Week 3 in Style

Topic

My Storybook will be an anthology centering around Aesop animal characters on shows like Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil, and on twitter. 

Stories I will be using for Jerry Springer Show will be two or three of these (I haven't narrowed it down yet): The Dog, The Cock, and the Fox, The Farmer and the Stork, The Travelers and the Purse, The Wolf and the Lion, and The Wolf and the Lean Dog.  Maybe one episode could be “What to Do When a Friend Is In Need” and use the characters from The Dog, The Cock, and the Fox, The Travelers and the Purse, and The Wolf and the Lean Dog.

(Note: while the characters will continue to go by their animal names, I still think of them looking human - so perhaps it's a universe where some people have second forms and, if they do, they go by the name of that form.  That second form won't give them any special powers beyond transformation or influencing their human forms just a little.)

Shea Weber (#6) and Seth Jones (#3) as Big Dog and Lean Dog respectively. [x]

Stories I will be using for Dr. Phil are The Boy and the Filberts and The Mice and the Weasels.  The boy’s mother from The Boy and the Filberts is trying to get help for her son, who won’t take his hand out of the filbert jar; meanwhile, the mice from The Mice and the Weasels come on to talk about their PTSD and try to rally the rest of animal kind to their defense.

The social media outlet I was thinking about using was twitter and the stories I will use are The Lion and the Ass and The Wolf and his Shadow.  In both of these cases I’ll be working along the theme of animal A calling out animal B, or A bragging and B calling them out, and, say, if either of them were famous, what kind of reaction there would be from various news outlets or gossip columns.  Will the boxer, Wolf, who keeps boasting about how big and tough he is, finally be successful in getting a fight with renowned heavy weight champ Lion?  Will Ass, who keeps sending vaguely threatening tweets to Lion, finally get a response?  There’s a lot that can happen on Twitter…

Bibliography

1. The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).

Styles

Interview.  I believe this style will fit wonderfully with either of the talk shows, especially Dr. Phil because there is much more of an interview – a lot of give and take – going on during his show.  Certainly more than there is with Jerry Springer.

Story told in a bar and Outsider POV.  For this style, I was going to tell it from the third person point of view of an audience member during the taping of Jerry Springer.  The story I want to use is The Wolf and the Lean Dog, so this audience member, Jackdaw, is talking about how he was SO SURPRISED when the Lean Dog brought out his friend, Big Dog, and how Big Dog wasted no time in tackling Wolf and beating him up. 

Now since Jackdaw isn’t in this story himself, and is looking in on the plight of the three main characters, he has the outsider’s point of view which lends a new perspective to the overall feel of the story.  Does Jackdaw pity Wolf for not getting his meal?  Does he think Lean Dog is cunning for how he tricks Wolf?  Does he marvel at Big Dog’s strength and loyalty?

Video Note: Edward Kenway, the guy in the white hood, is a character from Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, and if you're curious as to why I chose him as Jackdaw, read this reading diary and this storytelling post.  (I put up this video because I couldn't choose which screencap to use.)

Social Media.  I’ve written fictionalized twitter interactions before and it was a lot of fun – especially trying to stick to the 140 character limit.  So I think it will be a great challenge to see if I can nail down the characterizations of Aesop’s animals within such a limited space.  Which animal would be most likely to post Instagram photos to their account?  Do they use Twitlonger to go on rants about social injustices?  How is their grammar?  How often do they change their avatar and name or do they ever change either?

Reading Diary A: Aesop's Fables (Winter)

The fable I read is from Aesop's Winter Fables and it's called The Eagle and the Jackdaw (it's the second story on the page).  And for my reading diary, I want to relate this fable to the video game Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.  Because that was all I could think about while reading this.

The Assassin Order in this game series kill those who they believe are a threat to The Greater Good and they are often represented by an eagle. In the game there are “synchronization” points, usually at the top of very tall buildings, such as church spires and watch towers, where you go to “synchronize” (I’m putting this in quotes because there’s a lot more to the story – but it’s not relevant so I won’t get into it) and you fill in your map of the area. These sync points are always marked by a circling eagle.

"Concept art emphasizing the eagle silhouette of an Assassin's robes." [source]

An Assassin also has an ability called “Eagle Vision” – this allows him/her to differentiate between friend and foe and aids in finding the target.  Again, there's more to the story, but it's not relevant.

Eagle Vision in action. [source]

In Black Flag, the main character, Edward Kenway, is a pirate who (unknowingly) poses as an Assassin and meets with the governor of Havana – hoping to get the reward the Assassin (now dead) was to get for delivering an object. Stuff and things happen, Edward is found out and, while escaping with a few fellow pirates, steals a Spanish brig.

He names the brig the Jackdaw.

The Jackdaw sailing into port. [source]

As the game progresses, Edward meets other Assassins who challenge and change him (they show him a better way of living), eventually allowing him to join their Order after he had began to change. It’s his transition from a pirate to a high ranking Assassin that embodies the moral of this fable: do not let your vanity make you overestimate your powers.

In the beginning of the game, the Edward who steals the Jackdaw is much like the Jackdaw in the fable: he is greedy and cocky and oftentimes overestimates what he can do. However, as the game progresses and Edward matures – he develops the calm confidence of the eagle and the strength to not only back up that confidence, but to know how to use it wisely.

In the fable, the line “and made off with [the lamb] to her nest” implies that the eagle has young ones to feed – she isn’t killing for the sake of it. While the Jackdaw tries to make off with a ram for seemingly no other reason besides wanting to imitate the eagle and gets stuck in the ram’s fleece. When he’s seen by the shepherd, the Jackdaw’s wings are clipped and is given to the shepherd’s children.

Now, to throw the Black Flag lens over this fable: the eagle (the Assassins) are killing for a reason (to help the weak). The Jackdaw (Edward) attempts to imitate an eagle (in the beginning of the game, he kills an Assassin and steals the Assassin’s clothing) but only succeeds in making a fool of himself (Edward gets caught by the governor of Havana) and getting his wings clipped (Edward is thrown in jail).  Alternatively, the clipping of the Jackdaw's wings - and their subsequent slow regrowth - can be seen as Edward's slowly taking on the role and responsibilities of being an Assassin (there are rules to follow and a Creed to honor - it's not just killing people all the time [and we come full circle: using your power well and not abusing it]).

And while Edward eventually escapes the jail – there might not have been such an ending for the Jackdaw in the fable.

The last line of the fable – “That is a Jackdaw … but if you should ask him, he would say he is an Eagle.” – is great because, in the end, Edward (as the Jackdaw) eventually does become an eagle (a well-respected Assassin).