The Carousel: PhantomCon's Panel Transcript (part two)

Please refer to part one for the explanation. I mean seriously, you think I'm going to give up my precious free time copying and pasting it here? Boy you sure don't know me very well. In fact, you should probably go back and read the collection of 'About Me' posts from March just to get an idea of how unmotivated I really am. Yeah, copying that paragraph here would have eaten up about half a minute. I'm sure glad I didn't squander thirty seconds doing that. Yeesh. What would I have been thinking?

 

Math: Here’s a good one. How similar are you to your character? I suppose that means our main story context character.

Caris: We are our characters.

(laughter)

Zel: How similar are you to a fictitious audience?

(continued laughter)

Caris: Outside of the main story I’m a little more down to earth. Just as silly, but for the stories we kind of ramp up the energy.

Zel: I smile more. Much more of a showoff.

Math: I think I’m actually a stronger character out of context than in.

Caris: Fictional characters have a pretty solid internal consistency.

Math: Like if we were to bring out James Bond and have him sit here and answer the question by saying ‘What character’? Now, without us establishing which actor our James Bond looks like or even if he’s Ian Fleming’s Bond, you’ll instantly have a pretty central James Bond voice in your head saying those words, with the accent and the suaveness and the winking in-the-know demeanor.

Zel: Likewise, if we were to say that the Mad Hatter comes out and answers the question with the same words, you might hear anyone from Ed Wynn to Sebastian Stan in your head but it would always feel like a sheer lack of comprehension of what you’re asking.

Caris: It’s like in Duck Amuck, where Daffy is always Daffy even if you change his shape, take away his voice or erase him completely, there’s some character that still exists. There used to be a waterpark in Houston called Water World and there was a fiberglass statue of Daffy sitting in one of the lifeguard chairs. And of course it didn’t do anything except exist. And yet it was still as much ‘Daffy’ as any Friz Freleng cartoon.

Math: There’s something kind of magical about that.

Caris: And we get to be a part of it even if it’s in a miniscule scale.

Math: That leads us to our next question. Who would you like to see play you in a movie?

Caris: Ooh, I have no idea. Let me think.

Math: In my case it probably doesn’t matter so much. I’d kind of like it to be an unknown.

Zel: Yeah, I’m a little too vain to believe anyone real could play me without hitting a nerve with me. I’d much rather see us animated.

Math: I think someone with kind of a Harry Anderson voice would work for me.

Caris: What about Harry Anderson?

Math: Yeah, I think he could pull it off.

Zel: If we were going to do motion capture, probably someone like Shakira. Or maybe Zuleikha Robinson. Voice actress-wise I’d kind of hope for Grey DeLisle.

Caris: I would love it if Laura Bailey did my voice!

Zel: Who would you want them to model you after?

Caris: Whatever models J. Scott Campbell works with.

Zel: Math, I’ve just realized I have no idea what the hell you look like.

Math: That makes two of us.

Caris: Three if we’re counting. Why don’t we decide that right now?

Math: Well I’m supposed to be kind of an ambiguously sciencey type. I’ve always imagined I was a brunette.

Zel: Do you wear glasses?

Math: Not really. Maybe reading glasses, but not regularly.

Caris: So are you kind of like an American Martin Freeman?

Math: Yeah. Maybe not so round in the face but that’s a pretty good template.

Zel: How are we doing on length?

Math: We’re almost at twenty-seven hundred. Wait. And there. We should probably start to wind down a bit. Anybody have anything else burning to ask? (listening) That’s a good one. Caris, do you think you’re too sexual?

Caris: No. Not at all. As a character I’m just me. And if that takes me into sexual territory then that’s who I am. Now if we’re talking about a real life woman who behaves like me then we’re into a whole different territory. I mean, let’s face it. I get away with a lot of stuff that wouldn’t happen in reality.

Zel: What do you think about real life strippers?

Caris: I’m fine with it. It’s entertainment. It’s expression. I know there’s a lot of debate religiously about whether or not women removing their tops is considered counter-spiritual. And of course being a debate of opinion I don’t have the definitive answer. But I think there are much less holy things humanity does than get undressed.

Math: Being a Christian character, how do you balance being a stripper with maintaining faith?

Caris: Well, I have a  line that comes up once in a while about God looking down at his silly little Caris, and I think it’s kind of how God looks at all of humanity; as this silly little species that adorably thinks it’s so close to figuring everything out, and I think that gives God a loving chuckle.

Zel: If it didn’t humanity would be in a lot of trouble.

Math: It’s always struck me as funny how there are so many horrible things in the world, there’s bullying, abuse, torture, and yet a person’s religiousness is called into question once they flash at Mardi Gras.

Caris: Yeah, I wouldn’t encourage people to disrobe per se any more than I’d say people should drink, but if it fulfills something for you and you can accept the responsibility for yourself I don’t see the harm.

Zel: And while there are sex addicts out there, the dancers aren’t responsible for them just like a casino isn’t responsible for people with gambling addictions.

Caris: My character has slept around some and I certainly don’t think that aspect is heroic by any stretch, but nobody makes it into adulthood without some kind of blemish.

Zel: Do you think people in real life should stop being casual with sex?

Caris: I think before people do anything they should ask themselves why they’re doing it. And if they don’t have a good answer then maybe they shouldn’t be doing it.

Math: That’s not exactly what your character is about though.

Caris: Nope. Not at all. I just do things. But if I didn’t get into trouble we wouldn’t have much of a story.

Zel: Besides, in fiction you want to live vicariously through over the top characters. It’s a safe outlet.

Caris: You notice nobody ever holds Cookie Monster accountable for other people’s property damage?

Zel: I’ve always been fascinated by which female characters are considered over-sexualized and which ones aren’t. Like when Tomb Raider first hit the market Lara Croft became the beacon for hatred just because she had big boobs. And the loudest voices were writing to Eidos, or writing as if Eidos was going to stumble across their postings on their news groups, saying that they need to tone down the boobs. And for a while that was all the game discussion was about, and how over-sexualized Lara was.

Math: And then Lara was featured in Playboy and there was this explosion of outrage like Frankenstein’s monster had stormed through the town.

Zel: Yeah, I never really figured out what that was all about. I think part of it was a resurgence in the 90’s of the voice of feminism. And let me go on record and say that I think feminism is a truly wonderful and important ideal, and even if a percentage of the population disagrees with it I think a lot of obstacles would become surmountable if everyone would at least take the core of it seriously and give it a listen. But that being said, like any ideal it’s in the hands of…you know…people. And people get easily distracted by cosmetic details that support whatever claims they’re making than to look at the real issue.

Math: Like it’s more important to prove “See, I’m right,” than to figure out “What do we do about it?”

Zel: …

Math: …

Caris: (giggling) I’m sorry. I was staring at your boobs.

(laughter)

Zel: Just say that you agree with whatever I was talking about.

Math: You know, if these things were as powerful as we act like they are we wouldn’t be living in a patriarch.

(more laughter)

Zel: I love how we’re actually typing in the imaginary audience’s responses.

Caris: So why is it female audiences seem to embrace characters like Betty Boop or women like Marylin Monroe or even Morrigan Aensland but then turn around and take exception to Ivy Valentine?

Zel: That’s a great question that probably doesn’t have an answer.

Math: I was surprised that Jessica Rabbit made it into the club without a debate considering how the character was create to represent ‘over-sexualization’.

Zel: Yeah, I guess you can’t really predict how an audience is going to take to a character. All you can do is keep them true to their roots and let history play out as it will.

Caris: So to get back to my original answer. No, I don’t think I’m too sexual. I’m just me.

Math: Showgirl Barbie.

Caris: (purring) Rowr!

(applause)

Math: Why don’t we take two more questions? (listens) What kind of music do you associate with?

Zel: I like heavy guitar songs, usually in a minor key with a real emotional base to it. You know, Second Chance by Shinedown is a good Zel song. Also anything Jim Steinman was involved in. Lotus in general had a close affiliation with Roxette and Pat Benatar. And I think most of my generation was trained in guitar and piano.

Math: I think anything electronic sounding fits me. The Rockit by Herbie Hancock is probably something on my laptop when I’m programming. A lot of synthesizers and remixes since I’m kind of at the keyboards anyway.

Caris: I’m total percussion. It doesn’t matter if it’s pop, if it’s rap, if it’s jazz, as long as it has that drumbeat I’m in. I’ve actually had hymns that play in my head with the addition of a drum solo.

Zel: You know, we ought to give up this fiction thing and start a band.

 (laughter)

Math: You know I have a quick question before we close it down. Zel, what’s your brother’s name?

Zel: (giggling) Okay, I happen to love the in-story explanation for why I never refer to him by name, but the meta version is that his name is so close to a copyright infringement that we’re just not willing to go there and risk it. I mean like if his name was Luke Skywallender. That close to a potential lawsuit. And since it’s not a parody we don’t really have that loophole.

Caris: Do you ever think about changing his name?

Zel: No. And it’s probably pure stubbornness, but even in fictional characters names are defining and he’s been around longer than I have, so it’s kind of in metaphorical stone.

Math: So what would it take for you to reveal it?

Zel: Probably something in writing from Anne McCaffrey’s estate saying “Look, we don’t care about your little book. You can say the name and we won’t take you to court.”

Caris: Did you actually take a character from her?

Zel: No, just a name. Our writer heard two classmates discussing a character’s name spelling from the Pern series, and he liked the name and accidentally added a letter in, and wound up using it for my brother’s character years later, never thinking that this would eventually launch into a writing project where ownership would be an issue. Incidentally on Lotus we had everyone from Ian Malcolm to Maleficent make an appearance. I’m one of the lucky ones because ‘Zelphina’ is an actual name in reality, albeit a pretty rare one.

Caris: ‘Caris’ is from the Bible, although I think it has an ‘H’ in it, and I was told it was Greek for ‘love’.

Math: ‘Math’ is from a textbook.

Zel: It means C minus.

Math: Okay, why don’t we take one more question? Let’s have a good one. (listening) That’s a pretty good one. What will we never see your character do?

Caris: Sex. You’re never going to see an actual sex scene from anyone involved in our saga. If anything like that were to happen plot-wise it would be handled like you witnessing the seduction and then the door to the bedroom or wherever slowly closes and you have to imagine what happens on the other side. And I think it’s a combination of none of us really find reading the details of sex all that interesting, and any story advancement or character development that you can get from a sex scene you can just as easily get elsewhere and probably more poetically. And the sex scenes that you can find in romance novels certainly have an audience and they enjoy that kind of ‘erotic candy’ there’s really nothing more to it than that. We prefer to save our candy for our adolescent witticisms and collateral damage. And of course the language is always going to be PG rated.

Math: You’re never going to see me in a fistfight, probably because it’s unrealistic to believe that I’d survive it. In a way I think I represent ‘reality’ in our world. If Caris is in a car explosion, she’s going to happen to land on her feet a few blocks away with no hearing damage and maybe a little dust on her knees. Zel can be thrown through a brick wall and still emerge disoriented, irritated, and scraped up for about two seconds before she’s instantly unblemished again. If I have a door slammed in my face, I’ll have a broken nose which will stay broken until it’s written that enough time has passed for it to heal.

Zel: If we establish that there’s a single haystack in Europe and we push Caris out of a plane, she’ll land on it.

Math: Bloody favoritism.

(laughter)

Zel: Well, you should have thought of that before you became NOT a cute leggy bisexual blonde.

Caris: It also helps that I’m usually the narrator.

Zel: I don’t know. We deal with ghosts quite a bit.

Math: “It all started the morning I died horribly…”

(laughter)

Zel: Okay, I’ve been trying to think. What are we never going to see from me? I think we’re probably never going to see my actual final terminal death. Kind of like comic book characters that die for a while and then get brought back, or they just stop being written but they’re never technically killed. I mean, yeah there’s the axiom that nobody ever dies in science fiction. Even Aerith Gainsborough has had a post-death career even though it’s canon that she’s dead and not coming back. So I think that’s my fate as a fictional character, to continue living as long as the stories do and only fade away like, I don’t know, Barnaby Rudge?

Math: Yeah! That guy!

Caris: Poor Barney, he’s so overdue for the Disney adaptation.

Zel: So that’s it then.

Math: Thank you all for coming out and caring!

Caris: And for giving us the attention we all so desperately crave!

Zel: Hopefully we’ll see you on the other side of the pages again.

Caris: Kisses!

Math: And as always, feel free to join us any time in the world of metaphor.

Zel: Thank you all very much for bringing us to life.

Math: Until the next story.

Caris: Bye!

Zel: Take care!

(applause that fades)