(no subject)
I've been thinking about something curious about character design:
Take a story where a character is cursed to look like a monster, and must go on a spiritual or physical journey in order to take back their original form.
My question: Why is it that most people prefer the way they looked as a monster?
Examples of classic unwanted transformations:
The Beast / Creepy Prince ((Beauty and the Beast)) ------------ (Beast is preferred)
Imp Midna / Princess Midna (Twilight Princess)) ---------- (Imp is preferred)
Frog / Glen ((Chrono Trigger)) ---------- (Frog is preferred)
These are some reasons I thought of why this would be the case:
Imagine Hellboy transformed into a human. He would be no longer interesting, he wouldn't work, and why would you even mess with Mike Mignola; his talent will gut you.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint - If Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribean no longer had tentacle face, he, for one thing, probably could not play the organ as well, but also we would be less interested - visually, tentacle-face is more interesting to look at than beard-face.
Anakin Skywalker vs Darth Vader: Human form is intrinsically just less interesting. When they take that helmet off at the end of Return of the Jedi, humanizing him... it was almost horrifying how disappointing it was. OH HE WAS JUST SOME GUY. GREAT.
On the opposite side of that: V from V for Vendetta. Never removed his mask, was never transformed-into-the-ordinary, and so remained interesting.
Howl from Howl's Moving Castle. If we had seen him first in that creepy bird form, we might (probably would) have preferred him looking like that and been irritated when he turned into human!Howl. As it was, when he does turn into a bird, his face is usually still visible and we are still connected to the character visually (and we have the sense that it won't be permanent, so we're willing to wait it out). So in this case, it isn't the monster form that's interesting, it's the form that Howl spent the most time in, the one we are introduced to him in - the one the artists worked hardest on designing.
Also from Howl's Moving Castle: Sophie as a Grandma - we are introduced to Sophie as a girl at the beginning, and she transforms so quickly into an old woman that we get used to seeing both of them. Since she transforms back and forth throughout, we are fine with her, visually, at the end of the story.
The scarecrow from Howl's Moving Castle had the same story as Midna and the Beast and Frog, and I honestly prefer to see him as a scarecrow for the same reasons I'd rather Midna be an imp, the Beast be a beast, and Frog be a frog. You were fine with looking like this the whole entire story. It didn't kill you. Why the sudden change of look? You couldn't wait five minutes for the story to end? Even if it makes sense, I think it's subconsciously annoying.
Okay, now I'm just hurting my brain trying to think of an example that disproves this. I feel like I'm just rambling with the examples I've come up with (which obviously have come from glancing at my bookshelf, so they're limited.) I would dearly like to think of something that actually worked out. Can you think of a time where, in a visual medium, there was a main character who transformed permanently at the end of the story (in a going-back-to-the-normal/mundane sense) and the audience embraced the change?
And don't mention Pokemon - I don't think it counts, and I secretly think you cry silent tears about your babies suddenly looking totally different with no way to change them back.
I feel like there should be a TV Tropes page about characters that change back their rightful/normal form at the end of stories, but I couldn't find it. If you have better luck than me, please share.
The only, logical ending to a tired-ramble post like this - Midna / The Beast = OTP
(She'd top because she tops everyone.)
Take a story where a character is cursed to look like a monster, and must go on a spiritual or physical journey in order to take back their original form.
My question: Why is it that most people prefer the way they looked as a monster?
Examples of classic unwanted transformations:
The Beast / Creepy Prince ((Beauty and the Beast)) ------------ (Beast is preferred)
Imp Midna / Princess Midna (Twilight Princess)) ---------- (Imp is preferred)
Frog / Glen ((Chrono Trigger)) ---------- (Frog is preferred)
These are some reasons I thought of why this would be the case:
- More effort is spent on the design of the monster form, since that is the form most seen (the transformation being at the very end)
- Familiarity - we get irritated even when friends grow beards (let alone change their whole look), because we're forced to re-learn their looks in order to recognize them readily.
- Monsters are more interesting than humans - when they transform back, their human beauty is boring compared to their exotic monster...hood.
- Their new form is strongly associated with the end of the story, and we'd rather it not end, thanks v much.
Imagine Hellboy transformed into a human. He would be no longer interesting, he wouldn't work, and why would you even mess with Mike Mignola; his talent will gut you.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint - If Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribean no longer had tentacle face, he, for one thing, probably could not play the organ as well, but also we would be less interested - visually, tentacle-face is more interesting to look at than beard-face.
Anakin Skywalker vs Darth Vader: Human form is intrinsically just less interesting. When they take that helmet off at the end of Return of the Jedi, humanizing him... it was almost horrifying how disappointing it was. OH HE WAS JUST SOME GUY. GREAT.
On the opposite side of that: V from V for Vendetta. Never removed his mask, was never transformed-into-the-ordinary, and so remained interesting.
Howl from Howl's Moving Castle. If we had seen him first in that creepy bird form, we might (probably would) have preferred him looking like that and been irritated when he turned into human!Howl. As it was, when he does turn into a bird, his face is usually still visible and we are still connected to the character visually (and we have the sense that it won't be permanent, so we're willing to wait it out). So in this case, it isn't the monster form that's interesting, it's the form that Howl spent the most time in, the one we are introduced to him in - the one the artists worked hardest on designing.
Also from Howl's Moving Castle: Sophie as a Grandma - we are introduced to Sophie as a girl at the beginning, and she transforms so quickly into an old woman that we get used to seeing both of them. Since she transforms back and forth throughout, we are fine with her, visually, at the end of the story.
The scarecrow from Howl's Moving Castle had the same story as Midna and the Beast and Frog, and I honestly prefer to see him as a scarecrow for the same reasons I'd rather Midna be an imp, the Beast be a beast, and Frog be a frog. You were fine with looking like this the whole entire story. It didn't kill you. Why the sudden change of look? You couldn't wait five minutes for the story to end? Even if it makes sense, I think it's subconsciously annoying.
Okay, now I'm just hurting my brain trying to think of an example that disproves this. I feel like I'm just rambling with the examples I've come up with (which obviously have come from glancing at my bookshelf, so they're limited.) I would dearly like to think of something that actually worked out. Can you think of a time where, in a visual medium, there was a main character who transformed permanently at the end of the story (in a going-back-to-the-normal/mundane sense) and the audience embraced the change?
And don't mention Pokemon - I don't think it counts, and I secretly think you cry silent tears about your babies suddenly looking totally different with no way to change them back.
I feel like there should be a TV Tropes page about characters that change back their rightful/normal form at the end of stories, but I couldn't find it. If you have better luck than me, please share.
The only, logical ending to a tired-ramble post like this - Midna / The Beast = OTP
(She'd top because she tops everyone.)