Satellite's Perspective 1: Startin a blog

Ya know, this is probably not what steemit was intended for but I'm gonna do it anyways. On the off-chance that people like what I write here, I.e. the material I will both be linking you too and discussing, here's the beginnings of "Satellite's Perspective". The main focus of this blog-like brain child of mine? Fiction.

No not opinions ON fiction, at least not primarily, but the facts of fiction. How it works, why it works and why it's important. To give you a brief sample here's a snippet of something I posted to a forum about ten minutes ago:

"...Rosario+Vampire was never my favorite. As a high-schooler at the time I was far more into Fullmetal Alchemist (all versions thank you), fruits basket (old as it was even then) and Kaze-No Stigma, oddly enough, even then I kinda realized that Rosario was... flawed. The heart was there, the potential of this wondrous brain-child/work of fiction was impressive enough to warrant not only well over (if I'm remembering right) 200 chapters in comics and 1 (somewhat) watchable season of anime. The issues? it followed all the worst tropes of its main genre, the women of the story (par for the tropes) only had one real focus throughout the story (Tsukune) none of the side-characters are more than an after-thought, the overarching plot doesn't kick in until far too late in the story to have the impact it should've. Rosario's squandered potential is infuriating. "Harry Potter with vampires/Hogwarts for monsters" is an AMAZING premise with so much potential! Forget the romance, (okay don't because I'm a sucker for adorably portrayed love stories) the potential exploration of lore and the supernatural alone is a goldmine for entertaining story telling."

Deviating from what I said next, here's why this plays into the facts of Rosario less than my personal take on it: portrayal of characters and conveyance of information is everything in story telling. Choosing the details to be subtle about and which ones to focus on can be the difference between a true mystery and a drama that involves a mystery. Why the distinction? Because how a story makes you feel, subjective as it may be, is everything to that story. Art is made to elicit reaction, response. While it is said that an artist's only true failure is failing to create at all it can actually feel worse to the artist if they create and accidentally come across as saying the "wrong thing." I.e something they never intended to say. Nevermind the fact that it can confuse people to death, this is why examining problems in fiction, even if it does turn out to be a matter of opinion, is so important. What the audience of fiction feels or perceives from it is only taken away from what was put in front of them by the artists: the facts of what was created, what you saw and heard.

Why use Rosario vampire as an example? It's an obscure Japanese comic series/cartoon for teenagers with... questionable material at best. Well because the material itself is questionable that gives us something to talk about. The material is only so questionable because of what was done with it and it's here where we can discuss one of the two most important things in fiction and art in general: Portrayal. Using the women specifically of Rosario we get a pretty clear picture of something you should never do with your characters. Giving your main cast understandable and clear interests, goals, dreams and motivations is an oft overlooked part of story-telling. It's the difference between someone who's 'just there' as things happen 'because they just are' and someone who's visibly as invested in the ending of the story's events as the audience. Why is this important? Well if you can't place yourself in a character's shoes, I.e understand and empathize with them and their plights, then it becomes difficult for an audience member to care beyond a passing interest in the story's events. Emotional investment is the difference between crying at a sad scene or just rolling your eyes because they're 'still not getting on with it already'. Not having a reason displayed for the characters to do something makes that something appear to be unnecessary. Cutting to the chase: Rosario's female characters have no motivations, dreams or anything in the like displayed at all ever. Their only motivation or interest is one shared by every potential 'lucky girl' of every harem anime ever. Getting with the main character.

Go on. Watch the anime. It can be just one episode if you want, they're all basically the same for what I'm talking about. You wont find a single mention of the girls' long term hopes and dreams anywhere. The only one with any sliver of this is the succubus who's terrified of her species going extinct and (comics only) mentions that the school newspaper she joins is 'her baby'/ super important to her. Literally the only one and that first bit of motive she has ties directly into why she falls for Rosario's main character. The show is shamelessly about fanservice and fanservice alone, and considering that one detail it's hard to argue that this isn't the case. Any lore mentioned is done so in passing, even the setting of the story, the school, is little more than a setup to be barely explored.

But what if all this wasn't true? What if the characters all had other things going on for them? Looking to the future with hope, reaching to attain something very personally important to them. Exploring the lore of the world of monsters and the thin veil keeping them all safe from extermination at the hands of humanity. Well, you might end up with one of the most intriguing and engaging stories in anime. A vehicle for social commentary, discussing the implications of genocide or how the way we treat people who are so different from us psychologically is important. If anything this would have made any of the potential love stories in Rosario seem all that more amazing instead of insignificant when compared to the rest of that.

This is what I mean when I say 'not about opinions'. The information given to us by Rosario, by this example, doesn't paint a flattering picture of anything it was trying to. Is it a bad story unworthy of being watched? That one is completely subjective. The nature of the dialogue, the acting, the narrative, the amount of fanservice are things pertaining to personal taste. Handling anything Rosario is about as a joke or as a serious matter can be done in multitudes of entertaining and poignant ways. Those are the topics I'm not here to discuss. I'm here to examine and discuss the importance of what is told to us, the gentle viewers and purveyors of fiction. The portrayal of details and the characters, the conveyance of information and how THAT and what it connects to matters. That's all. This is what "Satellite's Perspective" is going to be about. As for my opinions? I'll share what seems important.

-Satellite