Who likes watching The Office? I really like watching The Office. Admittedly, this last season has been a bit of a let-down, but it sits next to 30 Rock as being one of my favourite comedies around.
For those who don’t watch it obsessively, let me fill you in: it’s about a boring office that does uninspiring sales work. It’s led by a boss named Michael Scott.
Michael Scott is a catastrophically incompetent manager, in that he is silly, rambunctious, takes everything personally, falls in love with employees, and never seems to do any work. But also, he’s weirdly personable, and for this reason manages to make incredible sales, and for this reason is necessary to the company. So, he definitely has redeeming qualities, but is seen in the office as a loose cannon and an inept dork.
Throughout the series, he gets involved with several women. And here’s the thing: they’re all hot and successful. None of these relationships go very well, but it’s undeniable: Michael is attractive to hot, successful women. And furthermore, when he’s in a relationship, he proves himself to be loyal and interested in solving people’s problems – traits that caused him problems in the office, but that make him shine in these new circumstances.
In the office, Michael is a circus-gone-haywire. In the dating world, however, he’s got this allure. And when his friends need him, he’s there. So, here’s what I’ve remembered, while watching The Office: divorced from context and circumstance, characters become radically different. And here’s what else I’ve remembered: characters contain multitudes.
Michael is made interesting by his contradictions – that he could be so bad a manager, and still have the most effective branch in the company; that he could be so annoying, and yet attract such fine ladies. His refusing to let things go is a fault in the office, but translates to loyalty and attentiveness in relationships. Michael contains multitudes. His contradictions make him more interesting. That he is a different person in different contexts is what makes him feel human.
Too often, in my writing and in story games that I play, I am concerned with communicating the singular essence of a character, the fundamental truth of their personality. That’s a failing. It’d be like trying to sustain life by only breathing in, and never out. Whatever time I spend building up that image of a character, I should spend time undermining it in turn. In the end, I should be looking at a character as variable and contradictory as myself, or someone I love and live with.
Which brings me to Misery Bubblegum, a game by Tony Lower-Bausch. It’s a roleplaying game that uses special cards. You create a character by “clicking” together two cards that you’re dealt at random, like Roguish Hustler or Vain Dreamer. The game plays out in 60-90 minutes, telling the story of some anime high school drama. It’s fast and fun!
The best part is Tony’s advice for playing multiple episodes. Keep the same characters, but deal the cards randomly again. So, Mitso might be a Roguish Hustler in the first episode, and a Cowardly Champion in the next. That’s fine! that’s more than fine, that’s amazing! Characters contain multitudes, remember? Mitso was a cocky play-by-his-own-rules dude, but now that people are looking up to him, he’s shirking his duties and looking for a way out.
Misery Bubblegum does something mid-episode that brings home this concept as well. Things happen through the playing of cards. These cards include: Afraid, Need For: Love, Lonely, Brave, etc. Emotionally charged things that imply a lot about your character. And you draw them at random, and are expected to say these things about your character if you want to win conflicts.
And when Tony first explained the idea to me, I was a little leery. So, just because I draw an Afraid card, I need to have my character be afraid? In play, though, it shone. Because every character had moments of fear, moments of bravery, moments of love and moments of loneliness. And when those things contradicted one another, they only served to make the character more interesting. These simple characters became rich.
I’ve started re-watching Buffy. Any guesses what makes it such an awesome show?
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