Imagine you have just begun watching Game of Thrones (popularly abbreviated as GoT)! You are in awe of the characterization, the visualization, the gore and all that made a book into a global phenomenon. Cut to, a few seasons later, you are watching the finale and all the momentum it built, all the characters that were to arc, suddenly begin to nosedive into a suicidal finale. Well, that’s what bad writing can do! Today, people feel quite embarrassed to have even watched the series end the way it did. This article talks about how writing is the most crucial part of storytelling, be it for a series, a movie or advertising. Well, advertising also deserves good storytellers and every brand deserves to become a pop culture.
Pop Culture Writing
One cannot simply use a meme and think of themselves as a pop culture specialist. As the renowned award-winning author, publisher and cultural critic, Roxane Gay said, you need to read the greats to even understand what pop culture means. If you aren’t a reader, then you need to be a binge-watcher or a movie buff to understand how one pop culture entered the culture and another exited.
Though the Game of Thrones finale was one of the greatest disappointments, the series wasn’t the only one. It followed the likes of Two And A Half Men wherein the show was great until Charlie Sheen played the protagonist. It was loved by almost everyone. Suddenly, when Ashton Kutcher was introduced to cover up for the BTS imagery damage caused by Charlie Sheen, the show, quite literally, lost its ‘sheen’.
SPOILER ALERT
Considering all the finale fiascos, How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) and Dexter too didn’t quite live up to the expectations of their audience. While HIMYM completely lost the plot, in the end, Dexter left everyone questioning the whole purpose and whether the protagonist really deserved it. We haven’t even begun with the series – Lost! It literally lived up to its name and we all were LOST in the end about the whole time travel and unnecessary plot twists. Add The Mentalist to the list of finale fiascos and it was unlikely the most terrible and predictable storyline one could have guessed. Nobody even feels hungry about watching The Hunger Games anymore.
All this signifies how audience expectations go up every time someone makes a great pilot season. The effect of bad writing does more than just drive the series out of pop culture.
The Descent of a Pop Culture
While there are still people who worship Frodo as their Adventure God, there are those who want to forget they even loved GoT. They regret buying the fibre-model Iron Throne collectible or even wearing the t-shirt that said “Crows Before Hoes”. The descent of pop culture gets visible when they slowly fade away from the merchandise, from the homes, from daily conversations and from our minds eventually.
As a writer, it is important to understand a few things when it comes to writing pop culture:
- Embrace your perspective: It is completely okay if you haven’t watched the Dragonballz movie, even if you were an avid fan of Goku. As a writer, you do not have to please the critics. Pop culture critiquing is a thing and it shouldn’t stop you from voicing your POV. If your perspective says that not everything needs to be Americanized, stick to it.
- Learn to approach criticism, creatively: There are times when being an Otaku (people who love anime, manga, video games or computers) feels like a curse in certain parts of the world. Well, so be it! Nobody can recreate the magic of Death Note. If you are someone who has tried and failed, it’s not the end of the world. Even Sorcerer Supreme lost his sling ring in a Mirror Dimension to a teenager kid who was better at maths, but the Doctor found his way back.
- Find an entry portal: Well, now that you have watched so many fantasy movies and series, you even see them in your dreams. Writing pop culture should never become a hindrance. Relate the fictional characters in your fictional story to real characters in real life. Rest will tend to fall in its rightful place.
- Look at the bigger picture: As you are consuming data on a daily basis, you need to broaden your vision and look at aspects more than just from an entertainer’s angle. As a writer, when you include the socio-economical, socio-political and cultural views by being a part of every conversation. You can see the efforts put in Ms. Marvel to see how well the MCU wants to feel at home with Indians.
These are just some of the points highlighted by Roxane Gay about how one can be a good pop culture writer. At 3 Dots Design Pvt. Ltd., we believe that good storytelling is the key to any form of communication. Being one of the best ad agencies in Pune, our team of best content writers, graphic designers, creative and digital strategists and brand managers, we believe to possess the superpower to bring brands to life. If you wish to know more about who we are or what we do, please visit www.3dotsdesign.in or get in touch with us at contact@3dotsdesign.in