Etiqueta: Underdog plot

  • Why do we like black horse plots? p. 2

    Black horse, animal image




    Their fight is ours for we want it won. That’s the reason why we like underdog plots. Or why we enjoy to tears the black horse going on stage and opening their mouth to maze us.

    Their fight is the fight of the inner beauty against the exterior, the defeated boxer against the invictus, the good — sometimes not strong enough but very well armed with a smashing irony (old Spidy…) against the evil, the cute pig against ancient use(being eaten), the individual against the inhuman regime, the wrongly misunderstood against the lack of acceptance (tough Kitano is not for fighting, he will have to passively defend himself due to the author’s meddling).

    THE HERO IS US

    The lead character is us (notice the change of wording, new orders bring new wording… the hero is dead in name for we can’t forget there are secondary characters).  It is us against the system, anonymous, without a face or advantage. Us without an Ivy league PhD nor a genius IQ.

    Us in a clear disadvantage. The Slumdog millionaire smeared in excrement. In a worse place than us. Yet us, some minute of our lives.



    Are you immune to We’re the champions? Or the Rocky OST? Pam Pam Pam bam…

    PRACTICE

    All right. Were ready to tear up and down the stairs. To prove ourselves… three times. As in fairy tales.

    Cinderella has two dances and three chances to fight. The first against the step mother. Second against the sister who cuts off her talons and third against the sister who cuts off her toes.

    Angel densetsu is a bit different. Being it a Shounen without the need of much plot, the author pile ups fights with new enemies and new friends until the pot thread gives out (more like secondary character gives up). The same way Spiderman adds multiverses, new enemies, new personal circumstances.

    Babe has to prove himself thrice too. First by surviving, second by failing and almost being cooked and third by moving the sheep.

    McMurphy is the only one who loses. Remember, the director had to survive a Spring Revolution explode in Khrushchev’s era. There’s no way his optimism could remain intact. In spite of it, McMurphy’s friend chief Bromden is free to go through the hole. Nonetheless he stays or not according to our own wishes. Most of us stay, the mad house is better known than the unknown.

    THE PREDICTABLE END

    We know how this end (except the exception). The lead character wins and gets what they have set themselves for. Otherwise, we feel cheated of our prize.

    It doesn’t mean we have to make Andy in a wheelchair (Andy does his part of being super hero just by moving around the city…) to fight Godzilla. It is possible by making Andy a smarter guy but that… That makes him a different being to an underdog. No. We need hope. And hope can make us vote stupid things.

    So would you like to become our dark horse by writing a comment? Maybe encourage my endeavours against the publishing houses and algorithms with a heart?

    Pasto kalo

  • Why do we like black horse plots? p. 1

    Black horse, animal image




    Do you like Cinderella? Rocky? Angel densetsu? Spiderman[1]?  Babe? A flew over the cuckoo’s nest?

    … What the blood has Cinderella in common with Rocky? Cinderella won’t punch her stepsisters… New action live[2] Disney version?  After all, right now, there are no good writers to create new fairy tales [wrong, they’re all busy drawing webtoon but since they’re a little too off the family topics[3]].

    Before I continue nonsensing [a new verb adapted from chorrar, which is my favourite thing to do while writing and means to think nonsense], thou has to know this bity thing I’m sure you already know yet, it would be rude of me to assume. The Cinderella I’m speaking about is the pre Disney one. The one who has two BEAUTIFUL stepsisters instead of two ugly ones and an almond tree as godmother.


    The Chinese remake by the Grimm brothers and Perrault? —have you read it in Ingliñol or Spanglish so you can leave me a taste of it? Isn’t there anything original out there? No. You can tell it your own way and spice it with paprika instead of black pepper but the potato is still the potato. So, let’s (you and I) analyze. Get uncomfortable in your wheeled chair and have the plot lay down on the couch. It needs Zoloft.


    OUT OF LUCK


    So to begin with: the main character is through a hit of fortune that has left them vulnerable and without rent, credit card nor car nor job. So to speak.

    Cinderella is under a wicked stepmother. Seiichiro Kitano has gone to high school without a single friend and everyone confuses his no pupil eyes and pale face with the ones of a vicious drug addict. Peter has just lost uncle Ben or aunt May [whichever version]. Babe is away from her mother and all awaiting him is becoming ham. Randle McMurphy has given up his sanity in exchange of working his ass in prison… Ok. Maybe this one has no much to do with being hit by bad luck but meeting the nurse Ratchet is very bad fortune in my opinion[4].

    FIGHTING AGAINST THE ODDS

    As a bunch, this stories are all fighting against the system.

    <<It represents the ability of the one over the many, the small over the large, the weak over the powerful, the “stupid” over the “smart.”>>

    Ronald B. Tobias. 20 Master plots



    Individual creativity against the savage capitalism… A person against a system looking at them as a nurturing derivate or our prejudiced notions of good looks. Anything set in the stone of status quo.

    Once we have been given a taste of the before and after the bad luck hit, they will be given or discover a gift to fight the odds. The almond branch, the responsibility of a great power, a shepherd momma, a king sized Indian, a rival coward sempai that will end being their subordinated or a loving woman. Do you remember? The hero meets the allied.

    Ready to become my ally with your like? What about being a lead character by leaving a comment about your favourite underdog plot?

    Pasto kalo.

    TO BE CONTINUED


    [1] Spiderman is not a pure underdog plot. It is mix of superhero, hero quest and action plot

    [2] In this genre, I will recommend the Chinese Mulan version. Quite realistic, not romantic oriented and super cool cause it is well told. I’ve watched it at least twice or thrice.

    [3] Mybe writing blogs aboit how to write fiction? Nah, I’m not good enough yet.

    [4] The director Milos Forman lived through or escaped a tanked repression by the communist regime (not sure which), thus this movie is the only one that ends really badly of the group I analyze.