« 086: Landmark | Main | Interstitial Quotation » June 07, 2004

087: Apocalyptic Thrillers

I'm putting off work on Chapter 14. It's staring me in the face a bit only because it's supposed to divulge a good amount of Grandpa's history and I haven't really thought it all the way through yet. At least not so far as matching it up to the history of clandestine organizations in the US following WWII. I suppose it can all be dealt with later in research, but, oddly enough, I still have some reticence about inventing material that may have to be later reconciled with fact. Though, as Robert Anton Wilson continually points out about Illuminatus: regardless of how far-fetched he and Robert Shea extrapolated the conspiracy, it was never far out enough and bits of it kept coming true. So, yeah, one should never invent with the fear of being wrong; you should invent with the possibility that you may be right.

And then be ready to laugh it off when you turn out to be wrong in twenty years or so. It's good to have a sense of humor about these things.

So, as a mental exercise and as something that we can laugh about later, I thought I'd circle back and expand on the idea of Apocalyptic Thrillers. You can't talk about these sorts of books these days without at least touching on the Left Behind series, a multi-volume examination of the Biblical End of Time. Not my cup of tea, personally, and not the least because (1) they are written in a style which has no style and the characters are not much more than tissue paper cutouts of single-dimensional characterizations; and, (2) they are so fundamentally dogmatic about their vision of Christianity and, frankly, it's a supremely essential facet of their world-building and, since I don't buy it in the slightest, I'm at odds with the premise before I even start. I'm sure, however, that they do adhere to the basic structure of the Apocalyptic Thriller. Naturally. [insert wink and nudge here]

The Apocalyptic Thriller concerns itself with the END OF THE WORLD, or at least, the END OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION. It may be literal (as in the Left Behind books) or it may a logical conclusion following the localized catastrophe which is the core threat of the book. If it is of a global nature, then it will most likely require a cast of several hundred characters. It all depends on how widescreen you want the action to be. The bottom line, however, is that HUMANITY IS AT RISK. Whether this risk is one monkey with a nasty attitude and the Ebola virus, Nature taking back the planet via global warming, a deranged lunatic with a stockpile of nuclear warheads or some secret society bent on invoking a demonic presence which will devour the world is entirely up to the writer.

Joseph Campbell's heroic cycle ends with the hero leaving or remaining separate from the culture he has rescued because the events of the quest; the hero goes to THE OTHER SIDE as part of his adventure and becomes transformed, thereby making him "different" from everyone else. In the Apocalyptic Thriller, our hero will have been TOUCHED BY THE OTHER SIDE which makes him uniquely qualified to be the guy who saves the world. This mark of Otherness makes him an Outsider (capital "O" in Colin Wilson's sense) which means that he'll be a reject and a loner. He will have to be coerced into saving the world, either through an appeal by the elders of the society which he has left or by circumstance. The elders will appeal to his desire to return to the community or his sense of honor and duty to what is RIGHT. Circumstances will be some event which will have an personal impact on him, usually the death of someone he cares about or feels some duty towards. His course of action in the beginning is simply one of revenge and, from there, it grows into a larger awareness of his essential duty to right wrong and to preserve humanity's basic liberties. Or some such crap like that. Basically he gets roped into saving the world because -- as much as he might feel maligned or cast aside by society at large -- he's still a good egg and, frankly, evil pisses him off.

There has to be a MONSTER of some sort and, very early on, the audience must be given the opportunity to see HOW THE MONSTER WORKS. Evil must be quantified in a way that the readers can say, "Wow. That is really awful. Too bad that bus load of children had to die so horribly, but now I understand how terrible this evil threatening the world is. Gosh, I hope the hero gets his head out of his ass soon." Not all MONSTERS are the OLD ONES, but, yeah, in most cases, there's some thread going back to them. They're out there, you know, pulling strings.

As an aside, one of the joys about Mike Mignola's Hellboy is his glee in using the Nazis as the continued agents of the Old Ones. It's not a cliche in his hands, but rather a sly wink and nudge to his audience. Of course, it would have to be Nazis and, of course, it would have to be the Old Ones whom they are trying to contact and bring into this world. Go with what works, you know?

There has to be a WOMAN, usually two. One is the agent of LIGHT (the hooker with a heart of gold or some such) and the other is the agent of DARKNESS. Our hero will be torn between the two because, well, there's always the allure of the bad girl. The writers of Goldeneye really nailed this with Xenia Onatopp and Natalya Simonova. Come on, guys, let's see a show of hands: who was kinda bummed out when Onatopp finally bit it in the end?

The woman of light will be in danger by the climax, probably in a very Jim Silke inked and airbrushed sort of way. Rescuing the girl will allow the hero to remain aloof to the threat facing the world even though, as a result of saving the girl, he also saves the world. Her gratitude is his only reward because, even though he prevented the Apocalypse, he will still be touched by OTHERNESS (and possibly even more so now) which will make the elders of the world fear him and they will undoubtedly FUCK HIM OUT OF HIS DUE REWARD.

Reading back over this, I think my influences may be showing slightly. This is what happens when you are raised on comic books, pulp fiction, noir crime novels, and too much mythology.

Posted by Teppo at June 7, 2004 09:21 AM

Comments

don't forget that a vital part of Campbell's hero journey is the "return to civilization." Bringing back the wisdom gained from going "into the woods" and sharing it for the good of society. The hero may become an Outsider, but he makes sure that what makes him an Outsider is available to the masses, giving them the opportunity to not only benefit from his adventure, but to bring society to a point where the Outsiders are once again included.

Hmm, that's not the way I remember it. Yes, the return to civilization is important because that's how the solution is returned. While the hero brings back what is needed to save the society, it isn't necessarily something that will allow him to reintegrate back into the society. Usually he leaves again because he has been changed enough that he is no longer able to be "just a member" of the group.

Of course, I may be remembering this completely incorrectly. I'll have to check tonight during Fear Factor commercials. ;)

I'm not saying that he's ever intergrated back into society, but the goal of him bringing back wisdom is to change society in the way he has been changed. Ideally, this means that what made him "other" will no longer be alien to society, but by that time, he's probably long gone and forgotten.

Ah, yes. I follow you there. "I bring you Enlightenment." *YAWN* "But while you're thinking about what to do with it, I'm off to Tanelorn."

I think the hero in the Apocalyptic Thriller is, well, hang on. That may be the topic of my entry. ;)