Possibly Emo Babbling
Jul. 31st, 2012 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThis is a rant-but-not-really type-thing that occasionally bugs me and I want to get out, and yet sounds really stupid every time I try to put it out there. It's basically me worrying about how I write Alice and how "Finding You" and, particularly, "Forgetting You" are going to change her canon. So here, I'll slap this behind a cut, and if you want to read it, feel free.
Sometimes I worry that my love of Victor/Alice somehow lessens Alice as a character.
I mean, Alice Liddell as American McGee and his team have reimagined her is a pretty complex girl. She's gone through a lot – from a happy (and most likely privileged – according to the storybook, Arthur Liddell is still a Dean at Oxford, and that probably paid decently well) home life, to an asylum, to living in poverty in London's East End. She's had to deal with losing her family, fighting her way through her own mind (and watching her friends there die), trying to adapt to a society that now considers her a lesser person for her experiences, and then having to fight her way through her mind AGAIN as she discovers someone she trusted is in fact a complete monster. She's snarky, even to people she cares about, and isn't particularly afraid to speak her mind. She has a fiery temper, but other times comes off as aloof (or trying to be, at least). She's vulnerable, but she doesn't particularly like showing it. And she can be both very selfish and very compassionate. Hell, that last dichotomy is what drives one of the themes of the second game: Alice has to learn that while she has indeed suffered quite a bit, she's far from the only one who's hurting.
In fact, looking at it now, the plot of the second game shows that The Fire, the defining event of Alice's life, had a lot less to do with her than she thought. AMA is largely about Alice dealing with survivor's guilt. The Jabberwock pretty much puts her at fault for the deaths of her family. And we get a brief red herring as to that in A:MR, with the second Door Memory and Alice's thought about the possibly-not-dead log. (Weird thought -- we already have one minor memory that's almost certainly a fake -- Alice's mother crying out for Alice to save them and not abandon them, which Alice finds on a side path in Queensland. I'm starting to wonder. . .did Bumby try to plant the "log" idea to make Alice feel guilty and want to forget even MORE?) However, getting all the memories reveals that:
1. Alice is not responsible for the fire, nor was her beloved cat -- Bumby was (granted, him seeing her awake might have had something to do with his decision, but we don't know that for certain)
2. The culprit was initially after her sister
3. The spread of the fire could be largely attributed to her father (seriously -- Arthur's the one who got the gas laid on, which Radcliffe later states caused the fire to spread disastrously, and stored his flammable photography equipment in the library. Alice's mum even jokes that they'll burn thanks to Arthur's devotion to paper in one memory)
So yeah -- the primary source of pain in her life was barely about her (at least, until she survived and Bumby realized he might have to get his hands on her). And as she realizes in the game, Bumby's victimized a lot more people than just her and her family. Her growth in "Madness Returns" is all about learning the truth and looking for vengeance more for others than for herself -- specifically, her family and the abused children.
And then I come along and throw Victor into the mix.
Now, I just love Victor/Alice. I think they go well together. I just worry sometimes that I'm making Alice's mental journeys all about Victor, rather than about everyone. That I’m falling into the trap that Alice has to do this all for her “man.” That’s not my intention at all. Victor’s supposed to just be an addition to her quest – an extra person to seek revenge for. I’ve always imagined the romance of “Forgetting You” to be a subplot in “Madness Returns” – something to help sweeten Alice’s happy ending. I don’t necessarily believe that the Alice of A:MR needs to pair up with anybody (a couple of my favorite fics on FF.net have Alice spending her life as the solitary owner of an orphanage, and feeling quite satisfied with that). And I’m definitely not trying to pretend all her problems end when she gets love – there’s all sorts of problems that need to be addressed, like finding a place to live, figuring out a source of money, dealing with the in-laws. . .and of course, by the end of “Forgetting You,” both Alice and Victor have gone through a hell of a lot mentally. I don’t want to suggest that Alice is doing all of what she does for Victor, nor do I want to say getting him makes everything magically better.
What I want to do with Victor/Alice is show what I think is a good match between the two. When Alice pairs up with Victor, it’s because she loves him – he’s gentle, sweet, polite, and can make her laugh. And they have interests in common – she likes butterflies as much as he does, and they’ve both got a talent for art. I also think of it as helping to show that she’s gotten over her aloofness a bit – that she’s willing to let someone in. He’s the sort of guy she can actually see herself marrying, not just someone presented to her like a prize. And as for his memories in Wonderland, and his role in the final confrontation against Bumby – he’s sort of a symbol of all Alice stands to lose. Not only someone who genuinely loves and cares for her, but her personality and free will. Not to mention I think it’s in-character for Alice to get fiercely protective of whatever makes her happy these days. She’s lost everything else to Bumby – he will not get Victor on top of everything else.
Argh, I keep feeling like I’m contradicting myself here. And going in five million different directions besides. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t want to make Alice’s character growth all about Victor. Nor do I want Victor to be some sort of magical cure-all for her. She’s a strong, independent woman – she can stand on her own two feet. I just think she and Victor work well together as a couple.
Sometimes I worry that my love of Victor/Alice somehow lessens Alice as a character.
I mean, Alice Liddell as American McGee and his team have reimagined her is a pretty complex girl. She's gone through a lot – from a happy (and most likely privileged – according to the storybook, Arthur Liddell is still a Dean at Oxford, and that probably paid decently well) home life, to an asylum, to living in poverty in London's East End. She's had to deal with losing her family, fighting her way through her own mind (and watching her friends there die), trying to adapt to a society that now considers her a lesser person for her experiences, and then having to fight her way through her mind AGAIN as she discovers someone she trusted is in fact a complete monster. She's snarky, even to people she cares about, and isn't particularly afraid to speak her mind. She has a fiery temper, but other times comes off as aloof (or trying to be, at least). She's vulnerable, but she doesn't particularly like showing it. And she can be both very selfish and very compassionate. Hell, that last dichotomy is what drives one of the themes of the second game: Alice has to learn that while she has indeed suffered quite a bit, she's far from the only one who's hurting.
In fact, looking at it now, the plot of the second game shows that The Fire, the defining event of Alice's life, had a lot less to do with her than she thought. AMA is largely about Alice dealing with survivor's guilt. The Jabberwock pretty much puts her at fault for the deaths of her family. And we get a brief red herring as to that in A:MR, with the second Door Memory and Alice's thought about the possibly-not-dead log. (Weird thought -- we already have one minor memory that's almost certainly a fake -- Alice's mother crying out for Alice to save them and not abandon them, which Alice finds on a side path in Queensland. I'm starting to wonder. . .did Bumby try to plant the "log" idea to make Alice feel guilty and want to forget even MORE?) However, getting all the memories reveals that:
1. Alice is not responsible for the fire, nor was her beloved cat -- Bumby was (granted, him seeing her awake might have had something to do with his decision, but we don't know that for certain)
2. The culprit was initially after her sister
3. The spread of the fire could be largely attributed to her father (seriously -- Arthur's the one who got the gas laid on, which Radcliffe later states caused the fire to spread disastrously, and stored his flammable photography equipment in the library. Alice's mum even jokes that they'll burn thanks to Arthur's devotion to paper in one memory)
So yeah -- the primary source of pain in her life was barely about her (at least, until she survived and Bumby realized he might have to get his hands on her). And as she realizes in the game, Bumby's victimized a lot more people than just her and her family. Her growth in "Madness Returns" is all about learning the truth and looking for vengeance more for others than for herself -- specifically, her family and the abused children.
And then I come along and throw Victor into the mix.
Now, I just love Victor/Alice. I think they go well together. I just worry sometimes that I'm making Alice's mental journeys all about Victor, rather than about everyone. That I’m falling into the trap that Alice has to do this all for her “man.” That’s not my intention at all. Victor’s supposed to just be an addition to her quest – an extra person to seek revenge for. I’ve always imagined the romance of “Forgetting You” to be a subplot in “Madness Returns” – something to help sweeten Alice’s happy ending. I don’t necessarily believe that the Alice of A:MR needs to pair up with anybody (a couple of my favorite fics on FF.net have Alice spending her life as the solitary owner of an orphanage, and feeling quite satisfied with that). And I’m definitely not trying to pretend all her problems end when she gets love – there’s all sorts of problems that need to be addressed, like finding a place to live, figuring out a source of money, dealing with the in-laws. . .and of course, by the end of “Forgetting You,” both Alice and Victor have gone through a hell of a lot mentally. I don’t want to suggest that Alice is doing all of what she does for Victor, nor do I want to say getting him makes everything magically better.
What I want to do with Victor/Alice is show what I think is a good match between the two. When Alice pairs up with Victor, it’s because she loves him – he’s gentle, sweet, polite, and can make her laugh. And they have interests in common – she likes butterflies as much as he does, and they’ve both got a talent for art. I also think of it as helping to show that she’s gotten over her aloofness a bit – that she’s willing to let someone in. He’s the sort of guy she can actually see herself marrying, not just someone presented to her like a prize. And as for his memories in Wonderland, and his role in the final confrontation against Bumby – he’s sort of a symbol of all Alice stands to lose. Not only someone who genuinely loves and cares for her, but her personality and free will. Not to mention I think it’s in-character for Alice to get fiercely protective of whatever makes her happy these days. She’s lost everything else to Bumby – he will not get Victor on top of everything else.
Argh, I keep feeling like I’m contradicting myself here. And going in five million different directions besides. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t want to make Alice’s character growth all about Victor. Nor do I want Victor to be some sort of magical cure-all for her. She’s a strong, independent woman – she can stand on her own two feet. I just think she and Victor work well together as a couple.
