"The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense." —Tom Clancy
I've spent so much time analyzing writing in books that it's starting to become difficult to sit back and enjoy a story. If it's a story I haven't heard before, I can sit back and enjoy it on the first go. But on the second? My inner writer starts commenting. (This is quite enjoyable when her comments are positive.)
Look what he's doing with the plot here. Oh, that's clever.
Why is this character drinking so much orange juice? Does she have a Vitamin C deficiency?
OH she's totally foreshadowing the big twist later. Awesome!
Is this character supposed to seem this neurotic? Why do none of the other characters react to his weirdness?My inner writer, I've recently discovered, likes to pop up when I'm trying to enjoy movies I loved in childhood. I decided to let her live tweet Aladdin this past weekend, when it was on television. It started when I noticed the lyrics change in the opening song.*
*Apparently some Arab-American groups complained about the orignal lyrics being racist, and the change does not satisfy them. Well, duh! If you start thinking about it, the whole movie is kind of racist against Arabs. But that's off topic.
So here's some knee-jerk thoughts on Aladdin, from my inner writer who can't shut up.
These are the kind of random thoughts that I occasionally share via Twitter.
Clearly I got a little caught up with Aladdin's lack of serious disguise. It wasn't important when I was a kid, but now it seems absurd. Jasmine really couldn't recognize him when the only real difference was that he was wearing a shirt?
Not to say that unbelievable disguises are anything new, or that Aladdin is bad. I still like Aladdin, although I can see some flaws. (The negative stereotypes is a biggie.) And it's interesting how much some of these ideas remind me strongly of other stories. I guess there really are only so many stories in the world, huh?
And not to drag on Jasmine too much. As Disney princesses go, I think she's the only one who was running away from royal life and the only instance I can think of where it was the male lead who marries up rather than the female lead going from rags to riches. In many ways, I think Jasmine is a very interesting character.
This reminded me that one thing to keep in mind when storytelling is to explain things. Like can the human body really withstand the temperatures that close to molten lava? Shouldn't Aladdin be sweating and literally baking?
And most importantly, where is the Sultan keeping all those crackers?
Now You!
We tend to expect a higher amount of sense from fiction than we are accustomed to receiving in real life. (Possibly not true if you are a scientist.) Tom Clancy once commented: "The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense."
When was the last instance of fiction not making sense to you?
The lava: Yes, you can get pretty close to it as long as you don't touch it. There are places in Hawaii that allow tourists to get close enough so that they could reach out and touch it if there weren't fences to keep you from doing so. At least, there used to be; I'm not sure if it's still like that now.
ReplyDeleteThe shirt thing: Yes, the addition of the shirt can make that much difference, but it's not the shirt; it's the context. On the streets, with Aladdin, she's seeing a street urchin which sets up certain expectations in her mind. Later, when she meets the "prince," she has completely different expectations, and it's a completely different context. Have you not ever run into someone you know outside of a context you're used to seeing them in and not be able to figure out who it is? It's very common.
I'm reading a book right now in which the author just has things happen. There is no reason for any of it other than that the author wants those things to happen, and it's driving me crazy. CRAZY!
I think part of the reason I take issue with Jasmine not recognizing Aladdin is that she seems incredibly protected. She doesn't seem to interact with many people. So it seems if a street boy saved her and then she saw him again in a couple days (especially after being so upset about him being executed) she should at least do a double-take. You know? It's not as though her social card is over-full.
DeleteThat book sounds infuriating, Andrew. Thanks for the info about the lava. Very interesting. It must not be as hot as I thought it was. Curious.
Oh, no, it's incredibly hot. Like incinerate you kind of hot. If you touch it. But it's like your stove top. You can heat the burners up until they're glowing red and hold your hand an inch away and your fine.
DeleteOkay then. I was expecting it to be underground-coal-fire hot. (I wrote a piece on underground coal fires last fall, which obviously is affecting my perspective now.)
DeleteClark Kent just puts on glasses and he's unrecognizable!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean though. My inner editor attacked my viewing of Prometheus this weekend. And I thought I used to see gaping plot holes before!
Clark Kent -- good call! I always wished Superman wore a mask for that very reason. But oh well. It's a tradition.
DeleteHaha. "I see...plot holes...."
Veterinari would not have failed as many times as Jafar. Just saying.
ReplyDeletePreach.
DeleteWhen Vetinari wants someone dead, they get dead.
DeleteI have to say Clark Kent was my go to for "who doesn't recognize him" lol. You would enjoy watching movies with Thomas...I hate to think too much about a movie until it's over. I'm not the same about books though...reading things that make no sense makes me feel like I've missed a page or something. blech. Loved this post.
ReplyDeleteI deal with it better in movies than in books. Mostly I just want to ask someone when I have questions in a movie, and I like discussing the movie while watching it. I think this annoys some people, though. :/
DeleteI had a hard time watching Sherlock Season 2 by myself. I kept wanting to discuss aspects with someone.
Lol, I love your responses to Aladdin. Yep, my inner editor pulls apart stores all the time and because I was once an animator, I also pull apart the technical side of movies! I've ruined movies for most of my friends because I'm always pointing out broken logic or poor lighting. I can't just enjoy! My defence is, of course, that pulling apart a movie is part of the enjoyment, lol.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were an animator! That's cool. I can certainly see how that would give you an insider perspective on movies :)
DeleteI agree that it's part of the enjoyment. If the storyline is really good though, I'm distracted from pulling it apart the first time. The second time though, hoo boy!
Haha! Loved reading about Aladdin! :) Pretty much every first draft I write is unbelievable. But that's okay! I think that's what first drafts are for.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Talli :) I agree: that's what first drafts are for. I usually call my first draft a "working draft" or a "thinking draft" so people get the idea that it's not in readable condition. And yes, it's great to get your ideas down first and then go back and work through the unbelievable kinks LOL
DeleteOh boy...science-fiction is full of these kinds of questions. In order to have any enjoyment, you just have to suspend disbelief. I give any work of fiction one "miracle exemption". For example, Superman's powers all come from a yellow sun. If I swallow this, then I can enjoy everything else. The same with sci-fi novels...let's take Ender's Game as an example. We have 1) Faster than Light travel (which isn't possible) and 2) Instantaneous communication no matter what the distance. That's two miracle exemptions, but sci-fi gets a kind of pass. So when we look at Aladdin, the miracle exemption is magic. The magic on the carpet protects Aladdin from the heat of the lava. For me, the most important thing is to work within the limits of the miracle exemption and to not include a deus ex machina in the story.
ReplyDeleteI didn't include the pictures of him hopping on the "stones" across the lava field haha..
DeleteI see what you're saying, Michael, but...I'm OK with science fiction doing things like that as long as you stick to the stated rules. Like for example, you get three wishes from the Genie and that's a strict rule. They stuck to that. (Except when Aladdin tricked him into giving a "free" wish but that was still explainable within the rules.) What I have an issue with is when something seems to "break" the rules. I'll usually suspend disbelief for a while assuming an explanation will come, in those instances.
Take Alex's books. (Because it's an easy example without too many extra tangents.) A rule is that "some people have mental powers." Then someone has some "unbelievable" mental powers -- but it turns out that some people just have "better" mental powers, and this is explained. It's an extension of something we've already bought into, within the accepted "rules." That's different from what I was complaining about here. That's more like discovery within the rule set of the fantasy or science fiction world. I'm saying I will be asking these questions, and I do expect an answer sometime...and I think most readers do, too.
Your tweets just made my day! I always liked Jasmine for wanting to be Miss Independent, but then she marries the first cute guy she meets? Thanks for following - right back at ya!
ReplyDeleteOh, and because my family and I are on a Back To The Future loop, I have to say overall that movie hits every beat just right. Except this: Lightning strikes the clock tower at 10:04 p.m., and Marty has to hit the wire with his coat hook at exactly the right time. There are 60 seconds in a minute, so how did they know the exact, down to the second, time? The flier from the future only said 10:04 - what if it had been 10:04:36? Drives me crazy!
Okay, yeah, still one of my favorite movies.
Right? Well it was twue luv, after all, amirite?
DeleteWow, I never thought about that in Back to the Future. I will think about it next time I see it LOL. Maybe I'll think up an answer!
It's best not to ask where the Sultan is hiding the crackers .....
ReplyDeleteMy SO is the same - when we go to the cinema we decide before we go in if it's a watchy film or a thinky film. She's an animator, so all those are thinky films where she can deconstruct and critique to her heart's content. The watchy films are the ones where I ask that she switch her brain off and simply enjoy the movie experience. It rarely works :)
But every time I think about it, I start crack'n up!
DeleteThat's not a bad idea... although I have a hard time keeping my observations or questions to myself. No worries, I'm not LOUD. I lean over and whisper. But I think it does annoy some people. It never seemed to annoy my family much though, and they had NO QUALMS about telling me to shut up when I was annoying. It doesn't seem to bother Jonathan much (as far as I can tell lol). If a movie is particularly captivating though, I can hold the conversations until after. :D
As I've come super late into the writing game, I don't read fiction with the same critical eye as I do when I write. I simply enjoy the story. It doesn't mater if doesn't make sense in spots, so long as it comes together in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I don't enjoy a piece of fiction, be it a book or a short story, is if it drags. No matter how interesting the premise may be, if it drags, especially at the beginning, I say "adios".
Sometimes I do wish I could switch it off. But it can be useful. I learn against my will :D
DeleteWhat I didn't go into detail about in this post is that in am in a graduate writing program and in the last year have taken two reading courses in which we had to analyze and critique the writing in a (nonfiction) book a week. So it's a bit of a learned habit, but not one that I'm terribly upset to have learned. I just need to work on controlling it.
Lol! I never used to be so bad, but since I have started going to see films that wouldn't normally be of interest to me I have developed a condition I like to call MCD (Movie Cynic Disorder!) and my last review is a prime example of that. I do however, like stories to be believable. I once criticised the realism in a Sci-fi movie, but to be fair, it was about how unrealistic it was (if this unrealistic event was actually real!). I think if you are going to be ridiculous then do it 100% because its is more annoying when its fine and then a small part is random.
ReplyDeleteMCD, ha! And yes, believability is a BIG DEAL!
DeleteHilarious. I love the comment about Jasmine not recognizing Aladdin because he is clothed. It's like Superman's glasses. Really!! My kids so love this movie that our dog is named Jasmine, Jazzy for short. So I can only say so much without my kids coming in here and attacking me. They aren't here now, but they will sense it... ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh I definitely love the movie too -- and STILL love it, despite the *ahem* problems. That's a great name for a dog :)
DeleteI love this - my friends and I were analyzing Tarzan yesterday. I was very convinced he was secretly teaching Jane profanity in monkey language and he and his friends were just laughing at her - Tarzan and his lack of body hair/incredibly durable lioncloth could be a huge jerk, we would never know!
ReplyDelete