Episode 693 - Betray!
Jun 24, 2024
Betrayal is not a fave theme of mine in any media. I really dislike it, but it's so popular! We've talked about this one before but no one really remembers Quackcast 427 so we're having another crack at it! We talk about all the different aspects: political, love, country, loyalty etc and really have fun with it!
Topics and Show Notes
What I dislike most about the betrayal theme is when a character lies to get into a relationship with another character, or betrays the trust of someone they're in a relationship with. It's like nails on a blackboard to me, and yet it's done all the time so it must be entertaining and popular to other people?
Another one I really dislike is when a character is betrayed by their team or their friends: people they trust all suddenly turn on them. I really hate that, it can feel very shocking and horrible.
Betrayal by an organisation, a country, or superiors is also pretty popular but I don't think that approach is so bad because it usually reflects how people feel rather than a personal attack. Take Rambo for example: in that his country betrays him, but we all understand that it's a parable about how Vietnam war veterans were abandoned by their country and not given the support they needed. In my comic Pinky TA I use the “betrayed by superiors” theme, mainly because I was influenced by Ghost in the Shell when I wrote it and that was a popular theme in more serious anime at the time. It's also a good parable for growing into adulthood.
Have you used a betrayal theme? Do you like it, or do you hate it like me?
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Oswald the Overman in the Lesser Planes of Hell - Starting off cutesy and friendly and pink this tune quickly spirals down into surreal, mind melting weirdness followed by a little bit of Louie Louie on the keyboards just to get us back to feeling in a party mood again!
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
The Scourge of Ninepoint - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2024/jun/18/featured-comic-the-scourge-of-ninepoint/
Featured music:
Oswald the Overman in the Lesser Planes of Hell - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Oswald_the_Overman_in_the_Lesser_Planes_of_Hell/ - by OswaldTheOverman, rated T.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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Episode 654 - tropes vs character growth
Sep 25, 2023
Today we're chatting about characters who're mainly based on tropes VS those that grow. You see this difference quite clearly in a lot of British comedy VS American comedy where characters are set up in certain ways, e.g. the nerd, the sassy one, the mature one etc- in British stuff they tend to revert to type, which is their most important trait, while in American stuff they tend to change and grow based on interactions and experiences. There are MANY exceptions though and one way isn't inherently better than the other.
Episode 556 - That's What She Said!
Nov 8, 2021
The other day Tantz Aerine wrote a newspost about an article critical of Squid Game. The crux of things was that the Squid Game creator had said their message was anti-capitalist, while this critic was saying that the author's message with the Squid Game was an anti communist critique and not a very good one at that. The issue here is that isn't how you do criticism. At all. You can give an interesting reading of something and tell us why YOU think it's anti-Communist, or tell us how it looks through the lens of post-colonialism or new wave feminism etc, but you can't say that is what the author is saying or what the work means, especially if the author explicitly says WHAT they are saying. This may seem like a small distinction but it's actually very, very important. Bad criticism often tells us what the creator is saying. Don't do that. Don't be that person.
Episode 537 - Historicity
Jun 28, 2021
We have a chat about historicity in this Quackcast. What IS historicity? It's historical authenticity basically but a nicer way of saying it! It's pretty important for a lot of reasons to make the best effort you can with historical authenticity- it increases immersion of the audience, gives you a better understanding of the story and the world you're looking at (because things will make sense), and leads you to better understanding of your own history and where we came from. BUT, that doesn't mean you always have to be strict. As long as you as a creator properly understand historical context then you've got a lot more leeway to play without creating something stupid. Playing fast and loose with history is ok as long as you know what you're doing, not just being a moron and faking it (hey, many of us are guilty of that). Historical fantasy, myth, classics, fiction, biography etc are all different classes of story where it's more or less forgiveable to mess around.
Episode 427 - Betrayal
May 20, 2019
Betrayal is an interesting thing to use in fiction. You can have betrayal of your nation, your organisation, friends, lovers, religion, beliefs, self. In stories it can be used to add a nasty twist or completely change the flow of events and alter the balance of power in a dramatic way! It can be devastating in relationships. The story of Judas betraying Christ for 30 pieces of silver is one of the most famous betrayal stories and became so iconic that the phrase “30 pieces of silver” or just the word “Judas” became synonymous with the act. Of course the inspiration for the best treachery and betrayal comes from real life and the names of the betrayers often echo down through history. IFrom Rome we have Brutus, in the USA the name “Benedict Arnold” has a similar meaning to “Judas”, the 20th century gave us the term “quisling” after the Norwegian political leader Vidkun Quisling who sold his country out to the Nazis.
