Subversion, deconstruction, reconstruction

[LJ_Reloaded]

After months of studying my preferred themes I've discovered that I primarily love stories that are heavily based on the subversion, deconstruction and reconstruction of plot devices (tropes) and genres.

To me, when you subvert, deconstruct and then reconstruct, that is where the most growth potential in story-writing lies. That, and "my xxx is different" (otherwise known as "xxx, with a twist", or "xxx: reimagined"*). While original stories are hard to come by nowadays, this to me is the closest that one can get. I would say that deconstruction is the weakest of all three and reconstruction is the strongest: anyone can break down a genre/trope, but to rebuild it in a more exciting way that helps suspension of dlsbelief requires true mastery.

So just give me a plot device or genre, subvert it masterfully, and hand it back to me reconstructed, and I'm more likely to want to read/watch it...


* although I wasn't feeling "Battlestar Galactica reimagined" for most of its series run...

 

[Stella_Omega]

Got examples? Because I'm not completely sure of what you mean.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

Got examples? Because I'm not completely sure of what you mean.

Quick and easy film examples:

Subversion: "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and "Weird Science" subverts the "Magical Girlfriend" genre.

Deconstruction: "Watchmen" - think: the cape.

Reconstruction: The Incredibles.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

Subversion is, for instance, bringing in a Magical Girlfriend who, instead of being slavishly loyal to you like a Magical Girlfriend ought, walks out of your life. See: Weird Science.

Deconstruction is the art of showing how Magical Girlfriends are complete bullshit and you'd absolutely hate to be around one. Such as when "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" went totally batshit crazy and tried to kill her ex with a shark.

Reconstruction is when you deconstruct a story and then turn around and say "hey, this genre is bullshit as presented normally: let me present it in a way that's not bullshit". Say you're a classic Princess. Your world has been deconstructed by the fact that you have a murderous husband and a society that has you wearing Corsettes you can't breathe in, and a public that has brought to the gates a Guillotine with your name on it. Or a more simplistic example: your name is Anastasia. To reconstruct the Princess story you slip on poor clothes, sneak out to work alongside the poor downtrodden masses, and come back as Joan of Arc except you survive to make your former peers sign the Constitution/Magna Carta-equivalent and even establish a Parliament and now you rule as Queen Amidala and then quit after "2 terms". (Yes, I've mixed a million different story/historical things there, for a reason.)

Hopefully I've got that right AND it makes sense...

 

[Stella_Omega]

That makes sense to me.

I guess reconstruct a lot of porn tropes in my porn... And some subversion. I don't do deconstruction, because I don't write what I'm not sexed up by in in the first place. Or something like that.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

That makes sense to me.

I guess reconstruct a lot of porn tropes in my porn... And some subversion. I don't do deconstruction, because I don't write what I'm not sexed up by in in the first place. Or something like that.

Ah, it seems I left out the part where I was saying that deconstruction is the least important one in the trio, in that it is only useful as a transitional element toward reconstruction. Subversion seems to be more fun, and reconstruction is the most fun but it requires the most work.

To wit, if "Loving Wives" is the genre, this is my highly amateurish take on why deconstruction is the lowest-value element, subversion is the next best, and reconstruction is the highest-value approach:

Deconstruction is the wife's relationship with the cabana boy ending in a messy divorce. Not very fun at all.

Subversion might be the cabana boy pulling a Mickey Rourke in Wild Orchid or a vaguely similar move: showing the husband how to re-seduce the wife but not screwing her. Subversion is itself a tricky subject. It can also be mistaken for aversion. The key is you must reasonably expect the cabana boy to tap that ass, but then he doesn't. Sprinkling a little Mickey Rourke onto the story is how you put a fun twist into it.

Reconstruction involves a scene of big time marital strife as a result of the loving wife (achieving a sort of marginal deconstruction) but then a deal is struck where the wife keeps the cabana boy and they seduce the house maid to double as the husband's concubine. In short, loving wives does not go away; it just evolves into adding "loving husbands" into the mix.

How does that sound?

 

[Stella_Omega]

How's this:

Your basic Harem slave fantasy; She's abducted, she learns a whole buncha ways to make a man happy, and the night before she's schedualed to be deflowered by the Pasha, she is rescued by the Great White Hunter who takes her Home for the Happy Ever After.

Deconstruction, god how many ways? She goes straight into the scullery, no harem life.

or, she's deflowered right away, no virgin for Bwana Jones to rescue.

or; Bwana Jones is worse than any Persian Pasha that ever was.

Subversion;

She Loooves harem life.

Reconstruction;
the Pasha turns out to be a woman pretending to be a man, our girl helps her solidify her power, the two of them fall in love and fuck their sapphic little brains out, Bwana Jones is a bumbling fool that leaves with a completely other girl.

Hmm, this is a really useful exercise!

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

How's this:

Your basic Harem slave fantasy; She's abducted, she learns a whole buncha ways to make a man happy, and the night before she's schedualed to be deflowered by the Pasha, she is rescued by the Great White Hunter who takes her Home for the Happy Ever After.

Deconstruction, god how many ways? She goes straight into the scullery, no harem life.

or, she's deflowered right away, no virgin for Bwana Jones to rescue.

or; Bwana Jones is worse than any Persian Pasha that ever was.

Subversion;

She Loooves harem life.

Reconstruction;
the Pasha turns out to be a woman pretending to be a man, our girl helps her solidify her power, the two of them fall in love and fuck their sapphic little brains out, Bwana Jones is a bumbling fool that leaves with a completely other girl.

Hmm, this is a really useful exercise!

Yup, and I'd actually read that last one. Bwana Jones becomes the great white hope subverted, too. That by itself would get me reading.

Speaking of harems! I've decided to decon/recon that fantasy by showing how unpleasant it can become for men (basically, it can carry a huge emasculation risk). Basically challenging and puree'ing my own erotic fantasy. It's working its way into the ongoing story I have on another site (which is also loaded with many other outrageously kinky and scary themes).

 

[oggbashan]

I tried to deconstruct tentacle porn with The Giant Squid.

I wrecked everything with The Worst Chain Story Ever Ch.01

I deconstructed English Grammar with Breathless Stargazing

But the DurtGurl consortium stood every erotica convention on its head. "I kiked down the door and cam in her fase".

Og

 

[manyeyedhydra]

Isn't reconstruction the same as playing the trope straight or am I missing something here? I suppose it could be the deconstruction of a deconstruction, where the deconstruction of the trope is so prevalent that playing it straight is a deconstruction of the popular approach.

Um, I think that last sentence just turned my brain inside out.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

Isn't reconstruction the same as playing the trope straight or am I missing something here? I suppose it could be the deconstruction of a deconstruction, where the deconstruction of the trope is so prevalent that playing it straight is a deconstruction of the popular approach.

Um, I think that last sentence just turned my brain inside out.

It is playing it straight, brutally, to the point where it doesn't look as good as it used to.

A famous incident of deconstruction is what was done to the cape trope. Some hero wears a cape while fighting crime, they get it caught in a revolving door, they get shot dead while wrestling with it. This occurred in "Watchmen".

Edit: oh damn. I misread "reconstruction" as "deconstruction". Sillyme.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Isn't reconstruction the same as playing the trope straight or am I missing something here? I suppose it could be the deconstruction of a deconstruction, where the deconstruction of the trope is so prevalent that playing it straight is a deconstruction of the popular approach.

Um, I think that last sentence just turned my brain inside out.

reconstruction is where you fix what's wrong with the trope (in your own opinion, of course)

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

I tried to deconstruct tentacle porn with The Giant Squid.

See, deconstruction isn't as fun as the other two when it comes to erotica. That you pulled it off isn't a contradiction of that difficulty: you just happened to navigate the pitfalls and the serious skill needed to get that done was more than just fairly evident in this story.