It’s Writing Wednesday again here on the blog and today’s topic is about power. Specifically, I’m talking about power through the caged beast, scenes where one character is locked up, chained, bound, or otherwise detained. In all forms of storytelling, it’s worth taking note of which characters have power in any scene. Sometimes the answer is obvious, other times the answer lies beyond the obvious portrait a storyteller has given the audience.
When a character is being held against their will, it’s always important to note how they’re being detained. Right now, I’ll go ahead and use two examples from Game of Thrones (the show, though I don’t believe the show deviates from the books in this area) where Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister are prisoners. When the audience sees Ned, his eyes are squinted because of torchlight. He’s nearly blind, his voice is hoarse, and he’s incredibly thirsty. Varys comes in to speak with him and gives him water. If Ned is chained in any way, it’s not severe because he can still use his hands to drink. This is simple, Varys has all the power. He has the power to free Ned, give him water, leave him to die, or just speak with the man.
Jaime is a different animal entirely. At first, we see Jamie bound to a pole with his hands behind his back. He smiles, he’s not dying of thirst, and he makes jokes to the people keeping him prisoner. Later, we see a field of prisoners in wooden cages. However, when we see Jamie, he’s bound to another pole within the wooden cage. He smiles and jokes again while his captor tries to assert dominance. It’s even mentioned that his captor can’t leave Jamie at a castle with a trusted ally because they can’t be trusted to hold Jamie. This brings up the question of true loyalty, while showing the power Jamie has, even as a prisoner.
Jaime is an example of the caged beast. The monster that has been captured, but not broken, not controlled or tamed. We’ve seen many examples of this over the years. Recently, the movie Skyfall did a similar thing with its villain. The man was captured and placed within a small room within a larger room. The small room’s walls were clear and guards were able to see his every movement. The small cage was also elevated if I remember correctly, putting the villain on a sort of stage over his captors. We see the same thing with Magneto in the X-Men movies. He’s kept within a clear room of plastic, within a much larger room, and the only way to reach him is to cross a plastic bridge. Such extremes are meant to make the villain feel hopeless, though it rarely works. Such elaborate arrangements are made out of fear, the fear of power, the power of the villain, which is currently on display even in captivity. One can also look at The Silence of the Lambs and note the balance of power between Clarice and Hannibal
Now it’s your turn. How do you display power in your writing? When thinking about this topic, what other examples come to mind?