Part 1: Fan
Fiction (Tintin)
It was a very
quiet night at the bay but there were many workers moving big wooden boxes onto
a large white ship.
“Get all the
boxes on the ship! Quick! Quick! Hurry up!” shouted the worker wearing in black.
“Put that box
over there, be quick! I want this ship to leave the bay before dawn!” yelled
the man in grey Cheongsam and brown shoes.
The man in grey
Cheongsam and brown shoes approached slowly, everyone bowed to him. Yes. He is
the owner of that ship and the employer of all the workers that are moving the
boxes onto the ship. His name is Tintin. He is an influential and well-known
man in Shanghai, owner of all the opium companies in Shanghai and he is also an
opium smuggler. This ship is preparing to sail to India for opium trade with
Maharaja. Chang is Tintin’s assistant and he has been working for Tintin for more
than three years. Chang always maintained a good relationship with Maharaja in
India as he is the one to get in touch with Maharaja for opium trade. The opium
trade collaboration between Maharaja and Tintin has been almost two years
already and Maharaja is their main customer. While the workers were still busy
transferring wooden boxes onto the ship, Chang went to the telephone booth without
letting anyone knows but he was supposed to be at the bay supervising the
workers. Tintin was resting while waiting for the ship to be fully loaded before
departing to India. He did not realize that Chang was away.
“Tintin’s ship
has got one hundred and twenty wooden boxes full of opium and he is going to
trade these opium with Maharaja in India. The ship will be leaving the bay
before dawn. Arrest Tintin.” Chang spoke softly over the phone and then hung
up. Left the telephone booth with his hat on and black jacket on. Running
quickly back to the bay before anyone finds out that he went to make a phone
call.
Chang’s real
identity is a Japanese spy, he was contacting his superior, Mitsuhirato, informing
him to come and prevent the ship from sailing to India for opium trade. Chang
has been providing information to his superior since the day he started working
for Tintin but they have not got a good timing and chance to get Tintin
arrested.It is almost dawn and workers are getting more and more exhausted.
“How many boxes
left?” asked Chang to the workers.
“Approximately
twenty boxes and we are ready to go.” replied the worker.
“Freeze! Do not
move! Do not move! Put all the boxes down now! Now!” shouted Mitsuhirato.
Mitsuhirato and his team came, holding guns on their hand, pointing towards all
the workers. Tintin woke up very panic when he heard Mitsuhirato shouting, he
then quickly jumped into the sea to flee away. Mitsuhirato’s team confiscated
all one hundred twenty boxes of opium on the ship and brought Tintin’s workers
back to the jail. Unfortunately, Tintin fled away, they searched for him but
could not find him so Mitsuhirato issued a warrant to arrest Tintin. Tintin hid
himself in a deserted island near Shanghai, he was hurt by a rock when he
jumped into the sea to flee away from Mitsuhirato’s arrest. After twelve days
living that deserted island, Tintin’s wound got better and he decided to leave
Shanghai as he understands that he is now under arrest. He decided to leave
Shanghai by train but before that, he would like to take revenge on Mitsuhirato
of making him losing the business with Maharaja. Tintin lived on the deserted
island and he did not get the news that all the other workers were jailed, he
thought they managed to flee away like he did. Tintin tried to find a way to
contact Chang as he still does not know Chang’s real identity. He went back to Shanghai
and went to Chang’s residence at midnight and knocked on his door.
“Chang, it’s me.
I need your help. I want to kill Mitsuhirato and I need to leave Shanghai. Get
me a train ticket leaving Shanghai at noon time tomorrow.” said Tintin.
“Where have you
been, Tintin? I was so worried about you. Come in.” Chang was shocked that
Tintin came to look for him but he has to pretend himself as he cannot reveal
his real identity to Tintin.
Chang invited
Tintin to sleepover at his place and he will bring Tintin to the train station
tomorrow at noon. Chang secretly made a contact by phone call with Mitsuhirato
and inform him that Tintin is currently at his place. Chang and Mitsuhirato
discussed a plan to arrest Tintin tomorrow at the train station.
“Let’s depart to
the train station now.” said Chang to Tintin.
“Let’s finish
our business with Mitsuhirato before heading to the train station.” said
Tintin.
Chang advised
Tintin to leave Shanghai as soon as possible and forget about taking revenge.
Tintin agreed. They put on hats, and used handkerchiefs to cover their mouth in
case someone can recognize them. They slowly walked to the train station and
Chang passed the train ticket to Tintin and left.
“Bang!” a loud
gunshot sound is heard at the train station when Tintin is preparing to board
the train leaving Shanghai. Mitsuhirato and his team came to the train station to
arrest Tintin. Tintin was helpless and he got arrested by Mitsuhirato.
Tintin has been
sent to jail and waiting for his trial. Tintin kept thinking on how Mitsuhirato
knew that he was at the train station and got him arrested. And now, Tintin
realized that Chang is a Japanese spy and he was so mad at himself to be trusting
Chang for such a long time. Today is the time for Tintin’s trial. Tintin was
sentenced to death, Tintin said he will never forgive Change before his death. Chang
was disappointed with what Tintin had said but he is glad that his mission is
finally accomplished.
Part
2: Commentary
My
fan fiction storyline and characters had totally changed and it is very
different from the original story. Tintin is the owner of opium companies and
has trading relationship with Maharaja in India. Chang pretends to work for
Tintin but his real identity is a Japanese spy, finding a chance to get Tintin
arrested as tasked by his superior. Mitsuhirato is Chang’s superior and he
tasked Chang to pretend to work for Tintin in order to help them to find a
chance of arresting Tintin for opium trade. Chang found a chance to arrest
Tintin when his ship is preparing to sail to India for opium trade. Chang
contacted his superior, Mitsuhirato, informing him by phone and told him the
venue and the time of the event. Tintin fled to a deserted island after jumping
into the sea and went back to Shanghai to ask help from Chang in taking revenge
on Mitsuhirato. Chang’s real identity is still unrevealed when Tintin came back
to Shanghai. Tintin trusted Chang so he listened to Chang’s advice to flee away
from Shanghai and not taking revenge on Mitsuhirato. Chang discussed on a plan
to arrest Tintin at the train station with Mitsuhirato and they finally
succeeded. Tintin was in jail and later sentenced to death and Chang finally
accomplished his mission.
In
reference to Vogler’s (1998), fan fiction creates variety of character
archetypes. My fan fiction story
is based on Hergé’s “Tintin and the Blue Lotus”. According
to Vogler (1998), there are eight major character archetypes. Hero, mentor,
threshold guardian, herald, shapeshifter, shadow, ally and trickster. I included three types of Vogler’s (1998) character archetypes.
The Shadow: Tintin. He
is opium companies’ owner.
The Hero: Chang. He is
a Japanese spy which helped the government to arrest Tintin.
The Mentor: Mr
Mitsuhirato. He is the superior of Chang and sent him off for the mission to
arrest Tintin.
My fan fiction story
also followed most of Vogler’s (1998) mythic structure.
Act I
- Ordinary World (Indirectly as Tintin is originally a
comic)
- Call to adventure by trading opium with Maharaja
- Refusal of call (Not included in the story)
- Contacting with the mentor about the plan to arrest
Tintin
- Crossing the first threshold by leaving Shanghai to
India
Act II
- Tests allies, enemies where Chang is a Japanese spy and
helped Mitsuhirato to arrest Tintin
- Approach to the inmost cave where the workers are sent
to jail and Tintin wanted to flee away from Shanghai
·
Supreme ordeal where
Tintin came back to look for Chang and Chang had to pretend and keep his real
identity unrevealed
Act III
·
Reward where Mitsuhirato successfully
arrested Tintin
·
The road back where
Tintin went back to Shanghai to seek Chang’s help
·
Resurrection which is
the words Tintin said before his death
·
Return with elixir
which is Chang is glad that he accomplished his mission
In conclusion, I am
happy that my fan fiction story was able to follow most of Vogler’s (1998)
mythic narrative structure, and character archetypes.
Reference:
Vogler, C. 1998. The
writer’s journey: Mythic structure for writers. Studio City, CA: Michael
Wiese Productions.
No comments:
Post a Comment