Where are all the Characters?
Where are all the Characters?
“You are not your characters, but your characters are you.”
– Raymond Carver
It’s a person, place, or thing; it all carries a personality. Like Bugs Bunny, "Bugs was not the creation of any one man; however, he rather represented the creative talents of perhaps five or six directors and many cartoon writers”, including Charlie Thorson.
They constructed a complex, funny, witty, and clever character. Yes, I believe he’s complex- his intelligence allows him to detach from his feelings. Keeping him one step ahead, to detach, there’s a constant need for thought, quick thinking keeps him alive. The problem is that most believe he doesn’t care or have feelings; he shows how much he cares anytime there’s trouble or some form of bullying involved. That’s another aspect of his character, being the hero while feeling like no one can help. Being helped by Bap’s bunny is a shocker to him. He’s also accepting. Usually, being the one playing with love in some way, but this in-love is different because he now becomes the damsel in distress, adding another layer to his complexity.
You’re not the character, you're the creator of that character. The creation is a mesh of different parts of society. The character mimics characteristics of human experience.
A perfect example is in the Matlock episode:
“The Legacy” aired November 19, 1992. - Plot: “Ben Ponders a 40-year-old link between his father and the playwright’s murder”
There was a scene where Charlene Matlock (Matlock’s daughter and a lawyer) asked one of the suspects a few follow-up questions: one question in particular was “ How can you write about something you have no experience in?” The suspect responded, “The teacher told me to write about what I don’t know; it allows our imagination to explore.” anyone who is reading this please don’t write about experiences that occur shouldn’t come from the imagination. That will step on peoples culture, and also will be tone deaf to the audience) .
That’s what makes the best kind of character the experience. Experience can teach more than reading, watching a video, or visiting a facility with cultural knowledge. It’s like Kendrick Lamar says it’s not Enough. The writer is doing an injustice to the character's evolution if they don’t experience what they are writing about.
Characters all around, characters are not only human:
How about a font? A font is simple, right? Yes, a font can appear simple-looking, but what it expresses is much louder than what it looks. It reminds me of a little girl with a booming singing voice, it’s not what it appears to be. Fonts are like puzzles, one has to figure out how each angle, slant, and weight fits into the puzzle called a brand. The choice of font is a meticulous task; if chosen right, it will bring the story to life ( possibly positive to say, Judge a book by its cover).
Font can be perceived as unstable, Happy, sad, curious, sneaky, or horrific. The font tells a story before the story is daybude, the stories will tell themselves, it becomes effortless, Spot lighting the story/brand, while the people it connects with feel included and inspired to continue the story they want to tell.
Characters are in everything, everywhere, all at once. See what I did there ( I chuckle, anyway), a character is not only the person but it's everything, the color, the font, fabrics, patterns, animals, trees, birds, and the bees. It’s all the characters in this story called the world, and every interaction. So next time you look at an object, person, or place, think of the character it will express.
