Pictures and Nonsense

Hello, folks! I'm back, and I'm married!

I know it's been a long time since my last post. I've been so busy with wedding preparations, the actual wedding, and then moving into my new house and then the honeymoon that I haven't been posting. Who could blame me?

Anyway, I'm now Allison Boyer, working on getting that name legally changed. However, I will still use Allison K. Hymas as my professional writer name, so that will be the name that is on my books and websites.

For our honeymoon, Spencer and I roadtripped to Banff, Canada. It was my first time going there, and wow, it's beautiful. Such a great place for me to spend time with my new husband!

We both loved looking at the lakes, in particular. They're so blue!

Lake Louise. (That's Spencer in the sunglasses.)

Lake Moraine. And in this one, yes, the water looks like that. It's as blue as if it was dyed, but it's a natural effect of "rock flour" from the glaciers. The picture really doesn't do it justice, and it still looks like that.

And this is a cute little tearoom at the top of a hike near Lake Louise. We got an apple crumble to share and two lemonades.

I got a lot of other pictures, but they're taking forever to upload and these are some of the best, anyway. As for wedding pictures, I don't have them yet, but I'll share a couple as soon as I get them back from the photographer.

In other news, THE EXPLORER'S CODE is listed on Goodreads now, so if you want to keep an eye on its progress, you can look at it there!

Okay, so I promised you some nonsense. Like I said, we roadtripped, and when you put two nerds in a car for 15 hours to and fro, not even counting hours of driving around the parks, then things start to happen. Especially when one of you is a writer, you both enjoy Weird Al Yankovic, and you're going on a trip later this year to Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland. You start thinking of Disney songs and Star Wars and then...this happens.

So this is for all you Tangled and Obi-Wan Kenobi fans out there.

When Will The Fight Begin?

("When Will My Life Begin?" from Tangled)

 

Morning arrives, awake to a double sunrise.

Start on the chores and sweep ‘til the floor’s all clean,

Maintain my beard, do laundry, and gather supplies.

Life is bland in the sand here on Tatooine!

 

And so I’ll meditate, for maybe quite a while.

I’ll watch the Tusken Raiders—they walk single-file,

And then I’ll spar my shadow in Soresu style,

Just wonderin’ when will the fight begin?

 

Then after lunch of blue milk and bantha jerky

I’ll stick around, safe on my high ground, alone.

Visit my memories, though they are getting murky,

Though I’ve yet to forget all my time with the clones.

 

I lost another robe; good thing I have a spare.

I’ll plan my duel with Maul—sure he’s alive somewhere.

And then I’ll practice greeting droids with, “Hello, there.”

Stuck in this desert since Anakin…

 

(ahem)

 

And I’ll be wonderin’, and wonderin’, and wonderin’, and wonderin’, when will my fight begin?

 

I watch the boy down on his farm,

Make sure that Luke won’t come to any harm.

One day he might rebalance the Force.

When he is older, I will set him on that course.

 

So, yes. Pictures and nonsense. There may be a few more Disney/Star Wars parodies coming around the bend...it was a LONG drive. So, enjoy, and I'll see you again next week!

TV v. Movies: An Analysis

So, this is going to be my last post for a while. I'm getting married in less than 2 weeks, and then comes the honeymoon...so, yeah. See you later, but I swear I'll come back!

This week I want to do a short, quick discussion of something I've been thinking about. I watch a lot of children's TV (though I only watch the good shows), and TV in general, usually as I eat meals or cool down from a run.

Which is why I recently watched Star Wars Rebels, a Disney Channel animated show. And was blown away, mostly because while I knew Clone Wars was considered a very good show, I had never heard the same about Rebels. Also, it was a kids' Disney Channel show - how good could it really be?

Really, really good.

Rebels dealt with heavy issues of loss, such as loss of home, people, family, purpose, identity, faith...you name it. It's a story of people way out of their depth fighting against a huge, oppressive power with little hope they'll do more than win a couple of small battles here and there. Yes, it's a kids' show, but it's a kids' show that allows major consequences to come to the characters based on their choices, without resetting for the next episode. When injuries happen, they leave scars. When people die, they're gone. And, all in all, at least by the end, the show is about as mature and heavy as the movie Rogue One.

This left me thinking about the other kids' shows I've been watching lately, all from Disney: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, DuckTales, and Big Hero 6. All of these shows are very engaging, and I say this as a writer and an adult. There's a spread of depth and maturity to them, sure, but they all deal with heavy concepts in different ways. They develop character and push these characters to the limits, and the characters really come to life in different, unique ways.

And, they, too, aren't afraid to hit the characters hard, where it hurts, and let them hurt.

For example, in early episodes of the Tangled show, we see Rapunzel's abduction from her father's perspective as he remembers. It's emotional and poignant, and it helps the audience understand his current overprotectiveness toward her. Meanwhile, we follow Rapunzel as she tries to explore this new world she's been barred from while in her tower, and we see the parallels between what Gothel did to her and what her father is doing out of love. It's complex and interesting, and this was season 1. You have NO idea what comes in season 2!

No, I won't tell you. Watch the show if you want spoilers.

Why bring all this up? Look at the movies Disney has put out. Look at the new Star Wars movies and the backlash. Heck, look at my previous posts about how Disney's latest movies have only one plot between them, and how characters like Moana fail to grab my attention because they don't have much of a character arc.

I'm not saying those movies are bad. I am saying, however, that with big theater-length productions like these, Disney and other movie companies are getting more and more hamstrung by social media and general response from fans.

Movies are made to be pleasing to wide audiences. That's just the way they are. True, they're not all for all audiences, but in order to make as much money as possible, they need to cater to as many people as possible. For companies like Disney, that means listening in to as many voices as possible and responding to them.

Sometimes, this works great. Sometimes, though, I think it can hurt storytelling. If everyone is demanding a "strong female character" and no one can really pin down what that means, we end up with female characters who aren't allowed to have flaws and are therefore boring. If everyone is demanding certain fan service, it will go in the movie, even if it detracts from the story. There's a sense of what "perfection" is in a movie, and if the film doesn't fulfill it even in a small way, the internet will go crazy panning the film, or boycotting it, or generally smearing it.

Feel free to supply your own examples here. I, for one, am worried that the new Frozen movie is going to give us bland protagonists for this very reason. (Please prove me wrong, Disney!)

And, naturally, I'm not referring to criticism against movies that is very valid, such as sexism, racism, bigotry, bad writing/research, etc. What I'm referring to here is when pressure becomes so great for a film to "get it right" that the writers panic and avoid any semblance of problem to the point that the plot turns to tapioca and the characters aren't allowed to behave in any way that is flawed and human. Not socially problematic, mind you, but human.

With TV, though, the stakes aren't as high. No one is really watching and pushing for a TV show to include certain things, and if they are, TV has lots more time to make it happen in a more natural way.

TV can also show more character development, perhaps because the stakes are relaxed and because of the longer format. Using Rapunzel again as an example, in the TV show we see how her bubbly, optimistic personality, while not exactly a flaw in the traditional sense, doesn't work in all situations and can irritate people around her. We also have the time to see that personality pushed to the breaking point when she can no longer be as cheerful. (It's a well-written show, seriously.)

I wonder if Stranger Things would be as good if it were a movie and not a longer form that can take the time to build that slow burn, while also being a TV show with those lower stakes. As popular as it is, TV isn't given the same demands as films are.

So what? My take on this is that creators need to consider the pros and cons of film and TV when telling stories, and that we either need to stop pressuring movies to be so gosh-darn perfect in every way we want them to be, to the point that they're pulled in so many directions they lose any sense of story, or we need to acknowledge that's the way it is now and let TV have a bigger share of the storytelling pie. I'm not surprised that Netflix and Amazon shows are doing so well; TV is really growing. Maybe we should let it.

That's my take. Let me know yours, try some of these shows if you're interested (they really are good) and see you in a few!