!"#$%"#&'()# ONCHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Introduction and conclusion by Larissa Roy Introduction Some friends refuse to watch movies with me. I don’t throw popcorn or contribute to the cinemuck latching your shoes to the ground, but I do talk. Not endless refrains of “That’s what she said,” or streams on how this actor was in this movie and is way hotter than this other actor from a di!erent movie. I rant about continuity. Continuity in the events of the movie, continuity in character, continuity of the world the movie has placed itself in, and, what is markedly the most frustrating to those friends, whether or not it is biologically sound. Noting that the EKG machine clearly says “Leads O!”— meaning that the machine is in no way hooked up to the person in question—in the dramatic blare of the "atline. Commenting that landing on the horse’s back from that height should have killed the horse. Watching Moulin Rouge and noting that she sings impossibly well for someone whose lungs are utterly deteriorating from tuberculosis and furthermore that her lover ought to be infected. The climax of the movie, however, does not seem the best moment to enter into a discussion on how soap works on the molecular level, a new trajectory, or the #ne details of digestion. Many science majors know that there are certain audiences that are simply not interested, particularly with the addition of #gures 76 from the anatomy textbook. Friends in other majors wave an invisible !ag, pleading for a subject change. Art and science do not need to be polar sides of campus. Perhaps they can "nd common ground in the goal of attempting to explain and understand this world through metaphor. Science works through metaphor, comparing lungs to balloons and the immune system to a "efdom and a new species of grass to others already known, and art functions through metaphor by becoming more than a representation, by searching for what is meant and unseen. Naturally, the metaphor needs to be brought forward in a particular way (usually by some eccentric instructor), favoring its particular method. Through the gesture of showing applicable examples that can be seen when concepts cannot, an extended metaphor, the original subject can be understood. This project is about taking concepts working at a microscopic level and making them tangible. The central dogma of biology can be simpli"ed to DNA–>RNA–>protein; all tissue and biology built from there make the larger spectrum. We can see the results of genetic change even if the causation, the chain of nucleotides itself, is murky and not instantly accessible. Herein also lies some of our fascination with deviations from the unwritten norm. We stare. We gawk. We slow down to drive by the scene of an accident, involuntarily curious. It’s in our nature, simultaneously needing to "nd an explanation and letting our imaginations wander. Mutants are cool, understanding what “goes right” by evaluating what “went wrong.” We’re further fascinated by the unfortunate souls that embody them. These individuals surely have a di#erent perspective. How does this go back to the movie thing? TV and movies are saturated with some sort of abnormal. Not every movie creature or villain is a human warped by a series of aggregating mutations, but every good villain has a back story where his or her thinking makes sense in a twisted fashion; “I’m just evil” doesn’t really cut it. Often, our “bad guy” has a physical deviation as a 77 re!ection of an inner self (though our heroes and antiheroes are not always left without some sort of mutation, notably the recent slew of superhero movies), but the discussion thereof is circular. Let’s take a look at a few extremes: the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Pyramid Head (of Silent Hill), and the Penguin (from Batman). All of these are distinctly humanoid, recognizable as basically human. If we take these "ctional characters and accept they could exist in this world, they can be further evaluated in accordance with our reality. It can take some creative thinking, fusing imagined origins with scienti"c facts, though by accepting some of the rules established in their own world and suspending disbelief, the mysterious monstrosity becomes real in a di#erent sense. In turn, they are all the more pitiable because of it, each an example of what extremes a lack of acceptance has led them; they are human after all, pitted against selective pressures. I present to you a developmental perspective— developmental in terms of from zygote to fetus to child, rather than in terms of character development—of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Pyramid Head, and the Penguin. Their motivations are not the focus here, let alone the cinematography or the quality of acting. Instead, the thoughts represented here are how these individuals could have existed in the "rst place. The gap cinches. That space between our world and a created one is brought that much closer, all under the guise of utilizing new information and creative, critical thinking. The shocking truth: putting too much thought into things can be fun. The Creature from the Black Lagoon a.k.a the “Gill Man” Lavinia Karl The Creature from the Black Lagoon has been shrouded in mystery. Very little background information exists as to his origins or exact appearance, and these reports are prone to 78 exaggeration and inconsistency. Most of the information we have comes from the 1954 movie titled for the creature and reports of similar monsters which may or may not be related. Add the tendency of !lmmakers to modify for the sake of dramatic e"ect and that this !lm was not strictly a documentary, and we are left with the sad reality that the information we do have is unreliable. However, it is possible from these sources to construct a basic idea of who this individual was. What we do know about the Creature from the Black Lagoon (or “Gill Man”) was that he was undoubtedly an unfortunate human male, probably in his mid- to late- twenties at the time of discovery, who su"ered from an unusual number of dis!guring mutations. His scaly !sh skin, as well as some of his facial abnormalities, resemble some form of ichthyosis or ichthyosis-related syndrome. His webbed !ngers and toes can be attributed to a severe case of syndactyly, and his claw-like nails were possibly the result of onycogryposis. This combination of physical deformities left the poor young man with a truly monstrous appearance. Add to this his habit of living in swamps, and it is not hard to see why he was a solitary creature. There are several varieties of ichthyosis and ichthyosis- like disorders, the probable cause of much of the Gill Man’s appearance woes. Speci!c potential disorders include epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, harlequin ichthyosis, ichthyosis vulgaris, KID syndrome, lamellar ichthyosis, trichothiodystrophy, and X-linked ichthyosis. Each has its own rationale as the potential source of Gill Man’s a#ictions. All cause dry, scaly skin, varying in severity. Harlequin ichthyosis is the most severe, and infants born with this disease rarely survive. Individuals who do survive into childhood or beyond have thick scales. Their ears, mouth and nose may also be malformed due to the thick scaling, which could account for some of the Gill Man’s facial abnormalities. The shape of his mouth in particular resembles that of infants with the disease. The skin tone of those a#icted 79 with harlequin ichthyosis is resembles a burn victim, which is not in line with descriptions of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, who is usually reported with a green or brown coloring. However, it is possible that spending so much time in swamp water could tint his skin, perhaps with the help of algae and other aquatic plant matter. Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis is a mild form of ichthyosis resulting in thick scaling in the form of parallel ridges concentrated near large joints. This form of ichthyosis is also commonly associated with thickening of the nails and sparse hair growth. Given the claw-like appearance of the Creature from the Black Lagoon’s nails, the thickening accompanied by this disease sounds promising; however, in epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, the thickening of the nails is also associated with dystrophic nails. Given that claw-like nails are due to excessive nail growth rather than dystrophy, this decreases the likelihood the Creature was a!icted with this variation of ichthyosis. Ichthyosis vulgaris is characterized by "ne white polygonal scales. These are sometimes darker on the extremities, such as hands and feet, and generally do not appear on the face or large joints. Nasal allergies and eczema are commonly associated as well. Given the extreme mildness of this disease it is almost certainly not the cause of the Creature from the Black Lagoon’s abnormal skin condition. KID syndrome on the other hand is more likely. The scaling resembles that of a lizard more than that of a "sh, and is present on the face. Plugging of hair follicles is also present, resulting in sparse or absent hair, and spiny karatotic thickening of the palms is also common. Small, malformed nails are frequent as well, but not the rule. As this is one of the relatively milder ichthyosis-like syndromes, it is thus unlikely to be the a!iction from which the Gill Man su#ers. Trichothiodystrophy is another ichthyosis related syndrome. The scales are "ne and white, similar to the ones 80 present in ichthyosis vulgaris. Trichothiodystrophy is also accompanied by sparse hair, abnormally thick or thin nails, slight mental retardation, and decreased average height.