummies.
The far east
Likewise fantasy Japan and China are mentioned and many of the Empire’s more advanced inventions do come from Cathay or fantasy China, as a clear nod to the actual history of the period. Mostly is asia used as a way to allow asian stereotypes to be added to the game, often via the use of other factions such as the Ogres and the Skaven.
There is sadly little to say when it comes to the older versions of the franchise, other than tokenism and borderline racist depictions are as common as you would fear that they are. Ninjas, samurai, jade dragons and Kimonos are all part of the general repertoire. Later the franchise gave more respect to the cultures the area is so clearly based upon. I was for example glad to find that the warhammer roleplaying game very much treated chinese culture and traditions with a fair amount of respect.
In the tabletop game is their previously mentioned inspiration on the other races and nations. Gunpowder has for example originated in Chatay, as has the skill of rocketry. The Skaven and in some more comedic retellings, the Ogres have also learned the way of stealth from the “mysterious far east”. Clan Eshin of the Skavens has particularly adopted this stealthy way of warfare, using disguised positions and throwing stars.
The north
More interesting to this narrative deconstruction is the lands of the far north as well as the south lands of what would be real life Egypt. THe norse lands, sweden, norway and finland are in the fantasyworld a frozen hellscape controlled by demons and other monstrosities, it’s a land of violent men that worship dark gods, a reputation not dissimilar to what the real world norse lands had for a very long time. The norse and their dark gods make up one of the many antagonists of the old world.
The norselands are cold and unforgiving, and tied directly to the corrupted north pole that, depending on edition, might have been corrupted by strong magical forces, or a malfunctioning teleportation device built by a long dead alien race. The norse are described as wild, cruel and uncultured. They are brutal and violent and spend most of their time raiding or feasting. The gods too are cruel and unforgiving, and it is these gods that present the setting with its biggest threat, for if they ever manage to break free from their frozen prision will destroy the entire world.
There have been some attempts to humanise the Norsemen, claiming that only the most extreme and violent of the Norsemen follow the Chaos gods or go on raids and plunderings. A description that many modern historians would most likely agree with. Only the rich and the influential were ever allowed to travel on the real life viking boats, and only they were allowed to share in the plunder.
Undead humans
To the south in the northern part of Africa lies the land of the undead, a land of mummies and skeletons, cursed by the evil warlock NAgash to forever exist in a parody of their former self. The connections to real life Egyptian aesthetics and to some form Egyptian mythology is easy to see. Though it is interesting to note that the motivation between the mummification of real life and magical Egypt are rather the opposite, while the real life pharaohs adored life, their warhammer counterparts instead fear death.
The undead are roughly separated into two distinct facets, the Tomb kings and the Vampire counts. Tie first was primarily seen as unwilling servants, and only the most powerful of their kind were ever able to gain any real sense of sentience and agency in death. This has changed somewhat in ToW. The tomb kings have also been given more goals than simply existing and protecting their tombs as was their goal in the older editions. The Tomb Kings of ToW have empires, kingdoms and their rules have plans and wishes of their own, even human and other mortal servants to do their bidding.
The second faction of undead, the Vampire counts are as the name suggests, humans that have turned into vampires. Now these vampires has their origins within the lands of the Tomb kings in the narrative. The vampires of warhammer fantasy follow a lot of the tropes that exist within other vampire lore and fiction, but still mostly manage to create their own niece within the genre.
The Von Cerstenis being the most clear example of iteration with their obvious inspiration in Dracula as well as other gothic literature and art. being pale, handsome and dark haired, and ruling from crumbling castles decorated with gargoyles. The undead is something that I will return to later in this series, as they are worth their own spot when comparing them to their AoS counterparts.
Conclusions
Who gets to be a human, and who gets to be a monster is an interesting conundrum in many fantasy settings, Warhammer fantasy included, as while the warhammer world is filled with humanoid creatures, and most, if not all are inspired by real life human cultures. There are only a few of them that get to be humans in the setting.
As I mentioned before are there a clear that there is a western bias to the ones that gets to get to be human, but interestingly enough is the same true for the human cultures that has had a direct relationship to medical europe, China boeing a big trade partners, and the islamic middle east being a trade partner and foe during this time. While technically humans are part of the middle east turned into undead, but still defined as humans. The other factors are distinctly humanoid and still culturally compared and related to other human cultures. Next time we will look at how the humans in Aos have changed and become involved.
Warhammer exploratory essay: Old Worlds and new
Introduction
Warhammer fantasy has existed for decades in one form or another. What started as a roleplaying game with models and rather simple and generic fantasy settings has transformed and morphed with time into something very unique indeed. In a series this old, and with so many creative voices is it inevitable that changes happen. It is these changes that I am interested in, what changed and what have stayed the same.
The Warhammer fantasy franchise has recently taken the stance of having it both ways. Keeping the old and making the new. This is a rather strong contrast to how the company looked at Warhammer Fantasy when Age of Sigmar was first released, where more of a scorched earth approach was implemented. This was true both in the product line, where many options disappeared, as well as in the universe where the old world was literally and metaphorically destroyed.
This has had several explanations, ranging from a need to unify the narrative and to make sure that Games Workshop owns the copyright to all their model lines. This has historically been a problem as the warhammer franchise has involved a lot of generic fantasy terms like Orcs and Elves.
Similar changes have been done by several other franchises, for example did DC comics wildly simplify their extended universe in their series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Disney after acquiring the rights to Star Wars also drastically changed what texts were considered to be in the official canon, and what texts were considered to be in the Legends canon. In the narrative are the legends texts supposedly tall tales. In a meta sense is this a clear delineation of what is considered to be part of the marketable and saleable part of the franchises, and what will continue to be supported.
In this series I will return to my roots and analyse a series of texts given out by games workshop. Rather than making another breakdown will I this time focus on themes and settings as well as to try and set the series in a wider concept of fantasy and mythology. There are two distinct iterations of warhammer fantasy, and I aim to explore both of them in my series going forward.
Age of Sigmar
First is the Age of Sigmar series, the largest departure from the classic elves and dwarfs fantasy of the past, with a clear cut from the past and making something that is wholly unique to the franchise. The magic is more abstract and the factions more extreme, the world is sundered and reality is warped. The setting is now made explicitly with the idea of marketability and copyright in mind. Creatures like Orks are now called Oruks, and a lot more care and time has taken in making sure that the races, nations and species present in Age of Sigmar are nor solely copies of other fantasy tropes, or asd was often the case in WF, a blatant copy or simplification of a real life culture.
The world if AoS is made out of realms, all that have their own rules and are governed by special kinds of magic. In order to travel between the realms one must use special gateways or risk the perils of the warp. This is as a result of the catastrophic disaster that sundered the old world into pieces. It is interesting to note that there once was a grand scale campaign played through hundreds of official matches of warhammer fantasy to decide the fate of the word world. IN that game the good side won and the world stayed intact.
The setting has indeed done a lot to reinvent the setting, and a lot of genre bending writing has come from the setting. To understand the genre defining changes and their implications must the reader first understand where the genre comes from.
The Old World
In order to give this context I will also analyse and discuss the Old World franchise. The Old World series is a return to the old and more traditional setting of the franchise. WHere humans lived in either an exaggerated version of France or an even more exaggerated version of the Holy Roman empire. The empire is a land of olympus humans and poor and desperate peasants. It is a land of innovation and superstition. A place where you are just as likely to meet a town witch or seer as you are to meet a powerful steampowered tank. Bretonnia is likewise a land of grand contrasts, being primarily a parody of the glorification of the noble times of swords and dragons described in myths like the war of the roses and the Arthurian myths. In fact despite the fact that Beroettonia is clearly set in France, or brettony is the setting itself heavily inspired by the arthurian myth, down to the lady of the lake and the grand templars of the round table.
Dwarves and Elves are both present in the OW and share a lot of appearance with their Tolkien counterparts. Two things are distinctly different, the first is that they both have a distinct satirical side to them. The Dwarves are petty, long sighted and rather boring, the ELves are apathetic, selfish and condescending to everyone else.
The OW is inhabited by many strange and magical creatures, primary of them are the Ogres, Orcs, goblins and lizardmen. The Orcs and goblins primarily keep their role as general antagonists and destroyers that can be found both in classic mythology and in contemporary fantasy, their big twist being that they are part fungi, and grow out of fungal patches.
The Ogres are located geographically in what would be real life Mongolia, and are described as dumb, greedy and gluttonous. A description that is not made with the fact that the earlier Ogres was often described as having thick eyebrows and distinct pointy mustache.
The Old World title is a reference both to the fact that the series is set in the old Warhammer setting that was destroyed in the Age of Sigman franchise, as well as the fact that Europe in the old Warhammer setting was called The Old world. This old world is a clear and apparent translation of Europe, and much of the warhammer world is set in an allegory to the real world, with mixed results.
Final thoughts
I will discuss both these series in the light of what was once called Warhammer Fantasy. In order to make it easier to differentiate will I dub Age of Sigmar AoS the old world OW and the original warhammer fantasy WF. Warhammer fantasy has in and of itself gone through a large number of iterations, one of the more interesting changes being a distinction from its Tolkien inspired roots, as well as a larger focus on humor and satire.
There is a clear theme of political and social commentary and comedy in the many factions of WF, especially the humans are more often than not painted in a comedically pathetic and backwards way, strongly contrasting the actual often uncultured and simple ways of even the highest of nobles with the grand and culture image that the nations like to present themselves as. There are these differences and similarities that I aim to analyze in this series. I will begin with analyzing and discussing how humanity is described in ToW followed by AoS, finishing with a discussion on who gets to be human, and who gets to be a monster.
Patreon blog
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Essey: mellodifestivalen, a tale of big egos and low expectations
Melodifestivalen is the Swedish regional part of the eurovision song contest. Here is where Sweden’s representation is chosen in a several week long media spectacle. Seeing how this is the Swedish broadcast networks (SVT) biggest crowd pusher of the year, it is no surprise that the company wants to get as much out of it as possible. This can be most easily seen by the extension of the contest that has happened over the many years of its run.
Melodifestivalen is one of, if not The must see television show on Swedish TV. This can come from genuine enjoyment, scorn, an unwillingness to miss out, or a combination of all the above. In this essay I will use the series as a way to deconstruct two major themes that can be found in many of SVTs productions. One being that of a sense of ego and inflated importance, as well as a sense of entitlement to lowered standards. There is this air of SVT productions that are expected to be measured with a lower standard because they are “just public television”. I will in this essay aim to discuss how these two modes of thinking often contradict each other.
Low standard and the sense of being “just SVT” is something that is easy to spot in the production of Melodifestivalen. Despite being played in a grand arena, having a grand budget, almond raking in millions of views, is it always a sense of amateurish feeling over the production and script writing of the show itself. The jokes are corny and not very well thought out, the presenters give off the feeling of uncomfortable convention hosts. Many of the jokes that are pulled from this real or perceived amateurishness, like the ironic use of comic sans, or the fact that a joke did not land, being the punchline to the joke more often than not.
This is not an opinion I am alone with, and as I have alluded to, are there many that watch the show to groan at the bad jokes and corny performances, as well as the often sadly misguided musical performances. This is a fact that SVT is well aware of, and has on more than one occasion made light of in their comedy often at the expense of their detractors.
A good example of this is the year that SVT used muppets to present their different viewers and their reason to watch. One pair of these puppets being an elderly, upper class and intellectual couple that watched the show seemingly in pure duress, and spent the entire show berating and degrading it. This would have been a fine thing to do, even though the Muppets did it first and better with the peanut gallery, if it wasn’t for the fact that the old couple that “just didn’t get it”, were always right!
This attitude of casually dismissing criticism as overly intellectual snobs is something that can be found in other productions then just Melodifestivalen. Many of their shows like Uti Bugda and similar comedy show as a distinct lowbrow, and yet mean spirited tone towards their perceived audience. This is furthermore followed by yet again a notion that any low production values or bad quality from their part should be forgiven due to their state of public television, and as a result, not as fancy as commercial television.
SVT was, for a long time the only television that was available for the Swedish population, as the first and only tv channel made in, and for Sweden. They were from the beginning, and still are fully funded by Swedish tax money, and operate, at least in theory, fully free from both government and commercial interest. SVT is considered to be a public service, much like the BBC in the UK, and as a result is meant to work in service of the public. This project involves trying to cater to as wide an audience as possible, and to make sure to give something for everyone, or in other words, for the general public. This runs the gambit from low brow comedy shows, to high concept discussion shows on art, faith and science. In later years has this responsibility been spread over several channels where SVT 1 remained the most focused towards, in lack of a better word, mass audiences, where SVT2, Knowledge channel, and the SVT kids taking over many of the more specialized roles. It is not perhaps surprising that Melodifestivalen is hosted only at SVT 1. This sense of being in the service to the public, as well as being the first TV channel available has, I would argue, led to an elevated sense of importance amongst the executives of SVT.
SVT today does not exist alone. And for decades they have now had to contend with the competition of other, nonprofit and for profit TV stations and conglomerates, and it is in this relationship that both of their self images can be found and understood. On one end does SVT tout their role as, free (in a way) entertainment, education and culture for the public. That they serve a higher purpose than the commercial TV stations as their role as public services. On the other hand does it also seem to exist a certain defensiveness in SVTs many shows about, not being able to, and in fact, that they should not be expected to be as good as the big commercial stations with their enormous budgets and talent pools.
Nowhere else I would argue, is this dichotomy more apparent, then in the case of Melodifestivalen. There is a grand sense of being the People’s entertainment festival, and there is indeed in theory possible for anyone to join and possibly win the entire contest. There is a sense that SVT is almost doing the nation a service by providing the Swedish people of something to gather around, be proud of, and more importantly then all, to take part in, And yes, here I have to give credit where credit is due, as Melodifestivalen does rake in thousands of dollars for charity every year. At the same time the show is mired with flat comedy, self referential and erogatory comedy and an overall sense of, Don’t bully us, we are just the silly show Melodifestivalen.
This contrast is what, in my opinion, makes Melodifestivalen uniquely frustrating to watch, and I have to admit, I do still watch it every year.
Essay: Mental health in roleplaying games, a case study
Vampire the Masquerade and Elder scrolls, playing the mad
The depiction of mental health in fiction has had a long and dark history. Often has mental health been used as a mark of otherness, evil or as comic relief. Maniac killers, sadistic monsters or babbling clowns are often seen in popular media for the last hundred years. Today I will discuss another form of madness in fiction, one that has a long history in many cultures around the world, madness as inspiration.
Setting the stage
The image of the mad or deranged seer is not a new archetype by any sense of the word. Many examples can be found within Greek and Roman mythology, Cassandra the seer being one of the more famous examples of this. A woman with absolute clairvoyance, but cursed to be seen as mad or as a liar by all that hears her. These examples are indeed the basis for my first example, the Malkavian clan of vampires in Vampire the Masquerade. Being that the setting is deeply rooted in Abrahamic traditions, it is not surprising that Roman and Greek tales and fables would be integral to the setting, considering their importance the development of christianity.
The Malkavians are depicted to be blessed, or cursed with a form of sight, to be able to see into the future, past, as well as the realities behind their own. They are furthermore cursed, or gifted by one or several forms of mental illness or neurodivergence. The willing or unwilling followers of Sheagorath is likewise both cursed and blessed. As most if not all of them are artisticly or intelectually talanted in some form or another. While this is not always the case, there is more often then not a tie between artistic and intelectual prowers, and madness. It seems that seeking to deeply or to greedily in to the secrets of the world of Elder scrolls is a sure way to have your mind warped in some way.
The family of the mad and the free
Each bloodline of the vampires, think of them has heradatary lines from one generation to another, has a founder or original creator. In the case of the Malkavian, this original creator was known as Malkov. A seer and wiseman that said to have drunk to deeply from the veins of his master, and gleemed secrets no mortal should witness.
With this wisdom came visions, visions of the future, and the past. This made him feared, and loathed by his simplings and fellow vampires. Their ire grew so large, that one day he was dismembered, and like the god Osiris, burried in seperete points of the earth. But, unlike Osiris, he was never put toghter, he was never saved, but insted left to suffer and rage in his many prisions, for a man of such great power and evil, is not so easily destroyed. Instead of making his body whole, instead his influense spread just as far as his mortal form now had. By infiltrating and connecting all the minds of his children, he was able to be everywhere, and nowhere at once. This connection to Malkov, and between his children is known as the madness network.
The Malkavian vampires of the modern setting of Vampire the masqauarade is directly or indirectly tied in to the madness network, and can use it, concsly or unconcisly to pull forth emoptions, memories and knowlage of other members of the Clan Malkavian. This trade is far from safe tough, and it easy to catch more then you asked for when diving in to the subconcious of hundreds of undead individuals. The madness network is not called for no reason, and each individual inflicted with Malkavian vampyrism is in one way or another afflicted with some sort of mental divergence, or have their old once enhancesd or even replaced. Madness is in the case of the Malkavians directly tied fo the concept of forbidden or esoteric knowlage, and the Malkavians are indeed able to see beyond the mundane dimentions of even the supernatural realms of vampires and ghosts, in to the beyond. So strong is this power that they can even change the very fabric of the world around them, foming it more to fit their own view of how things truly are.
This connection was not always present with the Malkavians, and there was a time that they tried, in an attempt to blend better in with their vampire brethren of the Camarilla they gave up, or at least stemmed some of their more outlandish powers, and they hoped, their neourises. The Camarilla is an organization that thrives on normalcy, tradition and hiding in plain sight, all things that the Malkavians had a dificulty to follow. Unlike their chaotic brothers in the Sabbat, that fully embraced their curse, did the Camarilla Malkavians for a time manage to stem their affliciton, at least outwordily. The act of “blending in” or “acting normal” is one that I am sure that many of my fellow neurodivergent readers recognise. And it was just an act for the Malkavians, an act mostly for themselves, and despite the fact that they had sucesfully cut themselves of from their more strange and disturbing powers, were the same, strangeness or otherness still there, just muted or repressed. The real life allegories here are not hard to spot, and the extremes of either repression or fully embracing once otherness is not uncommon in the real life. I to have been forced to learn certain social codes or behaviours to fit in, or hide my angsiety or obsessive tought patterns to others. and I known many others that have been forced to do the same.
This mask did not hold for long, and the madness of Malkov is back in full force in the modern Malkavian, if not even stranger. Their Sabbat brethren, due to their brutal and cruel ways have intertwined even deeeper in to the Malkavian madness network, to the point where they more resemple collection of hiveminds then individuals.
The real life allegories here are not hard to spot, and the extremes of either repression or fully embracing once otherness is not uncommon in the real life. I to have been forced to learn certain social codes or behaviours to fit in, or hide my angsiety or obsessive tought patterns to others. and I known many others that have been forced to do the same. Likewise is the Sabbat Malkavians an example of how destructive and manipulative social structures can make such mental ilnesses and divergences even worse, and in some cases lead to co-dependenices.
One of the more striking features of playing a Malkavinan is that you can not choose, not to be “mad” in some form or another. Every player can choose to have have negative traits, one of them being what the game calls Derangements, but a Malkavian can not choose, they Have to take at least one of these derangement. The Malkavian is in other words forced in to the roll of a form of other via the mental divergence of their blood. This divergence also comes with higntened senses, intuison or artisitc abilities they did not have as a mortal. This consept does make the Malkavians very dificult to play, and even more dificult to play well, as it is easy to fall in to clyshes or turn your character in to a comedic parody. Thankfully the player handbook does a good job of introducing the players that may not have had a personal experience of mental divergence, and sheperds them trough the process of seeing the world trough another view. For as the proverb goes, “the mirror is cracked, but surprisingly clear”.
To become madness, and to witness the mad
Elder scrolls take a different route when it comes to its relationship to madness, as it is often represented by a god, in the form of Sheogorath, the god of madness but also the patron of poets, artists and intellectuals to some extent. Sheogorath himself is shown to be arbitrary, petty and childish, but also frighteningly intelligent and quick witted. He often plays an antagonistic role, and seems to take great pleasure in humbling the proud and arrogant, a trait he also shares with the Malkavians.
In this chapter I will focus on the expansion adventure to Elder Scrolls Oblivion called The Shivering Isles, where the player not only aims to save the realm of the mad god, but eventually to become the mad god themselves. Through this adventure the player is confronted with many facets of what the game calls madness, primarily divided into Mania, the land of excess, euphoria and mania, and dementia, representing depression, paranoia and dysphoria. The tale is filled with subtle and not so subtle references to mental health, medication as well as creativity and obsessive creation.
The leader of Dementia is a cruel woman driven by her paranoia that makes her jump at every shadow, and see evil and ruin everywhere. The leader of Mania is on the other hand a man addicted to powerful drugs that helps with his manic depressive moods. While many of the examples of madness are written off as a joke, are there some genuinely interesting or tragic characters in the Isles. One example is a man in Dementia that wishes you to kill him, as committing suicide would lead him to have to endure great torments from the land itself, as Sheagoorath himself has instructed. If you agree to help this man, you will gain access to his house, where you find his journal as well as a Ring of happiness. Here the man describes how he has dissociative episodes, and suffers from grave depression. He later describes how a mage nade him the ring of happiness, and while it did make him feel less empty and hollow, it also made him feel less of himself, numb and strange, as a result he stopped wearing it. This is a clear allegory to antidepressants, and how it is not uncommon for individuals to feel that something of themselves is lost in the use of them.
What makes this take on madness so different then the Malkavian example, is the fact that the player, from the very start is told that, You do not belong. Your character is not seen as one of the true citizens of the isles, and is as a result coded as, for the lack of a better word, sane. Note that you are, as a player, still put in the role of an outsider, but for very different reasons. Instead of being pulled into the role of the mad or manic is the player instead presented as the one sane individual in a land of the mad. Here it is worth noting that the act of any open world rpg character, can in no way be described as sane or normal for that matter, but that is a discussion for another time.
What is interesting is that, despite the player being given this label of sanity, do you still turn into the god of madness at the end. Despite your status as an outsider, are you quite forcefully pressed into the role of not only leading the game’s idea of madness, but to fully embody it. While the Elder scrolls series takes a lighter and more shallow approach to mental health and mental health struggles, is it still worthy to take up as an example here. One of the reasons being the more traditional and shallow approach that the work takes.
Conclusions
The biggest differences, besides tone and depth, is the player characters’ relationship to the other in the form of the mad. Elder scrolls series, and many other media forms presents the player as a spectator or outside observer to mad or divergent, even after becoming the Mad god, you are never truly a part of it. Playing a Malkavian on the other hand, forces you into the mind of the other, you become the mad, you become the other. Few pieces of media have, in my opinion, managed to toe the line of forcing the reader into the mindspace of the other and the divergent, without needing to resort to images of illusions and hallucinations.
The madness of Elder scrolls is loud and external, and something you encounter and interact with. The madness of Malkov is often silent, internal, and something you have to face and either accept and internalize, or fight and suppress.
Media literacy 101, part 3, Protagonsits, antagonists and point of view
The roles of protagonists and antagonists are to drive a narrative forward. The distinction of protagonist and antagonist has been used to describe and define the main characters since ancient times. Today I will discuss how these two terms function and how it can help you analyze and enjoy fiction more deeply.
By analyzing the expected point of view can we learn more about the underlying themes that the text is presenting, as well as how these themes are supposed to be interpreted
Protagonist
The protagonist or protagonists are primarily defined by the character that is trying to achieve something or pull the narrative forward. The most simple example of this is the hero that works towards saving the words from destruction. In other words, the protagonist is someone that is working towards something.
Protagonists are often heroes or in other ways morally good and often represent the “good guys”. This is not always the the case. Here is where the term anti hero, or anti villain is copied. The anti hero often refers to a character that while acting immorally or evilly is still working towards a goal that would often be described as heroic or good. For example the violent vigenlantie the Punisher. Anti villains are similar characters that while often acting sympathetic and or morally good way, still often aim towards things that are considered villains.
The protagonist is also the primary point of view character in most fiction and are as a result often the point of view character for the audience. As a result it is quite common for the viewers to be expected to take the protagonists point of view, and to root for them. Here is where I once again reiterate that the protagonist is not necessarily either a hero, or morally just. To bring up an example that most of my viewers are familiar with is the Imperium of mankind from the warhammer 40k series often posed as the protagonist of many of the settings stories, and as I have discussed earlier, are far from what one would call heroes of the setting.
Warhammer in general is interesting since the primary protagonist often changes depending on the text, and while the Imperium of Mankind is often the chief protagonist, is this far from always the case? The codexes, books that describe how to play each faction in the tabletop game, is a prime example of having protagonists that are not part of the Imperium of mankind.
Antagonist
The antagonist is the protagonist opposite, and someone that is trying to stop the narrative from proceeding, often in the form of an adversary to the protagonist. For example, would Sauron be the antagonist of Lord of the Ring, as he is trying to stop the protagonist Frodo from destroying the ring and saving Middle earth.
The antagonist is often the villain or in other ways a character, entity or set of characters that represents the wrong side. This is far from always the case, and in most cases the antagonists are simply someone that is on the opposite side of the protagonist. A good example of these would be a romantic rival to the protagonist, or a general on the other side of a war where both sides are equally right or wrong.
The antagonist is as a result more difficult, but they can be thought of as the forces that, if it would win, would end the story. At the same time the antagonist drives the narrative forward much in the same way as the protagonist does, and are as a result vital to many narratives.
Furthermore, does the antagonist not need to be a character at all, the antagonist in many disaster oriented survival stories for example, have the environment take on the role of the primary antagonist. While these stories often have secondary antagonists, the primary obstacle is often storms, earthquakes or a virulent disease. The antagonist can, in this way, be the primary obstacle that the protagonist needs to overcome.
Another prominent quality of the antagonist is that they rarely, if ever have the role as point of view character for the audience. The antagonist is always seen through the eyes of the protagonist, and rarely has their point of view shown. If a villainous character is presented from their point of view, are they most likely a protagonist with morally evil intentions, rather than an antagonist.
Conclusions
Both the protagonist and antagonists are needed for the drive of most narratives, while they are not always needed are they incredibly common in all narratives that revolve around a central conflict. The protagonist can be said to lead the conflict forward, the one that sets out on the adventure, tries to save their home town from destruction or tries to marry their childhood love. The antagonist is likewise the force that tries to stop this goal to be achieved, be it a dragon at the end of the adventure, an evil oil company, or a romantic rival.
The protagonist is also the point of view character, and often the surrogate for the viewer in the narrative itself. This role as audience surrogate is played, regardless if the protagonist is sympathetic to the audience or not. For example, the protagonist in American Psycho is a truly detestable and horrifying human, but the audience are still forced to see the world through his eyes, because of his role as protagonist.
Understanding why a certain character acts as the narrative’s protagonist can help us as readers to understand what the text is trying to achieve. By presenting the viewers with a clear point of view does the text create an implicit line between what the audience can come to understand the primary conflict of the text, as well as how it can, or can not come to be solved. Even with texts like Warhammer 40k, and American Psycho that have highly unlikable protagonists, are they not chosen at random. TheImperium is often used to discuss themes of evil to fight bigger evils, and American psycho asks the audience if Patrick Bateman or the system that allows him to flourish is the true monster.
Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 4, Comedy and the importance of narrative points of view
This chapter will discuss how the Orks points of view turns atrocities and horrific events into darkly comedic situations using context and dramatic irony. The primary role of the Orks, besides their use as a constant antagonist to the major point of view factions humanity, do they also serve as a form of comic relief. The Orks are often featured in comedic cartoons and comics, and the narrative that follows them as the major point of vire characters are always centered around comedy and more often than not, slapstick.
The Ork mentality and War
I discussed in earlier chapters that the Orks are not affected by warfare and strife like any of the other races are. To them mortality is not something to consider or worry about, and war is nothing but a fun and exhilarating adventure. This mentality allows the reader to temporarily join the Orks in this mentality via suspension of disbelief. Note that this narrative form seems to mainly be used against other Orks, where both sides of the conflict are equally as unfaced by injury, trauma or death.
The Orks are furthermore described as having little to no empathy for the suffering of others, and when they do show concern for another, or even save another of their kin, it is always a close friend, and the interaction is soon forgotten. Lastly, are the Orks shown to be irredeemably violent, destructive and by most definitions evil. This description makes it easier for the reader to laugh at the struggles that the Orks suffer and are subjected to. Games Workshop primarily uses the Orks as a comedic foil in this manner when they are facing other military forces, or other foes that are capable of fighting back in one way or another. An Ork act of genocide of civilians or any similair atrocities are mostly described as the tragedy it is, and the image of the comedic relief is instead replaced with that of a faceless, remorseless murderer.
For an Ork, there is little to no difference between besieging a planet, and fixing the rear axle of a truck, both are equally pedestrian in the lives of the Orks. This, if anything, shows the mundanity that warfare takes up in the lives of the Orks.
Enthusiasm and slapstick
The Orks are given an eternal can-do attitude, and endless energy. They are not describe as being dumb, just short sighted and overly eager. The first solution is always the best, and that solution is often poorly thought out, dangerous and most importantly, funny. It is easy to draw parallels between the Orks shortsighted plans of, for example ramming a rocket in to the side of a wall before firing it “to make sure it hits”, and the convoluted antics of Tom from Tom and Jerry, or the Calories from Loony Toons. The audience’s knowledge of the inevitable failure, contrasted by the character’s ignorance is where a lot of the comedy comes from in this form of comedy, and the buildup is just as important, if even more so then the finale.
One example of such logic comes from the Ork campaign in the game Dawn of War 3, where the Orks after building an enormous gun, realized they had no way to bring it back. After realizing that the gun was not properly secured and would violently jump every time it was fired, the logical solution was to simply shoot it all the way back to the base!
This kind of mentality and the situations they create is at the base of much of the comedic relief that the Orks bring to the setting. By approaching each task, regardless of how bloody, painful and pointless with a sense of pure enthusiasm, do the Ork work as a great contrast to the otherwise bleak, hopeless and dread filled setting of Warhammer 40k.
Dramatic irony
The concept of dramatic irony pertains to the idea that the reader understands things that the characters in the narrative do not, or have information they are not allowed to have. This allows the reader to make connections that the characters in the text are robbed from making. This narrative device is often used to underscore tragedy or tension.
Much of the comedy, as well as the drama relating to the Orks lies in the fact that the Orks can never truly understand the pain and suffering they are bringing on to the rest of the universe. Likewise are the rest of the races in the franchise unable to grasp the logic and emotions behind the Orks’ seeming acts of random and unprovoked violence. This tension between viewpoints, and the lack of information that each faction has about their opponents is what drives most of the drama of the setting, and as I have shown with the Orks, also the comedy.
Final thoughts
By presenting the Orks in the way that Games Workshop does, can they inject an element of comedy, if not a decisively dark one, without sacrificing the grim and depressing tone that permeates most of the franchise as a whole. It can be argued though that the series of Warhammer 40k has gotten less deliberately comedic and more serious in tone as the franchise has gone on.
The flexibility of the Ork depictions allows them to be used as both a comedic foil, and as a horrifying threat as the narrative needs it. I am aware that the Orks are far from the first, or the only way that slapstick and dark humor has been used this way. The Orcs in the Peter Jackson films for example both play the role of primary antagonists, and foils much of the movie’s comedy. While many of Warhammer 40,000’s characters and themes can become comedic by the nature of their grandness and extremeness, I would argue that the Orks is the only place where this is done fully intentionally.
Next chapter will conclude this part of the series, as I will combine all the parts of the Orks as a narrative device and set of characters, and combine them into a unified whole.
An Unused Frequency 