I Beg You, Please Cripple Your Characters

a few months ago i had the truly deep pleasure of rewatching a timeless critically acclaimed classic for my childhood it's a disney film that's in the contention for being one of the most revolutionary and groundbreaking cinematic accomplishments of its time of course as you can see the deep praises belong to luck of the irish if you haven't seen luck of the irish or don't remember it please give it a watch there are some truly fantabulous gems in there i mean when the irish came to america things were tough and they had to work at jobs other people wouldn't take and they didn't get paid what they deserved well at least they got paid but the reason i bring up luck of the irish aside from its visionary representation of irish culture and heritage you're a foot tall it's probably just an allergic reaction boiled potatoes it's because the film does utilize a narrative technique that i think should honestly be more widespread it cripples the character now i don't mean this story sees the character physically maimed even though there are some awesome fictions where that does happen no by i mean that the story takes away the character's greatest strength in order to explore that character more deeply and genuinely again if you don't remember kyle the protagonist has been extremely lucky all of his life because of a magic coin that grants him good fortune across the movie he loses that coin and has to live out his life actually having to struggle and work for what he wants the whole tension of the film basically boils down to can he beat the villain without his magical lucky coin now luck of the irish doesn't have the most nuanced utilization of this narrative tool but honestly that is not completely necessary at all times the basic tenet of this avenue of writing is to explore and possibly redefine the identity of the crippled character this is a subversion of the prototypical cumulative style of character building what i mean by that is that most stories have a character face a struggle then gain a skill then through gaining that skill they grow as a person aka develop as a character then they overcome the struggle with the new skill the sequence is repeated over and over again until the narrative ends this is the traditional style of character growth but the inverse is what we are talking about today and that can be just as interesting if not more interesting and i am confident in saying that because some of the most popular fictions in the world use this method and its many variations possibly the most iconic and basic use of this is superman and kryptonite for all of the narratives involved with it kryptonite functions to make superman vulnerable and therefore bring intention to the conflict superman is basically all-powerful just being himself but kryptonite quite literally cripples him into being weak enough to fail when executed in its simplest form many times the solution is just to remove the kryptonite from his close vicinity he gets his powers back the bad guy gets a face full of pain and the day is saved other times though the execution is a bit more nuanced even though superman returns as a whole is a lackluster film and arguably spits in the face of the comics it does its main character in an interesting way instead of returning superman to his full strength and then having him stop the villain the film shows superman overcoming the antagonist even while crippled clark has literally been stabbed with a kryptonite shank yet he saves the day anyway by lifting up an island and thrusting it into space even with the kryptonite in him it's actually a really cool message about how even through physical weakness or disadvantage you can still prevail to achieve your goals the solution does not come from avoiding your problems but from persevering through them funny enough comic narratives and their coinciding fictions might be the one genre of storytelling that makes the most frequent use of crippling the character much like how superman was a walking god man and needed kryptonite to make him vulnerable to the conflict the same can be said for marvel's big screen uses of thor he is quite literally a god and i don't even think he can die he has super strength can fly controls lightning he can do it all and because of that awesome power many conflicts before him seem insignificant to remedy this the narrative of the first movie cripples him and takes away his hammer the source of his power the entire movie then becomes about thor becoming worthy enough to regain his hammer and his powers and save the day the conflict of the narrative isn't whether or not thor can overcome the destroyer or loki obviously he could if he had his powers the conflict is whether or not thor can grow on a personal level through the crippling of his powers still if you want to see this idea executed much better you can turn to see the movie thor ragnarok again here thor is crippled his hammer is destroyed and he is left without much of his powers except the narrative of this film is more focused on thor searching for an identity and how to overcome his struggles not with his magical hammer but by his own innate power this is what the core of crippling a character really evokes the more central the removed ability is to the character's identity the more opportunity for growth the character has when facing challenges without that ability this is what happens with jamie lannister in game of thrones jaime's whole identity was wrapped up in being the prodigal perfect knightly son of house lannister his nearly unmatched skills and swordplay and outward appearance of perfection form the basis of his personal identity of just being better than everybody there are no men like me but when jaime's hand is cut off literally crippling him he loses the ability to fight and the mirage of perfection from there the story is given an opportunity to develop jb since he now must find new footholds for his identity jaime becomes a better person because he himself is so vulnerable through his crippling in other instances crippling a character can show their resourcefulness and ingenuity especially in the fiction with the hard magic system take a look at full metal alchemist brotherhood colonel mustang is a ridiculously powerful alchemist he wears gloves that spark when the fingers are snapped and with the transmutation circle on the back of the gloves he turns the spark into massive gouts of flames he is so powerful in fact that the show frequently has to him just so he doesn't immediately destroy the antagonist and remove the conflict if his gloves get wet or are removed he becomes useless those are the hard magic rules that moderate his powers but even in these instances one of the show's best moments comes from him overcoming these limitations at a certain point mustang gets stabbed in the ribs and his gloves are shredded both figuratively and literally crippling him however by using his own blood to create a transmutation circle on the back of his hand and using a spare lighter he's able to cauterize his own wounds and then defeat the villain through these actions of overcoming the restrictions imposed by the hard magic system even while crippled we as an audience learn of mustang's quick wit and his indomitable will and that delivery of information is done far smoother than what exposition could ever accomplish crippling a character can also present a narrative opportunity for them to rise above and discover an entirely new ability this is what happened to toff when she was put in a metal cage by removing her traditional access to earthbending she didn't just give up she uncovered a power that no one thought she had if we're gonna stick with avatar crippling a character also works not to just create a new identity but to reaffirm a character's morals and values zuko looses his fire bending after joining eng and must go on an outward and inward journey to find a new source of fuel for his bending by the end of the episode he is reaffirmed that joining the avatar gang was the right thing to do because fire bending need not come from anger and fury but from an appreciation for life freedom and existence similarly spider-man 2 hailed as one of the greatest comic book movies of all time sees peter parker crippled with the inexplicable loss of his powers he sees this as an opportunity to just give up being spider-man but eventually learns that part of his life is just as important as being peter parker he ends the film finding the proper position for his life as peter and as spider-man renewed in his conviction to be the hero and man new york needs but only because he had to personally face the reality of powerlessness head-on there are really so many ways to benefit from taking away a character defining ability logan is able to explore wolverine's vulnerability and humanity by taking away his healing factor spider-man homecoming almost never puts peter in a place with tall buildings to web swing meaning we get to see a spider-man who has to be much more tactical and deliberate even if peter is still a goofball how to train your dragon cripples toothless and uses that to not only bring he and hiccup closer together to show how warring factions can get along but to demonstrate that a physical disability is nowhere near the end of a person's usefulness we are not defined by our limitations but how we choose to adapt and grow from them heck even video game narratives benefit from crippling a character at the start of assassin's creed one altair was a master assassin but due to a mission failure he was stripped of all of his equipment and privileges forcing him and the player to relearn everything from the standpoint of a trainee does every story need a plot line wherein a character loses their best ability certainly not there are tons of fiction out there that thrive on a multitude of other interesting narrative techniques but at the same time i do think that a great many stories could benefit from putting their character in a position of weakness and vulnerability by stripping away all the power and glamour that a character's skill allows them you then get to dive so much deeper into who they really are and what they really care about oftentimes a character's power becomes the focus of the tension in conflict but it's really the character themselves that should stand in that position for all you writers out there it's completely up to you to judge how this writing method would affect your story but i can personally vouch for the potential that it has in creating something unexpected and truly engaging anyway thanks for watching all the way until the end if you like what you heard leave a like comment and subscribe if you really want to be a homie support the channel on patreon or check out some of my books on my website i'll leave links in the description below as always it was a pleasure and i will talk to you all again soon you

Channel: Savage Books

Views: 906,380

Keywords: writing tips, spiderman, game of thrones, avatar, writing tips from famous authors, writing tips and tricks, writing tips for young writers, spider man no way home, game of thrones theme, spider man, avatar wan

Id: DGe6ehr0dxs

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 30 2022