Writing Stories of Corruption and Madness

power corruption and madness are some of the most compelling topics in fiction to write about but as doctors writers that are fascinated and deeply invested in ideas of authority and how it changes a person it is my wholehearted belief that there is an innate curiosity in humanity concerning the search for power the acquisition of power and ultimately the use of that power such a curiosity was demonstrated by Professor Philip Zimbardo the organizer and overseer of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment wherein half the participants acting in the role of inmates were physically and mentally tortured by the other half of participants acting as guards professor Zimbardo knowingly let this abuse go on for days utterly incensed by the study's premise of how power affects a person's decision-making and the corruption that may follow ironically enough Professor Zimbardo himself became someone who abused his position of power allowing 12 young men to be tortured simply to obtain the scientific answer as he saw the long before Zimbardo's unethical experiment in the 1970s there had been countless virtuous explorations into the relationship between power and corruption one of the most famous of these explorations came in the nineteenth century during this time the Catholic Church was in the process of establishing the doctrine of papal infallibility meaning that in matters of guiding the church the Pope would be considered flawless in all Catholics would have to recognize him as operating without error standing in firm opposition to this idea of infallibility Lord John Acton a member of English Parliament in the nineteenth century penned one of the most well known phrases concerning power and its effect on an individual in a letter to a fellow scholar Lord Acton wrote power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely though articulated more than 140 years ago this phrase has nevertheless been meticulously discussed dissected scrutinized and built upon remaining a fixture of society's discourse when concerning power and corruption and of the groups that have concerned themselves with such moral and philosophical explorations storytellers have remained among the most ambitious and investigative when it comes to power and its effects on those who wield it but then again this is nothing new narratives have circulated through society for centuries from every corner of the world revolving around vying for positions of influence and authority and how such things change people a contemporary storyteller who was concerned with this very topic is someone who you all just might have heard of the late great Stan Lee coincidentally he very well might have created an even more famous and revered phrase than Lord John acted with great power comes great responsibility these words have reverberating in the minds of authors and writers of fiction since they were written all the way back in 1962 they comment on the inescapable moral relationship between the increasing of power and the increasing difficulty of using such power correctly Greg Pak writer for multiple comics such as x-men and The Incredible Hulk said that Stan Lee's phrase on power and responsibility is one of the greatest single moral injunctions in all of American pop culture and there is another prominent name in modern literature that might ring a bell in your heads one that is a fan of both Stan Lee and Lord Acton when talking about the two legendary men and their two legendary quotes george RR martin has said the tension between those two truths is where the drama comes in his summation was that bearing the responsibility that power allows but also not being corrupted by it is the great struggle of human morality George r Martin has used his a Song of Ice and Fire series to take his own philosophical dive into the dynamics of power and corruption and whether for good or for bad the discussion around lusting for power in the corruption that it brings has exploded because of the recent events of Game of Thrones in the series finale Daenerys Targaryen long seen as a liberator an arbiter of justice eventually succumb to corruption and madness in her quest for power but instead of creating a video that directly addresses whether or not this change for Daenerys was good or whether or not the fans are justified in their anger over it I thought now would be a good time to explore and unpack the narrative components that go into telling a compelling story revolving around power corruption and a loss of sanity that might accompany in this way we can not only understand where Daenerys his character arc succeeds and fails but also provide a road map for those writers who were interested in creating similar stories but to do this correctly the first thing we will need to do is take a few minutes to clarify some of the nuances concerning stories of power corruption and madness so first of all corruption does not mean that a character starts out good and ends bad that is certainly one path that a narrative of corruption can take but more specifically corruption simply means that ideals morals are self-imposed limitations that a character embodies are abandoned in this way any character evil or otherwise who starts the narrative with the personal code of conduct can experience corruption secondly corruption does not automatically equal madness just like evil doesn't equal madness the two can go together but they can be used separately in a narrative as well now what exactly constitutes madness then well good question insanity in storytelling is much more artistic and open to interpretation than corruption sure Hannibal Lecter and Ice King are both obviously crazy but the way their narratives choose to showcase their insanity are completely different ice Kings brain was warped and twisted until he could barely hold the coherent conversation but he still showed the capacity for empathy in compassion on the other hand Hannibal Lecter was incredibly intelligent eloquent and thoughtful but he liked to murder indeed people the line separating corrupt and crazy is very fine and where it lands is really up to whoever is authoring the work the difficulty in the writers job is properly impressing their interpretation on to the audience thirdly not all characters that you might think of when considering corruption and badness or actual representations of such narratives characters like the Joker in vast from Far Cry 3 while obviously powerful corrupt and insane aren't truly based in narrative centered on the examination of power and corruption rather characters like these are representations from the chaos into evil of the world and the necessary civility justice and morality that is needed to combat them with that in mind though what then is a story of corruption and madness and what is its purpose well let's deal with corruption first in a narrative sense it is meant to show the casting off of morals or personal values in the pursuit of some kind of goal in many well-executed stories of corruption the corrupt character will never gain that which they desire shall the futility in shortsightedness of sacrificing morality for personal betterment in other well written stories the corrupt character will actually gain what they've been seeking but it still won't be enough to quench their specific lust or fill whatever hole exists inside them again showing the emptiness and futility of sacrificing one's morals madness in storytelling though usually illustrates that a continuous ever deepening search for something will eventually cause you to lose yourself making the pursuit pointless in the first place in both instances of corruption and madness the narrative message usually revolves around the uselessness of sacrificing one's own code of conduct in pursuit of a goal but that is pretty much just the template for stories of corruption and madness what type of character that resides at the center of that story will significantly change the message it represents let's start with modern history's most iconic prototypical story of corruption ghullam because of the allegorical nature of fantasy golems narrative is one of the most blatant and literal representations of corruption at madness in modern fiction he became so fanatically obsessed with the One Ring that he changed physically and mentally eventually transforming to be stunted and grotesque while also losing his mind remaining completely fixated on the object of his desire much like many of the other lessons found in Tolkien's writing there isn't much moral gray area to be found the lesson for a character as literal as vellum can be pretty much summed up as become too engrossed by a single item or goal and you'll become corrupted inside and out but since Tolkien's writing of a hobbit there have been many characters who have embodied a more nuanced subtle approach to power corruption and insanity another incredibly popular character may be from the most critically acclaimed film series in history is Michael Corleone of The Godfather in the beginning of his life Michael knew that his family was initially tied in with the criminal underground and he morally opposed it and actively sought to avoid having anything to do with the Mafia but because of a thirst for revenge and eventually power and wealth Michael ended up becoming the Mafia's most ruthless crime boss sinking so far into corruption that he ordered the murder of his own brother while Michael Corleone never irrefutably descended into madness his story is one of the most famous in generalizable in terms of a morally pure character slowly becoming corrupted and eventually losing everything because of it Michael Corleone was meant to symbolize the everyday man he attended college went into the military he fell in love but because of his family's proximity to crime and the power it brought he was corrupted his character is that which represents an average person in an extraordinary circumstance that becomes corrupted by misusing that circumstance much like how any man could be corrupted by things like the presidency or a kingship except in Michaels case it was leadership of the Mafia there are also incredible stories of the inverse happening as well such as Walter White's in Breaking Bad he led an all around mundane middle-class suburban life but possess the skills of a world-class chemist when given the resources and opportunity Walter misused his remarkable personal talent and became corrupt in a narrative sense Walter White's character represents an extraordinary person in an average circumstance that becomes corrupted by misusing their extraordinary characteristics Breaking Bad systematic message really harkens back to Stanley's famous quote it is a cautionary tale of using one's abilities responsibly and the damage that can be done if one doesn't now there are many other characters that I could use as examples of different forms of corruption but what I want to do for the rest of this video is focused on a character who in my opinion has one of the greatest character arcs concerning this brand of storytelling Azula as for the reason I find as it was descent into madness and corruption so compelling it revolves around the fact that her entire character is based on perfection and control the complete opposites of corruption and madness the show isn't shy about pointing this out either one of the earliest moments we as the audience spend with Azula is her practicing lightning bending on her ship as she finishes up the technique her mentors Lo and Lee were marked that her execution was almost perfect just a hair out of place Azula then retorts that almost perfect isn't good enough only looking back now do I realize what an incredible summation of azula's character this is and how much it foreshadows and reveals about from this point on the show continuously and expertly shows us how much of azula's life is dedicated to perfection and control Azula is the first character on the show that we see produce lightning through bending soon after Iroh explains how lightning bending is known as the cold-blooded fire a pure form of firebending without aggression or rage or even emotion and that it is precise and deadly this description of lightning venting is just as applicable to Azula and again the show wants you to think of her with these characteristics because at the end of listing these details arrow says like Azula at the age of just 14 she has tempered herself to be a near complete control of her mind able to subdue her emotions to the point where they don't impact her at all in fact everything about azula's character speaks to her quest for power perfection and control from using her index and middle finger to firebend with precision to fooling toss lie detection by having complete control over even the most Manute movements in her body and to remaining completely composed during dire life-threatening situations and of course this yearning for control that Azula demonstrates is not limited to herself she wants control over everyone else - she's completely manipulative and ruthless treating others more like property than people the only person that is exempt is her father and that's because Ozai is her role model someone who has total despotic power does whatever is necessary to win and seeks control over the entire world and with that all said now you might be able to understand why as it was descent into corruption and madness worked so well for me unlike other narratives where corruption occurs as a byproduct for lusting after wealth or fame azula's downfall into these things happened because of her intense desire to avoid them and her quest to become perfect she became utterly corrupt in her attempt to gain control over everything she lost any semblance of control over herself but just understanding the theme of azula's character art isn't enough well there are definitely dozens of factors that go into writing in a narrative I consider there to be four fundamental components that go into writing a Rell crafted story of corruption and mad this let's examine how azules story-arc fulfills each of them starting off simple the first component is that the character had a specific goal usually rooted in personal gain as an example this component for Frank Underwood in house of cards was gaining the presidency Azula is a bit more complex though which lends to her story being so compelling she has both a goal and a sub goal her primary goal is what we talked about previously achieving total perfection and control but her quest to achieve these things is done by accomplishing her sub goals stopping the avatar hunting down her brother and uncle winning the war etc Azula believes that accomplishing these feats will eventually lead her to her overarching goal and perfection and control the next two components are very closely linked together but I will do my best to parse them out the second component is that while the character is in pursuit of their goal they become the cause of a significant event that brings about serious mental physical or financial consequences think of this as the inciting incident for the onset of corruption component 3 is that in the aftermath of the consequences the character abandons whether willingly or not their morals ideals or code of conduct and continued pursuit of their goal think of this as the actual onset of corruption for an example of these components used in another narrative of corruption and madness we can look to Death Note spoilers ahead for the first episode if anyone cares so in fulfilling the second component the event that the main character Light Yagami causes is the death of a criminal by using the Death Note to have him run over the significant consequence is a mental one where light questions the very basis of his morality and feels shame that he took the human life fulfilling component 3 though light then immediately abandons all his pre-established convictions on morality and the ethics of murder convincing himself that he should use the Death Note to become justice incarnate so while azules fulfillment of the second and third component don't happen quite so early in the narrative they definitely do happen the event that Azula causes is the betrayal of May and Ty Lee against her as Hula's domineering manipulative and controlling hold was pushed to the limit when she wanted made to help kill Zuko and then prepared to attack me for her defiance the significant consequence that it brings is mental causing Azula to be paranoid and desperately worried about further betrayal from other areas the aftermath result in Azula slowly abandoning her entire code of conduct becoming irrational impulsive and emotional moving on the fourth and final component is that the character will not ever achieve their goal or if they do it will not be enough to satisfy them so they will modify the goal an example of goal modification appears in Breaking Bad in season one Walter White has an original goal of earning seven hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars once he does that he promises to quit the meth business spoiler alert he eventually does make the seven hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars but soon after resolves that having more money would be even more beneficial so he continues cooking meth anyway azules fulfillment of this component is very interesting though usually a character storyline would have to choose between not achieving the goal or moving the goal but azules character arc can accomplish both and this is because she has a main goal and a sub goal by accomplishing her sub goals Ozai named her the Fire Lord placing her into the position of absolute control that she always wanted but even as the Fire Lord she wasn't fulfilled still consumed by paranoia anxiety anger and fear of betrayal and death simultaneously she was never able to achieve her main goal of perfection because by definition there was always room for improvement meaning that her goal was constantly moving constantly being modified whether as Ulla wanted it to or not she was destined from the beginning to always be unfulfilled as a quest for flawlessness is unobtainable the reality of which contributed to her mental breakdown it is also important to know that as ULA's onset of badness is portrayed very literally in the show her behavior is indicative of schizophrenia a mental disorder characterised by delusions and hallucinations with an impending sense of doom and paranoia instead of hinting at her madness and loss of self the show is very forward with her psychosis now that we understand the nuances purposes in components of a narrative of corruption and madness we can look at where daenerys targaryen story succeeds and fails in the final seasons when considering the components let's go one by one first having a goal well it's in arguable that Danny definitely accomplishes that her goal is to sit on the Iron Throne as the queen of Westeros for component two significant events do occur for Dany being the loss of her dragon and the deaths of missandei and Jorah and she does deal with mental consequences and during depression and rage for component 3 the aftermath sees her abandon her morals ideals or code of conduct completely slaughtering the innocent citizens of King's Landing and four-component for Daenerys his story actually manages to accomplish this in the last episode after taking control of King's Landing she modifies her goal to becoming the queen of the entire world Danny's character arc hits almost every component for a story of corruption and madness but unfortunately misses one key feature and this has to do with component - Danny did endure significant events and she did experience consequences but these events were not of her own making the deaths of those closest to her were not decisions made by Danny in her quest for power they were decisions made by her enemies and I know this seems nitpicky but there is a very important reason for this distinction to be focused on when a character in the midst of corruption causes a significant consequential event for themselves one that changes their beliefs and conduct there is no one to blame in the situation but then they are the perpetrators of their own pain and downfall letting all the onus to stop such a journey squarely on their shoulders the narrative message here is that the only person responsible for your corruption is you and the only person that can save yourself from corruption is you but when a character is the victim of an event which brings consequences that eventually changes their morals and conduct they are not experiencing corruption they are experiencing trauma corruption is self-imposed trauma is inflicted not only did the character not choose to endure these consequences and changes the continued existence of their enemy who caused the trauma in the first place removes the option for them to stop their quest for power because if they did stop they would probably be killed by said enemy completely changing the ethical message that the narrative portrays one of the main flaws that we can see in Danni storyline is that the show takes her legitimate emotional vulnerability after experiencing serious trauma and portrays it as corruption and madness yes in the end we can see by Danny's attack on King's Landing and her conversation with John after that she has ultimately become corrupt and arguably mad but it was the course by which she got there that seems a bit off the anguish that any person would feel after the death of their children and friends is presented in Daenerys as moral and mental instability which is a bit problematic to say the least Azula and Danny are simultaneously extremely similar and different characters both are women from a royal family who lose their closest allies during a war it eventually succumbed to mania filled with flames and rage but the differences in how they arrived to their narrative conclusions is an example of the fine line that exists between writing a generational story that is remembered for years and one that falls a bit flat I hope that by examining power corruption and madness through the character lenses of both Danny and Azula any of you who might be interested in writing similar stories may be more confident in how to execute your vision if you want to support the channel check out my book on Amazon I'll leave a link in the description as always it was a pleasure and I will talk to you all again next week you

Channel: Savage Books

Views: 218,001

Rating: 4.9526529 out of 5

Keywords: azula firebending, game of thrones, writing, death note, breaking bad, game of thrones season 8, creative writing, game of thrones finale, daenerys targaryen dragon scenes, daenerys destroys kings landing, writing tips

Id: 09CFGrR5J6s

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Mon May 27 2019