MY BUSINESS FAILED IN THREE WEEKS at...
NGOX Benefit
GABE'S OASIS
THURSDAY, APRIL 1st
9:30pm
w/ Genital Hercules, Jack O'Wilder & the Serrated Blades, and Public Property
(suggested donation)


Indulge me...

I was thinking last night about all the stuff I've written and two things occurred to me:


1) I've never written a hero or villain.
And I don't mean heroes in the bullet-proof, save-the-day sense or villains in the hand-wringing, cackling sense. This also includes heroes who actively "fix the problem" and villains who purposefully "cause problems." For the characters in my work who come closest to "hero" status, they are too flawed to do anything just or fair. And for those characters who are closest to "villain" status, they are basically doing things out of their own attempt to be satisfied with life. They got their own reasons and aren't intentionally trying to screw things up for people, so they can't be blamed for their actions.

This probably has something to do with the fact that I get really bored with plays/movies where there's no moral ambiguity. That's not to say my work itself isn't "moral." It is moral - almost to a fault sometimes. But how interesting is a "morality play" when there's no grey areas? I ask you this.


2) I've never written a "conventional" boy-girl heterosexual relationship.

First off, I rarely feature characters who are dating each other - or even mutually "crushing" on each other for that matter. Most of my "relationships" are either familial or friends. And if in the rare opportunity you are dating or are married, it is either statuary rape ("Prom") or hidden homosexuality ("Thick"), respectively. Furthermore, sex never exists between two characters in my work. If it did, it was long ago and not within the current world of the play/movie. And no "hooking up" will occur within my work either. Characters are either enamored (and intentionally oblivious to it) or completely ignored.

Why? Because writing about "the way boys and girls meet and love and break up" is quite possibly the most boring thing for me to write. Seriously. If you ever catch me writing about how nutty the young people's dating world is, then... Jesus. God. Stop me. Please.


I should note, however, that this does not make me "better than you." I'm not "above it all." These are my own personal-writing hang-ups and they certainly do not reflect my own viewing habits and tastes in other works. Obviously, some of the most satisfying stuff I've ever seen has clear-cut villains ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit") or predominantly features heterosexual courting ("Manhattan"/"Punch-Drunk Love").

But then again... in my favorite movie "ET"... the love is between a boy and his alien and the guy you think is a villain just turns out to be a compassionate patriarchal figure.

So go figure.