David Mack's Kabuki Message Board
Moderated by NohTV.com creator Ron Wm McElman

View Thread | Post Response | Return to Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg

Totally relate to this! Thanks for the insight!

Posted By: MACK!
Date: THU, 5/31/01, 6:09 p.m.

In Response To: Characters in happy times (Clay Speris)

: The violence and the loss is such a downer in your
: stories.
: I wish you could hide these from us and just make more
: gentle everyday stories with wonderful beautiful
: characters creating wonderful beautiful things and
: getting off on each other and each others loves and
: lives.
: Do you have any personal motivation for showing the
: violence? Do we need to know? Why can't they just talk
: about the bad times...play down all the
: retribution/killings and destruction of human life by
: human life.
: There's too much of this in the world...show them all how
: much better it can be..
: You have an audience...they can spread the message...lets
: get creating and talking and spreading the word...

Hi Clay,

Thanks for speaking up. I totally understand where you are coming from. I pretty much designed Kabuki as a direct outlet for my own life situations and I suppose the book changes drastically as it documents Kabuki's (and mine) growth in the different eras of her life. I was in a diffent place when I wrote the earlier stories. I was like 19 or 20 years old. And I suppose some of the violence in the book reflects my own stuggles in life. THough I can't stand to see it now. And i think Kabuki would feel the same way. Now, I am very much at the stage that Kabuki is in her interaction with Akemi. The inner decisions and peace, reflect in your outward environment. I've included below, my response to your earlier post which goes into this further. In case you missed it below. Let me know what you think.

I wish Kabuki was free from all the violence...just the
: stories in scarab and skin deep where they're in the
: flat, sketching each other and checking out each
: others comics...I like those bits best of all...

I totally relate to this. Those friend ship scenes are my favorite scenes in the book as well. I love the scenes when characters are relating
to each other, teaching each other and helping each other evolve emotionally. THe tigerlily/Scarab scenes. And especially the
Kabuki/Akemi scenes. Akemi is the first character to accept Kabuki unconditionally. SHe is the catalyst that helps Kabuki evolve and
grow and accept herself. She teaches Kabuki that the change in her world, her identity, and her reality start from the inside. ANd then her
outward envirenment will reflect that change.

When I was doing these issues with Akemi and Kabuki I really felt like I was reaching a great change in the character that would mark the
direction of future books. ANd I was getting a lot of mail from people who really were able to be inspired from these issues and have it
help thier own life and outlook. I really appreciated that. I felt like the Kabuki issues were helping these many readers, in the same way
that Akemi's notes were helping Kabuki to actualize her self and choose what kind of life and reality that she wanted, in order to
transcend the one that she had found herself in.

It was very rewarding to be in the part of the story that was inspiring and uplifting so many people. In contrast, when I went back to read
some of the earlier books (Circle of Blood, Masks of the Noh) I was quite disturbed by some of the early violent scenes. I realized that the
Kabuki stories were reflecting my own inner growth. Without too much self analysis, perhaps those earlier tumutuous scenes in Circle of
Blood were my way of dealing with situations in my life at that time in my life. Circle of blood reflects a certain need to bring out an
internal order from an external chaos and stress. Parts of it are difficult for me to look at now. The violent parts especially. I'm just not in
that place anymore. And I think that Kabuki would feel the same way.

In Metamorphosis (1-9) she makes an inner change. And her environment changed as well. She left that violence behind. She left that life
behind to grow the person that Akemi helped her relize that she is.
Hopefully in context, these books show that it is not where you came from, not what you start with, but where you decide to go, and what
you decide to do with it.

Akemi showed Kabuki (as hopefully these books show thier readers) that every choice should be creative and constructive rather that
destructive. THese books, from Circle of Blood to Metamorposis document Kabuki's transition from a product of her immediate
environment to a self actualized adult. And I suppose they document my maturation in that very same way.

So while those early violent scenes disturbe me probably even more than they do you, I hope that in context of the entire story, they will
point to the contrast involved in this self actualized process of positive evolution.

Password:

Messages In This Thread

NEW: Hide the Violence from us!!! *NT* -- Clay Speris -- THU, 5/31/01, 1:25 p.m.
NEW: Characters in happy times -- Clay Speris -- THU, 5/31/01, 1:31 p.m.
NEW: hiding leads to hitting -- Dustin Parker -- THU, 5/31/01, 5:09 p.m.
NEW: Totally relate to this! Thanks for the insight! -- MACK! -- THU, 5/31/01, 6:09 p.m.
NEW: suffering -- Dustin Parker -- THU, 5/31/01, 7:17 p.m.
NEW: Hi Dustin -- MACK! -- THU, 5/31/01, 11:31 p.m.
NEW: Re: suffering -- jrt -- FRI, 6/1/01, 1:12 a.m.
View Thread | Post Response | Return to Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg


© 2000 - David Mack / World Famous Comics
Administrated by boardmaster@wfcomics.com