Ramble: Taking Yourself the Right Amount of Serious
TW: Torture, Domestic Abuse ((Surprised neither of these have ever come up on this blog before??))
There are few arguments that get my eyes to roll into the back of my head faster than someone saying that a thing "takes itself to serious" or "doesn't take itself seriously enough." Like I get it, you want a work's investment in itself to match yours. You want it to know when its being silly, or not be afraid to be heartfelt. But it's just such a vapid subjective observation most of the time... kind of.
I remember when G-Witch's finale first aired and [[mild spoilers]] people were taken aback by the more fantastical elements in an otherwise "grounded" plot. The finale to them didn't meet the same marker of "seriousness" if you will. I personally thought that was a bullshit take. If anything the Finale was one of the better parts of Season 2 and I was way more upset that they pretty much hand waved Mio growing as a partner considering her treatment of Suletta is sometimes downright toxic[[*1]]. But after watching the first episode of Bang Brave Bang Bravern I think I may have a more detailed retort. ((Mild Spoilers for Bravern, G-Witch and G-Gundam - I do recommend going into Bravern spoiler free if you plan on watching it))
Bang Brave Bang Bravern (based on the two episodes I've seen) is a show about the ugly realities of war and military imperialism. Aliens invade Earth, indiscriminately killing most of the population, and leaving a small military training unit isolated on an island. By Episode 2 the hero who saved the base from alien drones is being water boarded for information on how he was able to pull it off. Characters are unflinchingly killed, the traumas of live combat are there from go, nations and allies don't trust one another and soldiers are treated like tools to be sent to the slaughter. This is also the opening:
To the untrained eye, Bravern might just come off as a shlocky comedy, playing its high contrast for laughs. Or maybe just a cheap deconstruction a la Magical Girl Site trying to be "edgy". Or worse it may be seen as something that "doesn't take itself seriously enough" pairing POW torture with such an upbeat vibe, or that it "takes itself too seriously" by trying to add all this war drama instead of "just letting the robots punch each other." But I'd argue that Bravern takes itself the right amount of seriously.
Its goofy antics make us actually care about humanity and root for the world to be saved. It reminds us the resolute, shining and (heh) brave optimism one must have to fight for a better tomorrow. Meanwhile its unflinching combat genuinely puts me on the edge of my seat because I think "well hell, this is realistic enough that anyone could die at any time." That's the real trick. Real life is rarely all awful or all good. It's a pretty mixed bag of hearty laughs and deep cries. Likewise one could argue you can't take yourself too seriously, otherwise you'll just make yourself miserable all the time. Thus for a work to ring true, to feel real, it needs to take itself the right amount of serious.
Bravern takes the otherwise unserious plot of "what if big mecha save da world" and applies every facet of realism it can to it, to make something that doesn't just feel real, but also complete, rounded. [[OK OK actually every mecha all the way back to Mazinger does this in its own special way, which is why the genre is based - But Bravern exemplifies this especially well to the uninitiated for how boldly it contrasts the ideas - Especially when pulling from King of Braves vibes]]
Shows like the ever-cheesy G-Gundam do this as well. The gist of that show is that the nations of Earth hold a Gundam Fighting contest to decide who will be the next global leader. Despite the appearance of such treasures like Tequila Gundam and Nether Gundam, the show engages with the consequences that giant sporting events and proxy wars have on the innocent bystander in the first episode. The premise is silly, but it takes itself seriously about the consequences of that premise. As a result the third act absolutely slaps, and it involves all these characters we've learned to love through their less "serious" moments.
Maybe this is why, as a big mecha fan, G-Witch's ending didn't seem out of place to me. From the Axis Shock, to whatever the end of Unicorn was, miracles are no stranger in mecha (especially Gundam), and they feel all the more miraculous for it. Also lowkey G-Witch had a lot of lore set up for said miracle so y'all are coping if you feel it didn't fit. In worlds dominated by violent inhuman unfeeling technology, cap-stoning your story with a miracle brought on by pure human emotion is potent. There's nothing unserious about it.
And it's showing all facets of emotion, from the grim to the bombastic to the hilarious to the heartbreaking that to me would define if a thing "takes itself seriously enough." I'm less concerned if a thing is 100% lore accurate all of the time, and more curious if it takes itself seriously enough to show both the good and the bad. The laughter and the tears. The silly set up and the real consequences. The real problems and the silly outcomes. A lot of mecha does this and it's one of the strengths of the genre... and why I think it translates so well to table top.
GOTCHA! This is actually secretly still a tabletop post!! See I've run quite a few mecha campaigns and something I've proven time and time again is something any good writer would be able to tell you:
Tragedy hits harder when paired with the right amount of comedy, and comedy is funnier when it breaks up tragedy. [[I actually loathe these terms, but you get the vibe]]
The best way to tell a story about the unyielding power of friendship is to portray a truly harsh world through which that light can shine. And similarly the best way to highlight the evils of something like empires is to have it cloud those sparks of joy. It's the difference between when a mascot character is annoying, and when they feel like the heart of a property.
This I think applies especially into player antics. If your table is anything like my table, the players will get into shenanigans. I adore when this happens, because I start GMing like the whole incident is a chibi-fied cut-away gag. These are the moments of characterization, silliness, a little reality bending, and things that help us grow attached to the wacky three dimensional characters we're playing. And it's moments like these that make it all the more heartbreaking and intense to watch these characters struggle.
((This is from Martian Successor Nadesico, one of my favorite Mechas - No I will not give you the context for this scene - Yes the show is absolutely amazing and hysterical but I literally can't recommend it because it decides to end on a note of "hey slapping some sense into your woman is necessary sometimes if you really love her" which UGH hate it hate it hate it))
Without that levity, characters lose their three-dimensionality. However, I do think you can get a little too sucked into the levity. To the point where any immersion into the world is broken, and any antics reflect the players more than the characters. So where's the line?Well as someone who's run something as outlandish as a doctor sowing a Gogurt into someone's armpit in a single maneuver without the person knowing, the answer is... it depends.
Much like how Bravern's dead serious alien invasion plot is interrupted by the titular robot's own ridiculousness, only to be weaved back in as important to the story, so too have I as a GM just kinda learned to roll with it. Serious fun can have serious consequences. A player cracking a joke might endear them to an NPC who thinks their pun was really funny. The team's heinous antics at a 7/11 might give them a new reputation or give them time to pause on if this is the kind of people they really want to be. A character's comic selfishness is something you can note for later, giving them an opportunity to (begrudgingly) grow.
Show players you're willing to take their silliness seriously and they'll let you know when they want to pull back as they realize their actions have consequences (good and bad). Many an antic has ended with "are you sure you want to do that? XYZ might happen" but just as many great stories have happened because a player said "yeah, fuck it. It'd be funny."
If you've read my summary on my ARES campaign, you may remember the heartless capitalist Ian Moses' growth into an honest-to-goodness kind-of-OK human being. And this was largely done both by riffing with his comic selfishness getting the party into increasingly wild situations, and then later adding in an NPC to foil with Moses' character (who Moses then took on as a prodigy). In a way, taking the joke heartless character "the right amount of serious" and letting the player run with that as he would. And there were times he pulled back, or felt bad because he saw the consequences of Ian's selfishness (which in-turn led to Ian's development as a character). And similarly there was a time where I gave Ian the most rancid conman to work over without fear of too many negative repercussions that the player may regret. It was fun, funny and helped us see the "business side" of Ian.
This is why I do stuff like play extra hype music during a boss battle, or literally have a "comedy shenanigans" playlist, or literally set it upon myself to make one of the most important scenes in a campaign to sync to Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas (it worked great BTW).
Hopefully this little ramble has given you some food for thought on how you might incorporate or embrace the weird and silly, while still keeping an honest core. The advice, all together is pretty simple:
Take things seriously, but not too seriously.
[[*1 : The honeymoon phase for this show is over so I don't feel bad saying that G-Witch feels like it just forgot to do a whole season of character development, especially for Mio. Nearly every side character felt more fleshed out than Mio and the way her and Suletta's romance proceeds (I can't even use the word "develops") feels not only like it's trying to send the message "no matter how much your romantic interest pushes you away you should still love them!" but also kind of undercuts Suletta's own arc of finding independence from forces that claim to know what's best for her. Like the set up is right there for Mio to realize she's becoming the thing she hates most in this world and she just... doesn't... and then they make up (by Suletta being like "take me back" and her being like "OK") and then the show just ends?!?! Like it's a certain kind of sweet and I'm happy for them but also ?!?!? [[*2]] ]]
[[*2 : For legal reasons I need to remind you all that I think G-Witch is a wonderful show and I'm very happy that it's introduced a lot of people to mecha and that we had the gay on the big screen as Gundam is want to do. I will die on the hill that I think it absolutely botches its main romance (and pretty much everything) after and including episode 17. Also the constant cliffhangers and often hand-wavy resolutions felt cheap IMO in a way that reminded me of abc's LOST. Also the whole production needed another season to tell the story they seemed to be wanting to tell. First season slaps though. May be one of my top 3 seasons of Gundam. [[*3]] ]]
[[*3 : OK also can we talk about how Nika was infinitely better to Suletta and actually grew as a person and just Suletta being like "Nah I'll take the rich girl who frequently ghosts me and will break my heart 'for my own good'!" just gah!!! ... inhale ... it's OK ... I can be normal about this ... Just G-Witch's handling of Episode 17 and onwards really got under my skin because I otherwise really liked what they were cooking.]]
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