I recently watched the movie Madagascar (2005) for the first time — because of a compelling thread drawing parallels between the experiences of the zoo animal protagonists and diasporas — and I was greatly tickled by how, when the animals wash up on the shores of Madagascar, they’re convinced that they must have been transferred from Central Park Zoo to San Diego Zoo. It isn’t just a single one-off joke, either– I think the animals spend at least 10 minutes of runtime, maybe 20, interpreting their experience of the wild through their assumption that they must simply be in another zoo.
I really like this, because it feels like a very real experience that people have that isn’t always well–represented in media. I’m talking about the feeling of false certainty and comfort that you understand your present circumstances based on your initial assumptions, when you really don’t. It makes it all the more impactful when they eventually realize that they’re not in another zoo as they had assumed, but actually in the wild. Less thoughtful screenwriters would show us the shock immediately, or near-immediately. But drawing it out has us experience some measure of suspense. (When are they ever going to figure it out??) And it’s a comedy movie!
I find myself thinking also about like, when someone doesn’t realize they’re in a relationship that isn’t working out. I’m thinking a bit about Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender slowly giving up his quest to capture Aang, and Arthur’s slowly deteriorating relationship with Dutch in Red Dead Redemption 2– both of these are really great accomplishments in storytelling. We see the value of taking time to really figure things out, and how that feels more real and more earned, because in real life we don’t just flip our positions on anything substantial overnight.
What else is to be said about slow realizations? The relationship between Joel and Ellie in The Last Of Us (i’m talking about the video game, I haven’t watched the tv show but I’m guessing it’s similar)
Breaking Bad did this masterfully over 5 seasons, depicting Walter’s slow descent into villainy… maybe it’s even too slow for modern audiences now?
I wonder where else I can apply this… it took me a long time to figure out my books, Friendly Ambitious Nerd and Introspect. And I’m still in the process of figuring out what’s next.
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I abandoned this draft for around 7 months before returning to it again. And I think what’s changed for me are things like, coming to terms with the fact that I haven’t made a lot of progress on my original concept of Frame Studies, and I think it might be to do with the fact that a lot of it was rooted with a sense of… a version of me that’s someone other than who I am right now. Like, I had a vision for the kind of person I would be as an author or narrator, and that guy was kinda cool. And I don’t really feel like I’m that particular flavor of cool. I’m a dad. I’m tired. I’m cleaning poop every day.
And here I’m reminded of the backstory of Supergiant Games’ standout hit Hades. Hades was Supergiants’ 4th game… they knew that they wanted to make a game set in Greek mythology, and their original vision was to call the game Minos, where you play as Theseus, navigating a labyrinth. But they weren’t really able to make Theseus an interesting playable character, and so they switched things up and made Zagreus (a relatively obscure son of Hades) the protagonist instead. Zagreus being less of an established character allowed them more creative freedom. And I especially love that they kept Theseus in the game, making him an antagonist who obstructs Zagreus’s progress in his attempt to break out of Tartarus.
This is actually helping me with a slow realization about the state of this substack. I feel like I’ve been doing what Supergiant was doing– I’m working with the wrong main character, or narrator, let’s call him Visa-Theseus. And really Visa-Theseus should be the antagonist.
might elaborate more later
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