i know the word agency is some kind of buzzword that indie game designers like to throw around, but its actually a term that defines a technical writing tool. it essentially boils down to a character who has the authority or capability to impact his or her own story. if you dont have agency, you are not a character, but a plot point. children, helpless people, and random jerks on the street are plot points of a story. not characters. people like to scream about female characters passing the bechdel test, but its more important to teach writers about agency. what people talk about in a story is irrelevant. if you want empowerment, stop treating wives and other female characters as plot points that need to be solved. the dialog will then take care of itself. aside: we are trapped in a world of neo-classical storytelling techniques where one of the 36 classic plots is introduced and solved in 3 acts, in thematic fashion… or explosive fashion if the story lacks a coherent theme. (all 80s action movies, star wars 1, im looking at you) its what the western world views AS a story. its not likely to change anytime soon. its a horrible crutch, but its all anyone knows. so. if we/you want movies/stories to grow up and stop treating characters like plot points, wed better start writing our own stories.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 21:58:12 +0000
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