Post 21: Cowardice

I'm currently reading a popular book series that has been adapted into other forms of media. I'm being vague on purpose to protect those who have yet to read it, as I don't want to spoil it for them.

There is a particular chapter in this series in which the author does something so audacious, so shocking, it's near obliterated everything that has come in the two and a half books before the one I'm reading.

Once my initial shock wore off, I started thinking about the writing and how brave it was of the author to write this particular chapter.

Apologies if I'm being too vague, but like I said, I don't want anyone guessing at what this or trying to figure it out. If it's meant to be, you'll come across it on your own.

Anyway, for the author to have written said chapter took real courage, something that is missing from so much writing, especially in television and movies.

For instance, AMC's series The Killing. While mostly a quality show, it's started to break down around its ninth episode, and it's because the writers of the show are cowards. Too frequently they have led their viewers down a path and made implications and gestures towards something deeper, something of more substance, than the standard issue procedural the show has become. Early in the season, one of the two detectives working on the murder case of a young girl goes to the high school this girl attended. In an effort to find out more, he offers two girls pot and asks if there's a place where they can "party", which here means, "go smoke weed and have sex". At first, this is thrilling, as the viewers are lead to believe this detective, a man in his late 20s, is a sexual predator, and would break the law he is sworn to uphold for a few minutes of pleasure with a couple of underage girls. Within the same scene, it's revealed that it was all a clever put-on by the detective to get these girls to show him the hidden room in the school's basement where kids go to do what he made us think he was going to do. In other words, the writers could have made his character much more interesting, giving him a dimension that is rarely seen on television and definitely not in one of the "good guys". Instead, he's back to being white instead of gray.

This cowardice in writing is maddening, and yet so frequent. It's not completely the fault of television writers, as it is a medium of convention, and more so than any form of writing, it's a medium that is made to sell. You can't advertise in the middle of a book, you can't advertise in the middle of a movie (sort of), but you can sure as hell advertise in the middle of a TV show. Because of this reliance on advertiser dollars, television studios are reluctant to offer fare that takes chances, for fear of scaring away viewers.

But what about movies? If you recently saw THOR, was there ever a moment where you didn't think Thor was going to win? Of course there were moments designed to make you feel that, but did you ever really feel it? Don't get me wrong, THOR is an entertaining enough film, but you know the hero is going to end up the victor. You've been conditioned through thousands of movies, shows, books and other media to know the hero always finds a way to win and dozens of other conventions in story telling.

LOST is another example, though not as much as it seems. For six seasons, the writers of LOST promised us that any character could die at any time, but there was no way that Jack, Kate or Sawyer were ever going to bite the big one. Now, LOST was brave enough to give us an ending that completely betrayed the tone of the series up until that point, and go for an emotional, spiritual ending instead of one that was motivated by plot, but it was the wrong choice for almost all of the audience.

Furthermore, the twist ending is a sort of false bravery, giving the audience only the briefest moment of discord possible. For those who have seen the movie Oldboy, think about how you would have felt watching it knowing what you know at the end. Is the protagonist as easy to root for? Or The Sixth Sense - is the story as suspenseful or Cole's relationship with Malcolm affected by knowing the ending? Is The Usual Suspects still as engaging once you know the truth about the events depicted in it?

It takes real conviction to your craft to be able to muster up the kind of bravery I found in this chapter. It's a courage that the vast majority of writers lack, too bogged down by convention and expectation. Which is what makes this author's writing all that much more special. Mad props, GRRM. Mad props for real.