Post by Mr. Dent on Dec 10, 2016 2:06:52 GMT -5
Protologue
A long time ago, drifting somewhere between sleepless and sleeping, my television stumbled upon a very old movie. Very old, actually- No sound, no color. Somehow, even though the context had faded once I woke up the next morning, my young and malleable brain had absorbed a single image from the film. That night, and for every night after, until I finally found the film again, I would dream of the moon. And, lodged in it’s eye, one bulbous rocket ship.That movie was, of course, A Trip to the Moon. A movie made around the turn of the century by a french eccentric and visionary, about a quorum of bearded wizards who launch a rocket into the moon and discover a strange race of aliens. Dreamy and surreal, the film was an unmistakable and undeniable influence on cinema. Really, it’s a crime that it was banned for so long. I was lucky, in that I managed to see one of the few cable showings that came after the ban was lifted.
As the days went by, and that image wormed itself deeper and deeper into my head, I became more and more fixated on finding the image’s source. It took a while, surprisingly. You have no idea how much damage a few decades of censorship can do to cinematic resources. I went out of my way to watch as many movies as I possibly could after that. Every opportunity I had was spent renting old reels from libraries and tracking down old silent films. I spent hours hunting for Clara Bow and Buster Keaton, and too many months wondering if June Lincoln even existed. (And, as far as I could find, she didn’t.)
I kind of became known for it at school. I became the “movie guy,” a sort of expert on the movies lost during the Wholesome Media Act. People sort of thought that I was cool, like a sort of rebel, but that didn’t really make me happy. The movies weren’t unwholesome, they weren’t scandalous or unsavory or anything like that. They were just movies. Black and white, you know, maybe a little older, and, why yes, the actors did talk funny (when they talked at all,) but I saw little reason to be frightened of them. As far as I’m concerned, The Wholesome Media Act was nothing but a misguided attempt to limit artistic expression to the production of propaganda.
It’ll take a long time to repair the wound on cinema our beneficent theocracy has done, but I think we can do it. Melies’ days of whimsy and magic aren’t even that far away, really. I think all we need is one good push, to set the boat on it’s course, and we’ll get there. Sooner or later.
Dialogue
“So, her blindness is cured, but it’s not a happy moment when they’re reunited, but a bittersweet one,” Bentley explained, rapidly, excitedly, “because she can finally see that he’s only a tramp.”I nodded at him, “That sounds very sad.”
“If you think that sounds sad,” he gushed, “you should see the movie!”
“Oh, my mom doesn’t like me watching things like that.” I shook my head, “She says I cause enough trouble at school as it is. She thinks I have too many bad influences in my life.”
“...but that doesn’t make sense. You’re a good kid!” Bentley shook his head, “I’ve never seen you cause trouble a day in your life. I’m not sure you can.”
“It’s my bruises,” I explained, “she thinks I’m starting fights.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Bentley wrinkled his nose, “You’re the nicest guy I know. Just a little accident prone.”
“She thinks I was the one who broke Quincy’s arm.”
I did break Quincy’s arm.
“Well, that was an accident.” He took a deep breath, “How were you supposed to know that the pen in your pencil case was caught in the lid, so that when you opened it, it would launch into your forehead? And that, on your way to the clinic, you’d drip a bit of blood on the ground. And that, on his way to recess, Quincy would accidentally run over the puddle, and slip down the stairs and into the glass front door?”
“Bentley,” I said, “you know that’s something that can only happen to me.”
He sighed, “Yeah. But it’s still not fair.”
“I can’t help it, I’m a human natural disaster.”
“See, if this were a movie,” Bentley said, “this is where we’d fade to black, and cut to you as a successful adult, who isn’t accident prone at all.”
“Who’d want to watch a movie like that? That just sounds boring.”
“I’d watch it,” Bentley said, “it sounds like a nice movie. I like happy endings.”
“Oh, please, that can’t be the ending. That’s, like, the end of the first act or whatever. I hope.”
“Oh,” he nodded, “yeah, yeah. That’s where the first act ends, trust me, the movie’s barely gotten started. You go on a big adventure, after that!”
“How big are we talking?” I asked.
“Big! Like, ancient temples and aliens and all that jazz. You’ll be a hero!”
“That sounds nice...” I could feel myself smiling again, “Who’d play me?”
“Well,” Bentley rolled his eyes, “you’d play yourself. Obviously.”
“I can’t act.”
“How do you know that,” he elbowed me, “if you’ve never tried?”
“Fine, but if I star in this thing, you have to direct.”
That weekend, Bentley searched his basement for his Grandfather’s video camera.
It was a clunky, old thing, that ate little cassettes as it filmed, but it would do.
Analogue
“Why don’t you use a real camera?” I asked.My brother was fiddling with the busted up old camcorder he found with Grandpa’s stuff in the basement. He was convinced that he and Dale were going to make some kind of movie. When my brother got an idea into his head, nothing could stop him.
“It is a real camera. Go away, Nice.” He groaned, calling me by the patronizing nickname he always used when he was annoyed with me.
“Mom told me I should play with you,” I said.
“There’s no part for you in the movie,” he shook his head, “It’s about Dale saving the world.”
“Then you could make a new part. I could be Dale’s beautiful sidekick, and I could help him save the world.”
“There are no sidekicks,” Bentley said, “it’s not a superhero movie. It’s an adventure movie, like a real thriller.”
“Then I could be a famous model,” I insisted, “who’s a billionaire and can pay for all kinds of valuable jewels and artifacts.”
My brother stopped messing with the camera, and turned around to look at me. “You know, that’s not such a bad idea,” he smiled. “That might work.”
“I’d be pretty, and famous, and Dale and I will get married in the end.”
“Hey,” Bentley stopped me, “that’s not gonna happen. That’s just kind of weird. You’re 7 and he’s like 9.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, “but it’s a movie. My character’s probably a grown up.”
“I guess that’s true,” he said, frowning, “but I still don’t like the idea of my sister marrying my best friend. Wouldn’t that make him, like, my uncle?”
“No,” I shook my head. My brother’s not very smart. I’m smarter, sometimes, even though I’m only in second grade and he’s a fourth grader. “He’d be your brother-in-law. Wouldn’t that be a good thing for you?”
My brother sighed and shook his head, “No, I’m afraid I just don’t like the idea of my little sister going around and dating people. It isn’t proper.”
“It’s just pretend!”
“Yes, but I don’t like it.” He grinned at me, in a very mean way. “And I’m the director. So what I say goes.”
“Why are you getting all weird about this?”
“You’ll understand when you’re older,” he said, “because it’ll be all you’ll be thinking about once you get to high school. Girls go all weird once they hit puberty, and really, it’s a whole terrible chapter of your life, and we don’t need to rush into that early, okay?”
“You’re a jerk.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He snickered, “I know.”
Decalogue
Mombi: Almost time.gildedbird: are you nervous?
Mombi: No
Mombi: Why should I be?
Mombi: I look killer in dress pants
pen²: im jealous
gildedbird: looking good is half the battle
gildedbird: you gotta make a good first impression!
gildedbird: but then you gotta be confident and cool and that’s the hard part
gildedbird: following up on the first impression
Mombi: I’m not worried
Mombi: When Ruggedo recommends someone, you hire them.
Mombi: You’d be an idiot not to.
pen²: good point
pen²: wanna hear something highly messed up?
gildedbird: why would you ask that?
gildedbird: she’s kind of preoccupied
pen²: yeah but maybe this will help
pen²: give her something else to think about during the interview
Mombi: Actually, that’s a good idea.
Mombi: Go ahead
pen²: okay, so did you know that every good, properly ripe fig
pen²: has a dead wasp inside it?
pen²: like by nature it has a dead wasp in it that means its ripe
gildedbird: this can’t be true
pen²: no it is
pen²: i swear
pen²: it’s how they reproduce
pen²: so it begins with a mother wasp, right?
pen²: when it’s time for her to lay her eggs she seeks out a fig
pen²: and she climbs inside it
pen²: tearing out her limbs as she does
pen²: and when she is finally inside it she lays the eggs
pen²: before bleeding to death
gildedbird: why can’t we ever have a normal conversation?
pen²: and then the eggs hatch
pen²: and it’s a boy and a girl, right?
pen²: the brother and sister mate over their dead mother’s rotting carcass
pen²: and then the brother tears a hole through the fig
pen²: dying in the process
pen²: and the sister leaves through the hole the brother made
pen²: and she flies off
pen²: to find a fig to lay her eggs in
gildedbird: I’m never going to eat a fig again.
pen²: mombi?
Mombi: Yeah?
pen²: knock em dead
Mombi: Will do, ma’am.
Mombi: I look stunning. I’m about to head out now.
gildedbird: so when shall we three meet again?
pen²: lol
Mombi: I’ll give you a guys a shout when I’m done!
Prologue
Mombi: Hey!Mombi: Penpen!
pen²: did you get the job?!
Mombi: Yeah, duh
Mombi: When Ruggedo recommends someone, you hire them, remember?
gildedbird: congratulations!
pen²: yeah
pen²: congrats asshat
Mombi: Thanks
Mombi: But, seriously, Penpen!
pen²: wot
Mombi: I heard a story you’re going to love.
Mombi: It’s right up your alley.
Mombi: And it’s all true!
gildedbird: oh, god
gildedbird: why are we friends?
pen²: spill it
Mombi: Have you ever heard of The Kaleidoscope Man?
So, you're probably wondering what the heck this thing is. It's the beginning to a sort of ongoing story idea I have, and I thought this might be as good a place as any to try and start it. I'm using it essentially as writing practice, so any feedback would be appreciate! Comments or criticism!