Rian Johnson and the Lessons of Subversive Narratives
The art of subverting expectations is not an easy technique to master, but is it friend or foe to the hapless scriptwriter? Here we will examine its impact across instances of film and television, mainly focusing on its usage by one of the more controversial writer/directors of recent years; Rian Johnson.
I remember when the term “subverting expectations” wasn’t just a juxtaposition of two dirty words. After all, I remember Game of Thrones attracting the attention of just about every boy in class back when I was in High School. Game of Thrones was more or less a fantasy story told to an audience that grew tired of the tropes of fantasy. J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is widely beloved as one the greatest fantasy stories ever told, but if there is one criticism to be had about such a rich legendarium it is that the fact that virtually all of its central characters survive the conflict despite the sheer scales of the trials detailed within is not only unlikely, it’s downright implausible. Of course, fantasy is quite literally designed with suspension of disbelief in mind, but that didn’t stop one nagging question; “how would Aragorn fare in a world that neither granted him divine providence nor favored him in any way?” To put it bluntly, what would a fantasy story look like if its main characters did not benefit from “plot armor?”