Forgive the absence from both Accidentally Heroic and Curve Zone- aside from an advertising issue I've been a little under the weather. And by a little under the weather I mean I've been so sick I've been losing more weight than I did when I had food poisoning a few months back. So- if there is not a speedy recovery eventually "The Curve Zone" will become the "Straight and Narrow". Best weight loss plan ever.
And yes, I am being melodramatic- though I have been sick and too fogged up on fevers to write much.
I'd been mulling something over for quite some time now. At first I considered it a personal issue- often expressing myself through humor instead of sitting down and talking about things seriously. Then I realized that many people in my age demographic do the same thing. We don't like to talk about the hard issues unless we're buffering our conversation with jokes or facetious statements.
I see the generation gap at work constantly. Many people think that people in the Gen Y category don't care because we hide behind the shield of "LOL". We may seem oblivious- tethered to our iPods, showing a lack of enthusiasm for voting, etc. The truth is beneath our cavalier demeanor is a wealth of pain and acute awareness of the myriad of problems plaguing our country and planet.
We grew up on "Captain Planet" the guy who pumped us full of concern about the environment. We might have even cried a bit watching "Fern Gully" as kids- just a bit. Not long after we could drive did Gas prices start going up- but Hybrids, not exactly in our budget. As soon as the ink was dry on our college degrees, the economy was in the toilet. As hard as it is being downsized after 20 years of loyal service, at least you experienced 20 years having a job you could feel proud of. Many in our generation have excelled at school, worked hard at low level jobs- and never once had a taste of a real career. Doors slam in our face. I see more job postings for 5-10 years experience on Career Builder. If you're under the age of 30- chances are you don't have 5-10 years in position higher than Stock Boy or Waitress.
We watched our parents get laid off, we watched the twin towers crumble, we listened to news of the Enron scandal, just like you, we were there witnessing the chaos of the world around us. We were not blind and deaf as you may have thought us to be. But we were young, and our hearts were crushed before we were old enough to purchase alcohol.
Every generation adapts its own style, its own signature. Our generation is the one that laughs when we want to cry. At times our humor is indeed inappropriate- but it is how we cope with the darkness we perceive around us. Humor is how you get us to open up about the things we care about. Through the sounds of our laughter you can almost hear the faint whimpers of our cries- our cries for justice, cries for change, and cries for hope.
Humor is our adaptation to the challenges of our environment.
It's actually somewhat timely that your brought this up. For the past few weeks I had been playing with a story idea where one of the main character (a man in his 20s) deals with the soul crushing drudgery of the corporate world.
ReplyDeleteThis is only part the backdrop to the story's plot but this part of his plight is shared by two supporting characters;
1.) His immediate supervisor, a woman who is only 2 or 3 years older then him, a real type A personality who inadvertently alienates everyone around her in the name of achievement that she feels she needs to reach to be respected
2.) A coworker who is near retirement age and is so beat down by the work and the environment that he can't help but react with biting snark.
It was originally supposed to have a darker, more serious tone but it seems like it evolved into a black comedy before I realized it.
I guess it's a sign of the times and almost like a projection of how I tend to deal with things. I do often find myself saying "It'd be sad if it wasn't so damn funny" :|
While you don't wish for the humor to water down the seriousness of the content- every good story should have at least one moment of humor or one small joke. Humor is a great way to make your characters more real.
ReplyDeleteHowever I can understand the issue of your work evolving. Sometimes black comedies turn incredibly morbid/dramatic- so if you have a great evolution of the conflict it can still return to the original concept.
Keep me posted on this latest endeavor!