So I was thinking about how much more I might have gotten out of a lesson that involved fictional characters I actually cared about and that sparked an idea for a lesson on how demographic characteristics shape the options people are presented with in life and the choices that they are likely to make given those options. What I would do is allow students to pick any work of fiction they were familiar with, as long as at least one classmate was also familiar with the piece (and they could be movies, TV or books, or even very involved video games for all I care, though the character picked has to have a very developed 'canon' backstory, and no religious texts so as to avoid letting the subject get THAT potentially explosive) so that their peer can help verify their interpretation (especially for pieces that I am unfamiliar with). They are then to describe the character's background demographics and explain how that interplayed with a major choice/decision/pivotal interaction in the story. Then they are to give examples of how the options the character was presented with may have been different if single background details (of the student's choice) were changed. Then if several were changed but they still had the original plot option presented, how may they have reacted differently?
Now describe yourself the same way, pick a pivotal moment in your own life, and analyze how your background set you up to be presented with that option. How might you have reacted differently if a few of your own background variables were changed? What background characteristics in your life made the option even possible? How many of your background traits do you think you could change and still have the option presented at all?
This is a 'game' I play with myself (and fiction characters I care about - this is why I write and enjoy Harry Potter fanfiction so much!) and feel free to try it yourself. I'd love to read what you come up with even if you don't consider yourself a social scientist.
2 comments:
I do that while WRITING. For instance in my current novel the main two characters have all the major catalysts in their lives mapped out, and how "if such-and-such hadn't happened, the rest of the story wouldn't have," or in one instance, "the same thing would have happened even if this catalyst wasn't there."
But I have a distinct advantage here, namely, omniscience. I might think about doing this for something like Earth's Children (which has such mind-bogglingly intricate characterization it practically does the work for you) or maybe Skulduggery Pleasant (which is much more opaque).
Yup, I do the same thing with my writing, even fanfiction. That's part of what made writing up that idea so easy - practice. I think it's also part of the reason I couldn't get nearly as into Twilight (even with the "oh my god if she was any more trusting she'd be reaching out to hug an oncoming truck that looked sad" behavior of the main character as a stumbling block - the last book of the four is the only one I really enjoyed, one of the few times I really did like the movie better than the book - Practical Magic is the only other instance that comes to mind - but I read all four because it's written first-person which is a writing style I'm attempting and struggling at in my novel).
JK Rowling seems to have used this technique too, I think. There's so much "Y couldn't have happened if it weren't for Y" intricacy to her writing, it's why I love it so much I think.
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