Cait and I were having a conversation the other day about the movie trope where a female character is made clumsy to make her “relatable.” It’s like a character is written to be cool, exciting, desirable, and whatever other qualities the story needs, but then the creators realize that they need the main character to have flaws. But if they give them real flaws, the audience might not get on board, so what flaw can they be given that will come off as relatable and funny instead of giving them an actually negative trait? It’s usually that they’re clumsy, and they do some prat falls that make them seem cute and funny. It’s the character development equivalent of lying about your weaknesses being “working too hard” or “caring too much” in a job interview.
That made me think about Sara, who isn’t clumsy so much as she is the victim of physical comedy because she doesn’t understand what in her environment is dangerous. I knew from the start of writing the comic that Sara was going to get a lot of physical comedy, but the goal wasn’t relatability. She was the best choice to fulfill a comedic role. If this were a Hollywood romcom, Bridget would be the one doing pratfalls, but they wouldn’t be allowed to be nearly as cartoonish or (occasionally) grotesque. Which would suck, because I think the physical comedy in Hell, Inc. works BECAUSE it’s overstated like that.
Shane Lees is Employee of the Week! He has a webcomic, Tales of Abuse, which you can check out at his website. He’s also getting a copy of Hockeypocalypse: Slashers in the mail in the near future by supporting at the $5/month and up level! A new book will be starting up on there once my living room no longer looks like a Canada Post. You should check out the Hell, Inc. Patreon, which will be where you can check out the next book, and is also my predictable form of income.
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