Character vs. Narcissism in Storytelling

There is something unique about stories today, and in ways they are stronger and weaker than ever.

In Poetics, Aristotle emphasized the importance of plot above anything, and character was considered secondary.

"For the plot ought to be so constructed that even without the aid of the eye he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity with what takes place. But to produce this effect by the mere spectacle is the less artistic method and dependent on extraneous aids."

More often today, people are concerned about the reverse. Characters are what come above everything. We draw pictures of our characters, fill out questions about our characters, interview them, role play with them, but when asked, "So, are you going to make a story?" the response is more often than not, "Well, I didn't make it yet."

In a way, this attitude is refreshing. How many people can't get through a well respected book because they can't relate to it? Many books are worthy of respect for what they offer logically and ethically, but fail to inspire for lack of character. Plot is important, but character should never be written off. When Aristotle described tragedy, he pointed out that we will always pity a man more if he is like ourselves. Today with cartoons, movies, shows and fiction being more popular than ever, character has come to be valued in a unique way, to the point that it is dominant in many cases to any plot or story whatsoever.

For example, take cartoons. Explaining the mere plot of Sponge Out of Water will never be enough to move someone to tears or make them melt with joy. However, it is valid proof that this sort of thing can be accomplished by other means. Something which gets ignored because of its subjectivity is comedy. It's not, however, something to be taken for granted, and is worth looking at for its example of making use of the "mere spectacle" to the fullest.

Imagine taking such a thing and putting it into a structure built with equal care. You can see this happening to a degree in some TV shows today. It's said that shows are more enjoyable now, because we have more time to care about the characters. In movies, however, we care about them less, even if the plot is better. I will always respect The Hobbit, but I will not necessarily cry myself to sleep if one of the dwarves dies, because it is impossible to get to know all of them in such a short time. I believe this is why fan fiction is popular, and why some people seem to have an inexplicable concern for certain characters while others don't; whatever people see in those characters, they've invented themselves. It is necessary to insert character where it isn't if we want to have the richest experience we can.

In this light, I will always say that J. K. Rowling is a revolutionary in storytelling, if one who is taken for granted by critics who don't look at the right strengths.
She mastered character and succeeded in putting it into a refined plan in a way that no other author has managed to do. There are things like Percy Jackson that are all character, but have an on-the-fly structure that always shows through. Or else we have Lord of the Rings, which, though I will always love and respect very much, is grand and vast rather than personal or intimate.
(Which is not to say Rowling is better than Tolkien in every way, because she's not. Feel free to debate this with me in the comments).

While it's good that people are inserting themselves into stories more and are getting more meaningful experiences, there are also downfalls of this attitude, which can't be denied. We have unique problems, such as Mary Sues and other tropes that ought to be looked at.

I think it's fair to admit that the root of the vast majority of modern storytelling problems can be attributed to one thing that I want to explore: narcissism. This goes hand in hand with other problems of our culture. These are certain problems from the internet which I've never seen called out by anybody else before, but I grew up with them, and I will. The internet makes it easier than ever to get attention or create an image. For fun we fill out 100 "about me" questions tags. We create our avatars, invent our nicknames, write our bios, take personality quizzes, and constantly share memes about what funny, random, awesome, cute weird things we do. We are always impressed with ourselves. And this attitude leaks into the way we use our imaginations. It is no wonder character is focused on so much these days; character is a very good thing, but only too typical of us to be occupied with.

Psychiatrists observe that a person's narcissism can be transferred down from themselves as the object to their children. Freud said:

"Thus they are under a compulsion to ascribe every perfection to the child, and to conceal and forget all his shortcomings. The child shall have a better time than his parents; he shall not be subject to the necessities which they have recognized as paramount in life. He shall once more really be the center and core of creation—‘His Majesty the Baby’, as we once fancied ourselves. The child shall fulfill those wishful dreams of the parents which they never carried out—the boy shall become a great man and a hero in his father's place, and the girl shall marry a prince as a tardy compensation for her mother."

This description sounds strikingly like a Mary Sue or a self insert. Just because the object is not "ourselves" per say, this does not mean that we aren't narcissistic and eager to take anything worthy of glory or praise away from someone or something else to use for our own ends.

The temptation toward narcissism can thus be for our characters as much as for ourselves. It is sometimes defended as a means of "escapism." However, this hobby that's "just for fun," is underestimated, and does indeed lead people to think of others less. You cannot think something is better without thinking something is worse, and after using "everyone else" as a stepping stone for long enough, like any other vice, the attitude you fantasize over will begin to creep into your real life behavior, and is often evident despite our denial.

The best way I can describe talking to someone who writes about Mary Sues is that it feels like talking to a loaded gun of self. Perhaps I am excited about something I have accomplished, but no sooner do I state something worthy of the slightest bit of excitement, than they rush to attribute it to their own self some way or another.

"That sounds like something I would do," is the immediate response. They may or may not go on to describe an example of their own life. The point is, their first instinct is always to take away the spotlight. Many times, without even realizing this is their intent. This is something I have seen over and over and over again. Humility is thinking of ourselves less, but is also thinking of OTHERS MORE.  If you are using a character or idea to take away someone else's glory the same way you would if you were thinking of yourself, you are not humble. If you are good to others as a means to build up your own image or personality, you are not humble, nor a good person.

Mary Sues are the natural result of our glory-hoarding culture. Narcissism arises from the belief that one has to be unique and special to be loved. A large part of this process involves tearing other people down; hence all the stories about girls who live in villages full of stuck up townsfolk with pitchforks who nobody relates to. If all the "other people" are merely simplistic, imaginationless and plain, being the special one is easy. This is what narcissism does.

Notice how the typical writer of a Mary Sue often has a meticulously created online persona. Online we can be viewed however we want; we have control over the air we give off, if not the events that occur to us (though even sometimes these can be twisted). I know this game, I grew up with it, and it is harmful. We are always putting the importance on image, if not of self, then of characters, of our ideal image. What we never pay attention to is others. Others are stepping stones, means to an end, an audience waiting to be impressed. They are less worthy of getting excited about, and can be robbed of attention or credit where it might have been merited. We forget how to value people and things for themselves, and see only what we can gain from them.

Today we flaunt labels, customize profiles, and are generally always tailoring reality to our image. Sites like Tumblr are cesspits of vanity and self-absorption. We simply have to see ourselves in everything.

A reason that comedy is powerful is because it aims at representing a man as worse than he is, while tragedy shows them as better. (Small wonder fan fiction writers are obsessed with drama, and can't make jokes outside the occasional references to sex, drugs or alcohol). True comedy is humility. It is not about characters like Anna from Frozen, whose "quirks" are simply there to make them more lovable or impressive. (You'll notice that the only people who find themselves chuckling at these kinds of jokes are never thinking of Anna at all, but how much she's "like themself"). A character like SpongeBob, annoying as many people might find him, at least TRULY makes fun of himself: a quality that should not be taken for granted.

There is undeniably a unique strongness about the characters in stories today, though they may often be abused. (And by strongness, I  don't mean "strong females." More on how I feel about that in another deviation). When used rightly in a proper structure, it would be safe to say that our stories could someday be the strongest of all. However, to accomplish this, we must recognize raw material as what it is. Character and plot need to work together if our goal is telling a quality story, which I'm going to assume for the sake of the argument, it is. Don't forget that characters are the ingredients and plot is the recipe. Always have the best ingredients you can, but be equally as proficient in exactly how you combine them. The materials and the blueprints are two halves of an art, and neither should be neglected more than the other.

A good plot is time consuming and difficult, but crucial. It gives the characters purpose. The quality of anything relates to what the creator's purpose for it was and how close their creation came to achieving it. Don't be like the art student who says to the teacher when criticized, "Well, it's just supposed to be that way, because it's my style." If your intention is not clear, you have done something wrong (unless, of course, your purpose is to be unclear, which should then be clear itself). Otherwise, the word for what you're doing is "sloppy," "corny" or "unprofessional." Period. There are no excuses for failing to plan.

As for the material you use to fulfill your purpose, remember and respect everything you ever invented. The characters you pretended to be with your brothers and sisters when you were five, the personal jokes you and your friend always say to each other, the arbitrary cartoon characters you invented backstories for. Always remember and respect what you invent, because this is a source of material for you to come and pick from while building. Character is an art in itself, and once we eliminate narcissism, one that can be extremely rewarding. The goal of storytelling is not to present facts as history does, but to give an experience that is universal and memorable. It isn't necessarily as "subjective" as people write it off, and can be mastered and well done in some cases more than others. This has to do with how much you capture and embellish reality. Simply failing to understand reality is not the same, and often obvious.

Character does have to come from the heart, and by heart, I mean what you sincerely know and care about. Not what you want to know or wish you cared about, as we might be tempted to do for our image. Not what we are merely emotional about (romantic or angsty fanfiction). It's obvious who was writing with their family and friends in mind, and who was writing in a dark corner of their closet, pretending to be what they wished because nobody understood the "real" them. If we don't want to show our stories to the real people in our lives, it may be because we secretly understand there is something dishonest or insincere about what we are writing.

Neither plot nor character should find themselves working at the expense of the other. Never sacrifice the best plot you can have for the characters. At the same time, never write off certain characters or ideas because they don't fit. Do everything you can to make the plot and characters fit together. The result will always be more interesting, in my experience.

Thanks for reading as always. If you want to know more about plot, I recommend reading Poetics by Aristotle. It's actually pretty short, and free online. Maybe I'll write a list of tricks for good plots later. Long winded comments and theories are welcome.