Inspirations

February

My inspirations for this month have mainly been aesthetic, helping me generate a plot from the gorgeous visuals I have seen. It has been a month of new and undiscovered emotions and tangible items. I discovered new artists, new ideas, and new media that has set me along a path filled with concepts to write from.

Celle, Julian de la. “A LONG WAY FROM HOME: THE GROWLERS IN BRIXTON.” FOXES Magazine, FOXES Magazine, 19 Nov. 2016, www.foxesmagazine.com/backstage/a-long-way-from-home-the-growlers-in-brixton.

An old favourite of mine. The Growlers have an unique sound and style; a grungy surfer sound, creating images of seedy motels, endless deserts, cigarette haze, and the aimless joy of summer sunsets in a beach-side town. Their aesthetic deeply inspired my piece Camino Muerto, which is named after one of their songs. The major AHA moments that came from these artists came during the writing of that piece; the free and open interpretation of death that the band embraces spoke to me, helping me create a vision of purgatory as imagined by the ´Beach Goth’ aesthetic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPfuQWrkRII

I discovered this new love from another old favourite, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which satirizes these films. From there I fell in love. This is also aesthetic, as it inspired my new blog look. I am deeply inspired by how those from the past envision the future and it’s perils. We like to laugh at the camp and absurdity of the ´B´ movie era, but often the creatures are grounded in real fear. (Ex. Godzilla is a product of fear of nuclear annihilation in Japan) However, I have gained so many ideas for stories; I have loved aliens and alien conspiracy theories since I was a kid. To write in the style of a camp sci-fi would be pure joy to create. Another AHA was how I can play with the sociological subtext to these films. (Ex. Fear of new feminism in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)

March

This month has been a month of stylistic influences, from the super-structured Welcome to Nightvale to the insane, off the wall Love, Death, and Robots. My horizons have been broadened to the freedom I actually have when writing. I no longer have to pretend to stick in any vein of reality.

Still from Love, Death, and Robots

It was this month that I was blessed with a messy orgy of all the sci-fi goodness I could ever hope to consume. Netflix´s sci-fi anthology series Love, Death, and Robots is straight, graphic insanity from the mind of some of the most visually accredited creators of our time (David Fincher). No, not all of it is fantastic, but all of it is unique. All of it is created to appease the creators, and not the viewers. It never tries to abide by any set rule, and as a writer, that is amazing. (Think sentient yogurt, ghost fish, and lots and lots of robots)

The writers and animators took inspiration from the strangest places and poured hours of work into every frame, and I felt the push to do the same. From their work I can pull whatever I desire, writing stories with the same abandon they possessed.

Welcome to Nightvale is created by Joesph Fink and Jeffery Cranor

I love this. I love this. I love this. The podcast about the fake radio station from a fake town where conspiracy is reality and mountains don´t exist. The style of an old radio broadcast, but with none of the mundanity. The words sometimes feel like they are going to reach out of your phone and strangle you. Just to repeat, I love it.

As a writer, all I want to do is emulate these pieces. I’ve written parodies of their advertisements, haunting and nonsensical, but I want to do more. I love to write a full piece in the form of one of their podcast episodes, complete with as many Lovecraftian overtones as I can pour in. The structured style of build up to insanity, all while staying chipper and glib, until an equally insane resolution just resonates with me.

April

This month has been a barrage of creative inspiration in the form of One Acts. Six incredible plays, each so varied, each so unique. I have been swept away to six different worlds on six different times by six different creative teams. To have a chance to that is so rare, and I am so blessed to experience it. There is also a new magic given to theater when you know those who created it, personally. It gives every success on that stage a new light.

These shows have flooded my brain, influencing all I do. I’ve written a character journal from the perspective of my character, and been given countless ideas for my own theater and creation.

Now the next inspiration is defiantly more obscure:

Lyndon, Victor, et al. Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Columbia Pictures Corp. Presents, 1964.

Dr. Stangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

A comedy about nuclear annihilation. It is fantastic. The way the film fully mocks the ultimate horror, blaming incompetency and man’s capacity for selfish retaliation, creates this numb laugh. The world hasn’t fully sorted itself out post the release of this film, so the humour comes a nihilistic as it gets. For me, it is so freeing.

I want to work with this concept so badly. Playing with the personified leaders of the two largest superpowers at the time as they bicker and spat, completely contrasting the stakes of Armageddon, would be a fantastic as a free choice. The juxtaposition of trivial  bureaucracy to border-less death just speaks to me.

May/June

First, inspiration came from a very unlikely source these past few months. A cartoon about an alcoholic horse. Who used to be a sitcom star.

Bojack Horseman is created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

I just eat it up. It is depressing, nihilistic, and honestly difficult to watch at times. But the glimmer of hope lying at the bottom of a third bottle of vodka with horse tranquilizers mixed in is worth it. It is a beautiful deconstruction of millennial culture and controversy, not afraid to gets its hands into addiction, abuse, and all-around-sadness. It has influenced my writing simply by its quality, but also its topics. My most recent piece, Starlet, was based of the character of Sarah Lynn. She is clear parody of tragic child stars, now in her thirties, faded and consistently high. The few lucid moments she has where she can reflect on her upbringing or current state, are heartbreaking. She is a woman ruined by the industry that raised her. As someone who grew up around tabloid drama, it is so hard to watch the reality of being a “Linsdey Lohan” or “Britney Spears”. These people are human. Or horses.

Another inspiration, an old favourite, is the Fallout series.

Fallout is created by Bethsda

How the 50’s envisioned the future, and then how they envisioned the end of the future. This series of games comes from an alternate timeline that splits in the 1950’s, and then proceeds to nuke itself almost out of existence. Note the almost. Honestly, I love this series because of the jumping off point for stories that can come from it. Anddddd I’m a sucker for juxtaposition; idealistic 50’s values layer atop an irradiated wasteland.  I would love to write stories within this universe as a writing exercise. This also inspires me to play with alternate history, which I also adore. (see Watchmen).

 

Gif: author unknown. “B&W Aesthetic.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.ca/pin/773493304722975339/.

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