Alex Spencer said:
Dastardly said:
This'll sound odd, but the first thing that popped into my head while reading this is the difference between Hostel and Hostel II. Bear with me on this, it makes total sense by the end.
Woah, that's quite the reply. Fascinating stuff, man.
Haha, out of context, that really does make me sound like a crazy person... But thanks for getting back to me on this!
F said:
We need a Bambi like game (though I watched it the other day and was really surprised by how quickly the death scene is over.)
I deeply recommend everyone goes back to the film and watches this scene and the next. It's surprising how short it is for such an iconic moment. But especially how sudden the next scene is. It literally jumps back to the sunniest, Disneyiest bit of the entire film within seconds and completely disregards the death. Which contrasts interestingly with what Dastardly was saying...
I think it was a good plan, on their part. It allowed different people to react in different ways, rather than forcing a particular reaction on everyone (
Thou shalt be sad). For more mature viewers, the happiness of the next scene doesn't
undermine the sadness of the death--it
underscores it with irony. The rest of the world doesn't notice, barely anything changes, and you're left to reconcile this gaping hole in your left
alone. The audience member is left to dwell on the death while everyone else skips merrily along.
But for the younger kids, who maybe aren't quite at a point where they'll grasp the emotional weight of the death, the movie goes right on as though the death is just a momentary plot point. The movie doesn't force them to dwell on the death, as if to say, "No, really. Go back a moment. You should really still be quite sad about this."
Now, do I think all of this was the plan, carefully and strategically weighed and considered? Not necessarily. But even if it is a result of a somewhat
laissez-faire approach to eliciting emotional reactions from the audience,
that works, too. It's a sign of a writer that
trusts the audience to get it, if they're ready, and doesn't get pedantic with those who might not.
It's a mature type of writing, especially given the target audience. I think it's great to have mature writing for kids, even the young'ns. Getting a kid emotionally invested in a story gets them interested in
more stories, rather than just holding their gaze for 90 minutes. And there are really only two things a writer needs to make that happen:
1. An understanding of how audiences think and feel, so that they can lay a trail of breadcrumbs that lead to the desired emotional outcomes. Knowing how to
wind up for the hit, and how to
follow through (or not) is just as important as connecting with the ball. Or, if you prefer a chess analogy, knowing how your opponent can and will react three moves from now is the only way to ensure the game goes your way.
2. An understanding and appreciation of the audience's autonomy. They are thinking, feeling beings. For one, this means you can allow them to fill in some blanks themselves (which they will often do far better for themselves than you can). But it also means recognizing that sometimes they will react in unplanned ways, and the writer shouldn't display
resentment for that by belaboring the point or trying to artificially add weight to the scene.
As far as how this ties to gaming, I think we're getting much better at the first, at least from a mechanical standpoint. Tutorials are, overall, improving. We know which parts of the game will give new players the most trouble, and we plan moments of instruction to get them through it. The next step is applying that same forethought to the
emotional content of a game.
But as for the second? Trusting the audience to get it--that's something we're not very good at, many times. We fall back on tired old tropes to convey things like villainy, innocence, sadness... the stories sometimes border on allegory in how explicitly they define each character's one-dimensional persona. They tend not to trust an audience to play nicely in any grey area. Perhaps it's a bit of laziness, too, as it's just easier to write in black and white.
