TAXONOMY of CHARACTEROLOGY Design and Legacy
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II. NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS: B.EXTRA-DIEGETIC PROBLEMATICS- 2. MASC- PHANTASY & DETERMINISM Circumstantial constraints radically shape the character's We might consider characters 'negative constructions' TAXONOMY OF CHARACTEROLOGY design and legacy. in the sense that they are brought into being to address Pt I: Character Generation Strategies a lack. One type of void that they fill might be sym- bolic, and come across through their diegetic role in a story (the realm of phantasy). But characters also live as technological, economic and politically-mediated You can’t go far in the way of thought, belief or Pt.1 is intended as a creative reference, lowering BY Liby Hays entities, and can be profoundly shaped by the demands abstraction without encountering characterological barriers to entry for the characterologically disinclined. It 1. KILROY 2. FLICK a.JIMBO (1988) comic book character by underground of the market (determinism). These examples could be constructs. You have a character like God, for example, focuses on esoteric, critical, formally invenitive or coded cartoonist Gary Panter INSPIRED-> analyzed in either sense. that accounts for natural phenomena. You have figures of examples within the characterological discipline. The b. BART SIMPSON (1989) by Matt Groening (Panter’s speech, relating a human subject to something non-human more straightforward political stakes of charcterology- its best friend at the time) A. DIEGETIC PROBLEMATICS- Characters fill through a shared quality or qualities, and in that meta- propagandistic dimesnion- will be explored more fully in “I owe Gary Panter a lot of money…” –Matt Groening some void through their function within the diegesis phoric tradition abstraction, art and so on. Companies, Pt 2. -LH cities, nations and the planet are treated as characters in 3. EWOK 4. PISSING CALVIN B. EYE STYLES- popular discourse. Occupations are characterological. TLDR; Beginner’s guide to Characterology, taking into You’re a banker, you’re a chef, you’re a Santa…—each with account narrative, illustrative, socially critical, and promo- 1. KILROY(1940'S)- a corresponding type of hat. But this ‘Taxonomy’ is less tional applications of character design, multi-national fran- Determinism: Political determinism a broad take on the characterological paradigm than a chises as well as internet vernacular culture. Kilroy is a drawing of a large-nosed bald man overlook- 1. 2. COLLECTION OF STARTING-POINTS for POP-CHAR- ing a wall that began showing up in soldiers’ graffiti —compiling SKETCH YOUR ORIGINAL CHARACTER HERE ACTEROLOGICAL GENESIS CHARAC- 1. WINDOWS 2. ALEX 3.HYOUTAN- during World War II. The accompanying caption, "Kil- TER-GENERATION FORMULAE from the iconic to the ME-TAN MACK TSUGI roy was here," orients the drawing as a fictive self-por- 3. more recondite, dating from the mid-nineteenth century trait.'Kilroy,' like 'solidier is an identity anyone can take to the present day. up in passing. The doodle became popular internation- 1. SHOJO ‘GALAXY’ EYES- a mirror regression of orbs 1. WINDOWS ME-TAN (PT.II) ally, under various guises: "Other names for the character within orbs; intergalactic affect. Void type: Desirous include Chad (in the U.K.), Foo (in Australia) Smoe, Clem, Pictured: Illustration by Tadatsu Yoko from the cover of In the case of Windows ME-tan, the metaphoric relation Flywheel, Private Snoops, Overby, The Jeep (as both char- 1960's Margaret shojo manga magazine between an unpredictable, crash-prone software and the acters had sizable noses), and Sapo." 2. LECHEROUS EYE TROPISM- Artist Mike Kelley I. POSITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS: C. ANIMALS- J.J. GRANDEVEILLE'S The OS-tan meme functions as a parody of moe (pro- plucky, emotionally transparent anime heroine points points out how in Californian hotrod art8, the characters' CATEGORICAL ANTHROPOMORPHISM CARICATURES (MID-1800'S) nounced [mo.e]) aesthetics- a genre of anime defined to a larger characterological problematic— the trope of 2.TOY STORY (1995) & A BUG’S LIFE(1998)- eyes distend phallically in a savage parody of the male “At first sight, Grandville animals, dressed up and perform- by the strong affection viewers feel towards charac- female characters as fractured, hysterical, and construct- Determinism: Technological determinism gaze. The easiest way to churn out a cast of characters is to ing as men and women, appear to belong to the old tradition, ters. Moe protagonists tend to be "naïve and not overly ed from the outside-in to fill ‘the void of desire.’ The fact The reason why Pixar’s first movie was about toys Pictured: Ratfink, by lowbrow legend Big Daddy Roth make the characters variations on a theme, or subcate- whereby a person is portrayed as an animal so as to reveal independent,” qualities which are explicitely intended that the OS-Tans personify hardware also links them to 5 and its second, insects? Since it was highly difficult to 3. PROLIFERENT EYES- The Shoggoth from H.P. gories within a closed set. In this way, the characters will more clearly an aspect of his or her character (...)the lion, to “foster a protective feeling" . Characters are almost the trope of femme sex-bots— servile humanoids that achieve a smooth range of motion with computer anima- Lovecraft’s 1931 At the Mountains of Madness is de- be differentiated but retain a common essence. The per- absolute courage: the hare, lechery." always depicted as white schoolgirls with super-stimulus are literally assembled and controlled by the owner or tion at the time, stories were built around stiff, segment- scribed as “a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, sonality and design of the characters should correspond features- big eyes, shiny hair and bow-legs. engineer, on shows like 2002’s Cho-bits. 6 ed or doll-like entities. faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes and counterinform one another, if one subscribes to the forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light.”9 popular school of hyper-communicative, narratively-ori- SEE ALSO: 2. LIQUID HERO ALEX MACK (1994-1998) 3. EWOKS from STAR WARS: EPISODE VI The monster seems to anticipate Google’s ‘Deep Dream’ ented character design. E. THE FOUR ELEMENTS- THE FANTAS- Void type: Aqueous (1983)- Determinism: Economic determinism neural network, which generates imagery teeming with TIC FOUR (1961-) By Jack Kirby and Stan The Nickelodeon live-action show chronicled the day- George Lucas has been accused of inventing the Ewok psychedelic eyeballs. A. GEOMETRIC PRIMITIVES- Lee- 1.Mister Fantastic-Water// 2.The Invisible to-day life of a girl who, after being contaminated with a Woman-Air // 3.The Human Torch- Fire// 4.The characters to sell stuffed plushes, among other precalcu- Pictured: Shoggoth Model by Shengu Models STEPHEN UNIVERSE (2013-) top-secret chemical, gained the ability to transform into lated merchanding moves. (The first Cartoon Network series created by a woman Thing-Earth a puddle of water instantaneously. 7 >BONUS COLLECTOR'S TIP (RATTED OUT)< and the first to depict LGBTQ+ relationships between "But as one goes on looking at Grandville's engravings, one F. THE FOUR HUMORS- SCOOBY-DOO! When (1969-) 1.Daphne- Sanguine (blood)// 2.Velma- 4. PISSING CALVIN- appraising vintage Mickey Mouse collectibles, the general main characters) becomes aware [of] the opposite movement to that which one 3. HYOUTAN-TSUGI ,THE ORIGINAL TROLL- Choleric (yellow bile)// 3.Fred-Melancholic (black Determinism: Ironic inverse economic determinism(??!) rule is: the longer the snout, the higher the price. first assumed. (…) These animals have become prisoners of Void type: Qualitative bile)// 4.Shaggy- Phlegmatic (phlegm)// 5.Scooby- Bill Waterson, in a legendary display of artistic integrity/ a human/social situation. The vulture as landlord is more The Hyoutan-tsugi was the signature emblem of Osamu eclectic antiestablishmentarianism, turned down potential bil- C. FUGITIVE MORPHOLOGIES- dreadfully rapacious than he is as a bird. The crocodiles at Tesuka, known widely as the 'Godfather of Anime and G. THE ALPHABET- THE GARSHLEY- lions by refusing to merchandise his popular comic strip Characters with missing, enshrouded or condensed body dinner are greedier at the table than they are in the river(...) Manga' for creating series such as Astro Boy, Kimba the CRUMB TINIES (1963) by New England illus- characters, Calvin and Hobbes. Ironically, Calvin’s im- parts . The movement that ends with the banality of Disney, began White Lion and Buddha. The icon was based on a child- trator Edward Gorey- “A is for Amy who fell down age resurfaced as one of the most puerile and proliferant as a disturbing, prophetic dream in the work of Grand- hood drawing by the artist's sister of the fruiting body the stairs…” pieces of bootleg kitsch in Western history, the Pissing ville.”3 of a mushroom. The character appears in nearly every H. THE 12 CHINESE ZODIAC- FRUITS BAS- Calvin graphic. (Most often seen as a car decal.) comic in Tesuka’s expansive ouerve, and often materi- KET (1998-2006) Big-selling shojo manga by >BONUS CREATURE FEATURE< alizes as an expression of intense emotion, replacing a Natsuki Takaya, adapted into an anime 5. ROY G BIV- MIT’s mascot is a beaver- character’s head or being kicked in a fit of anger. I.NATION-STATES- COUNTRYBALLS Determinism: Mneumonic determinism “There is this Bauhaus theory of design, which was a test: "Nature’s engineer." Webcomic starring national flag orbs Ah, Roy G. Biv, the most elusive of characters, present There’s a cube, a cone and a sphere. And you would have to J. THE FOUR PHASES OF FREUDIAN PSY- only when light refracts through droplets of water, or know, intuitively, which one would be red yellow and blue. D. OPERATING SYSTEMS- OS-TAN MEME CHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT- CHARLIE passes through glass at thr right angle… And the implication was that if you didn’t have that intu- One of the most popular forms of categorical anthro- AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1964) 1 4 ition, then you were just truly not a designer .”- Rebecca pomorphism is the cast of anime/manga style girls.