Commentary.
For my
Fan-fic I have chosen to blend elements from two of the texts we studied in
Pop-genres, Tintin and The Man in the High Castle. It is set in New Zealand in
the 60’s after Germany and Japan won the war with the Japanese now occupying
New Zealand. The main character, He, is Tintin some years after he appears in
Herge’s comics though older, more weary and battle-hardened from his role in
the war. Tintin or He has lived in New Zealand under an alias (Tedrik Kroos) for
a few years under assignment from the Nazis, though as we know Tintin is
Belgian, not German, and there are events in the past I have not mentioned that
allude to the fact that He is not sympathetic to the Nazis but is forced to do
their bidding; these past events also include Maria and is the basis for their
relationship, which again, I have not laid out the exact nature of their
relationship only that there is a history between them.
My work
takes the form of an introduction or a ‘part one’ of a larger tale and as such
I have only included select components of Vogler’s (1998) mythic structure and
character archetypes.
Act 1 of Vogler’s (1998) mythic
structure ‘establishes the characters, setting and basic action of the story
and sets up the transition to act 2.’ I believe my Fan-fic does this as I have
set the scene in downtown Auckland city and introduced Him(Tintin), Maria and
the mysterious Japanese man. The nature of the relationship between He(Tintin)
and Maria is the central concern of the work and I have left this deliberately
vague, as this is only part one. Then comes a “Catalysis” which, “precipitates
the first turning point” (Vogler. 1998) when He visits the post office and
finds His package is gone and meets the stranger outside. Then with the strange
plastic cards they have been given as well as the appearance of the mysterious
envoy at His apartment declaring “no coincidence”, I think, is an effective
turning point and sets up act 2.
I have chosen three of Vogler’s
(1998) character archetypes to include and analyse in my Fan-fic. He(Tintin) is
the Hero of this work, He is a unique character in the world of the novel (in
context of established setting) and in the mind of the reader as He is a
somewhat familiar character who has morphed over time. He has character flaws;
has killed in the past, suffers at times from PTSD type symptoms, visits
prostitutes and lives the life of a loner. He also lives in service of Maria,
to whom he gives all his money.
Maria-Clara Goncalves-Arias is the Shapeshifter,
a femme fatale of sorts. Her actions mislead Him at times and guide Him at
others and are a source of suspense in the story, like when her name appears on
the note at the post-office. She also, as Vogler (1998) says, ‘wears many
masks’, living under an alias (Clare Gibson), outwardly she works as a prostitute,
but this is not her true self, not the one He knows (but the reader does not).
The third character archetype is
the Herald (Vogler, 1998), in the form of the mysterious multi-lingual Japanese
man. The Herald (Vogler, 1998) issues a challenge or provides an influence over
the Hero. This he does by using Maria to take the package containing His(Tintin)
money or by subtly mentioning that he knows His true identity, when speaking in
French about ‘le Boches’. The call to act comes at the very end as he appears
and says that their meeting together is planned and that they have met before,
with the reader left to assume that he would go on to clarify exactly why these
events had to take place to bring them together and what will happen from
there.
. . .
He woke suddenly but was slow to rise. A crack of day light
through the tawdry curtains pierced the darkened room. Memories of the night
before were foggy though He knew as-per their arrangement, He had to pay Maria
upfront before getting into bed, His empty wallet was evidence enough.
“At least all she took was the
money,” He mumbled aloud to himself, searching for His belongings flung about
the room. The money was no problem, the stipend from the Reich’s office would
arrive today.
Stumbling slightly as He put His feet into the heavy boots, He
stepped out into the busy alley to be greeted by Axel. Loyal as any dog could
be, though impetuous, Axel had saved Him from more trouble than he ultimately
caused. Not nearly as inconspicuous as a small white terrier, the Alsatian was invaluable
and He had grown quite fond of him.
“C’mon
boy!” and Axel was at His side. As His eyes and ears adapted to the new day He
felt a pang of hunger. The first steps towards His favourite eatery were
tentative as a pain behind His eyes grew steadily with every footfall.
A last vestige of traditional Chinese culture here, Happy
Fortune Café was already emptying as the breakfast rush ended and busy faces
rushed off to begin their days work.
He didn’t have to work today, He hadn’t in many months,
though making his feelings known to His superiors was not wise nor in His
nature. Besides He was being paid handsomely for what was effectively leisure
time.
“Ah Mr.
Tedrik, good to see you again,” beckoned Xi, he spoke clear English, probably
second-generation, though his accent was clunky due to his native inflection.
He didn’t respond until prompted a second time. ‘Strange,’ He
thought, ‘one doesn’t quite get used to living under these pretences even after
so long.’
“Morning
Xi, I could kill for some of your special tea, nothing fixes my hangover quite
like it.”
“No
need to kill today sir, I fetch it for you right now.” Throwing up his hands in
mock fright.
Your right, probably not today, He thought to himself with a
shiver of doubt. He hoped it would prove prophetic.
He always enjoyed his short dealings with Xi, so jovial and
polite he was. And so naïve. Though people tended to be polite towards someone
with such an undeniably Aryan appearance, and when they fed Axel their scraps
he could only be friendly and genial in return.
As Xi was carrying out the steaming pot, He dropped His hand
down, it brushed His wallet in His right pocket.
“I’m
terribly sorry Xi, I appear to have misplaced my money,” knowing perfectly well
it was being added to Maria’s retirement fund as she so called it.
“It’s
ok Mr. Tedrik, you come so often, we know you so well. You can pay next time.”
“I will have it for you by 6pm, I
promise.” Relieved, He drank the tea. He considered pushing Xi’s generosity as
far as a meal but decided against it.
Feeling much better though still hungry, He and Axel headed
from K road to the centre of Auckland City to collect his monthly stipend. He
walked this way often and today, with the sun warming His face, relished the
opportunity. The harbour in the distance, colourful signs with bright
characters had begun to dominate the buildings and shopfronts more
progressively in recent years, but He didn’t mind the visual stimulus; though
at times when His state weakened all the colours and faces of people would
become too much bearing down on Him, spiralling and morphing into something
horrible.
He stared at the ground for a moment, saw Axel and gave him
a pat; and these thoughts were quickly forgotten when He looked up saw her
being led into the foyer of a large building. Walking urgently across one
street, then another, cursing the vehicles that had to go by. When He reached
the glass fronted building he caught a glimpse of her dark hair as she stepped into
the elevator. He panicked and began to walk inside but seeing his unwashed face
and hair reflecting in the glass door, He thought of what they had said to each
other and of the previous night. He breathed in and sighed, chest sinking
through the concrete footpath and down beyond any hope of recovery, as being in
her world made him feel many times before. Maria.
. . .
“Would you mind shifting there
mate?” A man dressed in a suit with a thick local accent was standing behind
him now, waiting to enter the building. “It’s just that I’m late for a meeting
and you know those Japs are always on time.”
“Pardon
me Sir.” Cognitive faculties recovered, He thought it best to continue and
collect his money. Walking once more, His stomach groaned, but she continued to
occupy his thoughts. As the road began to flatten He felt exhausted and
unsteady on His feet, Axel peered upwards.
With the post office in sight the pair walked purposefully
past three people crouched around a man who had seemingly fallen ill and looked
pale as he sat sprawled against the wall. He hitched Axel’s leash on to a metal
pole outside the building and stepped up the few stairs into the building.
Inside the atmosphere was busy as people queued and chatted while waiting to
collect their items. This distraction turned His mind to thinking how the money
would arrive this time, hidden amongst the pages of books and magazines or
inside the latest electronic gadget from Germany. Whatever story was necessary
to allay suspicions as to its real content, which seemed to be growing more
elaborate with each passing month. Either way He didn’t fancy having to carry
anything too cumbersome back up the steep city street to his apartment.
He feigned a smile approaching the desk, and continued in a
manner befitting a zealous Nazi KdF bureaucrat.
“Greetings
madam. There is a package consigned to me that I need to collect as soon as
possible. Here is any relevant information you may need,” and slid a piece of
paper across the counter. He liked to adopt this persona as it seemed to be the
most effective when dealing with people in this capacity.
The clerk
quickly scanned the document.
“Okay,
I’ll go grab that for you, have you got some ID there too hun, cos I’ll need to
see that as well.”
He flashed her the passport that guaranteed His staying here
in New Zealand, and she turned and went through a door to another room. After
several minutes longer than expected the woman returned with nothing but paper
in hand.
“There
must be some mistake here Mr. Kroos, a woman came here this morning to picked
up your…” she looked down at her files, “…antiques. Came with this.” and handed
Him a sheet folded in half that very plainly stated the He had given permission
to one Maria-Clara Goncalvez-Arias to collect the consignment on this date.
What concerned Him most was scrawled along the bottom, the signature, His.
“Are
you telling me my things are not in this building?” He glared at the clerk now.
“I’m
sorry, the woman left with them at 8:04 this morning. We had no reason to
suspect it was fake”
Mind racing and a confused, rage building, He turned and
walked away without another word. The sun outside continued to beat down and
defy his tumultuous mood. Sitting next to Axel on the steps to the post office
He began to deduce a cause for His predicament.
Why would she take this from Him, money? He already gave her
any money that was surplus to requirement. And as far as He knew she did well
for herself.
She couldn’t do this to Him, she had said she loved Him.
Perhaps she was coerced, but by whom, still not a great alternative, but that
might explain how she came to possess the elaborate forgery with His signature,
somebody either very skilled or well resourced.
He dropped His head, with hands covering His eyes He didn’t
see the man stop and take a side-long look at Axel.
“He is an impressive specimen;
does he belong to you?” The deep voice was measured and smooth, faintly
Japanese but buried under years of speaking in other tongues.
“Yar, Axel is mine.” He looked up
to see who the voice belonged to. He was dressed in a grey suit with a hat,
with glasses and He could see a thick moustache, but the strange man’s features
were hidden mostly by the glare of the sun behind him.
“German Shepard. You don’t see
many like him in this part of the world.”
“Where I am from, he is not so
special.”
The man lent down to pat Axel, who happily obliged. His
features still well disguised behind his hat and glasses. “I do not mean to pry
but you appear to have seen better days my friend?”
He thought now about how He must look to passers-by and His
thoughts struggled to contend with his current predicament and of course Maria.
“It’s nothing, just some confusion between my employer and I.”
“Perhaps if things do not work
out with this employer, I could help you.” For a short moment, this struck him
as strange but was distracted as with a flick of his wrist a business card
appeared in the man’s hand. Before handing it to him he quickly eyed the watch
on his wrist. “Duty calls me elsewhere, so I must go now.”
As these words were spoken a dark car with heavily tinted
windows pulled up behind him. The strange figure handed Him the card and said
as he turned to get into the car. “Au Revoir. Ne laissez pas ces Boches vous descendre.”
. . .
All He could do was sit and stare as the car pulled away
with the mysterious envoy inside. He didn’t believe in coincidence and this day
was getting inexorably more bizarre, not helped when He looked at the card to
see it was blank white plastic. This meeting had to be connected in some way to
Maria and the disappearance of His money. Not only this but the stranger must
also know who He really is, and his comment further puzzled him as it did not
seem the stranger was sympathetic to the Nazis arbitrating His fate.
Unable to discern what He should do next, He began the walk
back uptown to go home. At least there was something to eat there, even if it
consisted of two ingredients, one of which would be bread probably gone stale.
He never suited the domestic life.
At the upper rim of the city He looked back and gazed out to
the harbour and thought of a life on the ocean and if it really was as
uncomplicated as it seemed in His mind. This thought made Him remember the how
He felt just a few hours ago, optimistic; and now it had all changed.
Opening the heavy door from the street he walked up the
flight of stairs to his apartment and put his key in the door, it was unlocked.
He froze, and Axel sensed His uncertainty and growled, recognising their
situation. He drew the Kampfmesser 42 from his ankle and held it ready as He
eased the door open. Axel rushed in as He scanned the immediate area for
anything awry, Axel had run into the kitchen living room area and was barking
so He followed a step behind.
He heard her voice before entering the room, could hear her
shock as Axel gnashed His teeth at her.
“Komm! Fuss!” He barked at Axel
and the dog knew to do as he was told. “Axel, setzen,” and the animal was
placated somewhat.
He put the blade away and faced
Maria now, “What – why are you here? We can’t be seen like this.” He fumbled as
the words formed slowly.
She recovered some composure and
picked up the cigarette she had been smoking before Axel startled her, and took
a long drag, “I don’t know, I didn’t know what to do.” She seemed weary and
spoke through mouthfuls of smoke. “They said I had to collect something from
the post office for them and it turned out to be yours; I couldn’t say no –
they knew about me, about us.”
“Wait, I don’t understand, who
are you talking about?”
“I got a call for an appointment
this morning, sounded like any other guy with money, offered me far more than
usual to meet him as soon as possible, so I agreed. They – He, picked me up
just after 7:30; I thought we were going back to his place but then we stopped
outside the post office and he asked if I could collect something for him and
when I saw the note I said there was some mistake.
“He knew my name, it was right
there on the note he gave me. I said I’m Clare Gibson, born in Australia, but
looking at the note, I know that he knew I was lying.” Maria stubbed out her
cigarette and threw it out the open window
“Then you went back to his office,
didn’t you?” His mind began to tick over as a picture of the day’s events took
shape in his mind
“Yes, but how did-”
He interjected, “I saw you there
this morning, if I’d known why you were there I would have followed you. Then
what happened, he didn’t hurt you did he?”
“No, he offered me breakfast,
then tried to pay me for my time. I refused saying I didn’t want to be involved
in anything, but he said I already was, have been for a while. Then he said I
could leave but we would meet again soon, and gave me this.”
She held out a
plain white-plastic card, identical to the one the stranger had given Him
earlier.
“No coincidence then.” And showed
Maria His.
“No coincidence what so ever” The
pair turned, and Axel let out a vicious bark then stopped as they stood,
stunned. A figure had appeared in the open doorway, a man in a fine grey suit,
holding a hat and glasses with thick, groomed black hair on his head and face.
“And what a pleasure it is for us all to be in the same room together… once
again.”
The end, for now.
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