Shifting perceptions

Have you ever had one of those moments when you look at something familiar and see it in a whole new light? I don't mean that guy or girl you've been friends with for ages, but a book or a movie that you may feel you know inside out, until you look up one day and see something you never expected? I don't just mean the jokes you didn't get when you were younger. I mean a complete perception shift in how you relate to a story or a character. This could be days, weeks, even years in development, but it will happen.

This is not quite related to tvtropes' 'Fridge Brilliance' page (although it is similar and a very good place to start rethinking your perceptions).

Allow me to put this into context based on two moments I had.

I am a big Disney fan. I love (most) of the films for one reason or another. Sometimes it will be the story, the music or the animation that will stick with me So it will come as no surprise to learn that 'The Little Mermaid' has long been a favourite of mine. It was my first introduction to the genius that is Alan Menken and the delight of Howard Ashman and his lyrics.And it was one of the first films that made me appreciate how time consuming and beautiful animation can be.

So it came as something of a shock to me when I rewatched the film a few years ago to realise that something had changed. It wasn't the film, it was still as beautiful as ever. The music was still incredibly catchy (to the point where I bought the entire soundtrack).

It was me. Or more importantly my perception of Ariel.

Doesn't matter how old I get, I LOVE her hair!

As children, we are meant to believe that Ariel is this strong, confident individual who has to fight mistaken perceptions and assumptions in order to follow her heart to her true love.

As an adult, I saw things a bit differently. I saw a child who kept trying to be a grown up when she clearly wasn't ready to be. I saw a selfish, sulky little girl who didn't look beyond her own wants and desires to see things from another perspective. In her father, I no longer saw a tyrant who was denying his child the thing she desired most, but an old, frightened man who didn't really know what to do and was doing his best for his children and his kingdom.

I got this feeling again when watching Pixar's 'Brave' (another excellent film). After seeing it, I got into a discussion with a friend of mine and it was rather enlightening to have the two perspectives. He loved the character of Merida, with her bow and arrow, firey temper and intelligence whereas my focus was drawn to the more dignified Elinor, with her confidence, intelligence and great depths of love.

Neither character is perfect, but like Triton, I saw Elinor as someone who was desperately trying to keep a very delicate situation from combusting. Think about it. She has lived through one great war in her lifetime. The last thing she wants is for her children to go through the same danger. So the plan is to have her daughter marry into one of the three remaining clans in order to keep this stability.

Can I blame her for essentially trying to mould her daughter into a copy of herself? No. Look at the respect she has as a wife and a queen. When she walks into a room, people pay attention to her. Who wouldn't want that for their child?

But do I think she was RIGHT to do so? No.

Merida does grow on me and she learns to use the skills her mother taught her, but I spent a huge chunk of the film thinking she was a complete brat. Would I have felt the same way at 13 as I do at 24?

I don't hate 'The Little Mermaid' by any stretch of the imagination. The concept of believing in something so strongly that you have to go against the people you love is one that has been told again and again and can, at times, be rather inspiring if the reason is powerful enough and the idea is executed well. The ones that succeed are the ones where the primary focus is on something else. In 'Brave's case, the primary focus was relationships and communication. In 'The Little Mermaid', the focus was on identity and choosing your own path.

Yet another redhead with wonderfully awesome hair!

Not every new perception is a negative one. Several years ago, I read two books by L.M Alcott entitled 'Eight Cousins' and 'Rose in Bloom'. The story is about a little girl who lost her family and is sent to stay with an uncle she has never met. He lives near a number of relatives; aunts, uncles and Rose's eight cousins (don't ask me to explain the family tree. I'm not sure I could). They are all boys and it's quite interesting to see the dynamic between the sexes. The second book involves a much older Rose and how she copes with the temptations and responsibilities of being a young woman of good looks and fortune, even in issues of the heart.

The second book does feature all of the cousins, but the eldest ones get particular focus throughout. Among these is Archie, the eldest and most sensible. I absolutely love him as a character, mostly because steady, kind-hearted individuals in fiction always catch my attention, but the first time I read it, he was my favourite. I grew more and more frustrated as Mac (the bookworm of the group) was featured more often. I found Mac boring and annoying, which you would think was strange considering how often I myself read.

But I loved novels and stories. Mac was busy learning anatomy.

Let's skip a decade now and I am reading the same two books and learning all about the same characters. My feelings about Archie hadn't changed, but they has mellowed significantly. I started seeing Mac in a completely different light. Yes, he was still studying, but I suddenly realised he wasn't a one-trick wonder. He  simply loved to learn and the things he studied were vast. Yes, he still read about anatomy, but he read (and wrote) poetry himself. Yes, he still became ill after reading in the sun, but now I had memories of having very mild sunstroke and how frustrating it was to have to lie in a cool, dark space and have nothing to occupy yourself.

And more importantly? While he was still absent-minded at times, he was willing to give up his comfort and confidence for someone else several times, even if it made him look foolish in the process.

Suddenly, the character I had hated most as a teenager had become one I had grown to love a great deal.

I think that's one of the reasons why we should not only try new things, but should sometimes take a moment or two to look back and revisit things we had forgotten. Do we feel the same way about a character now that we know more from our own experiences? Or perhaps, do we see where the villain is coming from? Are the heroes really that obvious, or are there chinks in their armour that we can see at last? And in a series of any description, how has the story changed now that you know what's up ahead?

You may discover something you never expected.

Repetitive frustration

Let me make something clear. I enjoy good stories. It doesn't matter what genre or format they come in, I love them. Mystery, romance, adventure, suspense...or even books, television, cinema or even radio. If a story is good and innovative, you've already won points from me.

Which is why it is incredibly frustrating to be in the middle of the latest season of Merlin and realise that the last couple of episodes haven't really done that.

This puny table cannot hope to hold the awesome of Merlin

To me, Merlin is a bit like Doctor Who in that you have an excellent premise for some really engaging character development and story arcs. And indeed it has delivered in the past.

The concept for people who do not know the plot. It's the story of King Arthur and Merlin of legend, before the real legends begin. Merlin is a young warlock, sent to Camelot by his mother and ends up becoming the manservant of Prince Arthur (later King...let's face it. That's hardly a spoiler). Except Camelot is the centre of Uther Pendragon's anti-magic regime and for someone whose magic is as instinctive as breathing? This is a problem.

From here on, I will be talking about events up until the recent episodes so if you do not wish for spoilers you should probably leave now. Don't worry. I won't feel offended.

Be like that.

Originally, the stories were a bit formulaic. Magic from outside tries to find its way into Camelot, Arthur gets into trouble, Merlin saves him with magic, no one finds out, life continues.

Rinse and repeat.

Of course there are some elements of the legends that had to be sorted. Morgana le Fey had to become an enemy. Guinevere (or Gwen) had to become Queen. And the writers managed that in slow, believable ways. Of course it helped that after each season a year apparently passes in Merlin-land.

So, by the third season, Gwen became a love interest, and Morgana was betraying and plotting left, right and centre. But here lies the problem. The writers recognised that Morgana couldn't hide in the shadows forever, and more power to them, so she was found out and banished. Except their main enemy had now gone. So what did they do?

Ask for a guy dressed in black. Clearly he cannot be evil.

Cue Agravaine, Arthur's estranged uncle who worked for Morgana and basically tried to destroy/kill Arthur at every available opportunity.

He dies at the end of the season.

So what happens next?

Well the season started off promising enough. Morgana was as nasty as ever, but badly broken after being imprisoned with Aithusa. We don't know how or why and that's interesting.

But at the same time, it's concerning. Why was a baby dragon on its own? Especially considering all the hype about its birth which was met with such joy by Merlin and his lonely dragon friend? Why was nobody keeping an eye on her? Even if it was a matter of dragon's natures, you would think the sheer rarity of dragons would have accounted for something.

Mordred has appeared again, leaving Merlin with some serious dilemmas about protecting Arthur and doing the right thing. Arthur always comes first, but I'm not sure I like the cost it's having on the warlock. There's character development and then there is being unusually cruel to your characters.

AND THEN! 

The thing that filled me with more anger than I have experienced in a while. Morgana gets a new mole. And who is it?

Gwen.

I'm noticing a theme with regularly occurring female characters.

Yep. The Queen herself. THAT Gwen.

Granted the episode preceding that gave us an explanation. She was kidnapped and locked in a dark room with mandrake roots (which fill you with horrific images. In Gwen's case, showing images of her friends laughing at her pain) with Morgana treating her kindly in between.

But the reason it frustrates me is in the execution. There is an implication that she could have been there for days, but it's not specified. In 45 minutes, it looks like she hasn't been there long at all. One minute, she is refusing Morgana's offers of friendship and then suddenly...she's her new best bud! Yes, her brother has died. But she has been through pain and loss before. And at the hands of people she cared about.

Why was it so easy to break her this time?

If this had been a two parter, where we were given more of a sense of time, then maybe this would have worked.

But then we got our first episode of evil-Gwen.

Colin Morgan had a couple of brilliant moments as Merlin, including a memorable moment when he desperately attempts to revive Arthur and it looks like he's failed. I won't pretend that Merlin's absolutely distraught face didn't break my heart. But I spent the whole time listening to Gwen and watching her, wondering how little red flags weren't popping up with people who knew her. Yes, her husband seemed to be dying but WHEN IN THE HISTORY OF ALL THAT IS HOLY would Gwen ever accuse Merlin of trying to kill her husband?

This isn't just me looking at it with more knowledge than the characters. Merlin has been accused of crimes before and Gwen has stood by her friend EVERY TIME. How did nobody except Gaius find this suspicious? I'm beginning to think knighthood takes away your ability to think for yourself.

It feels sloppy, like the writers are desperate to continue the trend they started almost two years ago. An insider betraying Camelot and Arthur. But surely there's room for other stories beyond the ones that have been used many times before. 

What about Merlin recognising how much he's changed and whether he likes going down that route? 

Or meeting more potential allies?

A friend recognising his magic? (seriously writers, are you determined to isolate him?)

Or Arthur. He's no closer to accepting magic than he was at the start. He's still convinced it's evil. Stop creating hope only to take it away.

What happened to Aithusa?

You have knights of the Round Table. Give them a plot.

Seriously writers. Whether you create novels, films or a television series, it's not too much to ask that sometimes you look beyond your borders and try and think of something new. That you treat what you have with the same dignity and respect that you gave it at the beginning. That you consider every avenue and before you decide to go down a particular route, you remember to ask 'Why?'

 Your skills deserve it. Your fans deserve it. Your series deserves it.

And most importantly? Your characters deserve it.

Update: Really writers? It was magic? You took your time with that one and honestly? It felt a bit like a cop-out. But thank you, not only for reversing it, but for actually progressing the magical situation at last.

Wanna help me out here Suzie?

Once again, time passes but it looks like I will be trying to make updates a little more regular than usual with references to interesting stories and even discussions about some of the books I've been reading recently.

So what has been happening in the meantime? I've completed uni and have managed to find a job in Publishing!

Bring out the Party Cannon!

I won't say where, simply because I do not wish to give anybody the wrong impression about what goes on in it and also because my job is not necessarily going to be the primary focus of many of my blog posts. I will certainly mention things if I think they are interesting, but the comings and goings of my job and the people involved deserve some privacy unless they choose to reveal it themselves.

I will, however, reveal that I am currently living in a new city. This will not be a shock to those who know Publishing, even a bit. Most publishing companies exist in, or near, big cities. It's a fact of life. You need to be close to the markets you are catering for and the people who will help create your book.

Now, this city is a LOT different to Stirling not just in terms of overall feel and architecture, but also the people.

My God. The PEOPLE!

They. Are. EVERYWHERE!

This sounds rather redundant considering 'Duh, city!' But as you may (or may not) be aware, Stirling is also a city. But it is remarkably different. Honestly, I think it may be a city in name alone because it seriously does not resemble where I am now. Granted, this may have something to do with my familiarity of the place (Very Familiar vs Not Very Yet) but I think it also has something to do with the overall layout of the place.

In Stirling, the shops you wanted most were in a few very specific set of streets. You rarely went beyond them and the supermarkets were part of that centre.

Here? Not so much. I'm still not sure where the nearest Tesco's is (I mean a proper one. Not an Express or a Metro) and all the things I want are a bit scattered or down a number of branches of road that I'm still trying to figure out. There are two shopping centres that I have found so far and neither feels very extensive. Granted, neither was Stirling's but I think it may have been the design that made it feel bigger. Those two just make me feel a bit claustrophobic.

It makes me sound like I hate where I am, but honestly I don't. I don't necessarily love it either because I feel so unfamiliar with it and don't like the idea of exploring unfamiliar territory on my own but I don't want to run away and leave.

It's kind of the difference between Ponyville and Canterlot...I have ponies on the brain.

Of course, despite my pleas, Suzie Sat-Nav wouldn't be much help here.

A pity really.

I could do with the company when I'm out and about.