When Is Something Too Dark? · 1:27am Sep 28th, 2014
Hello there. No, I'm not dead. I'm just working on a longer project (about the length of a short novella) that I plan on finishing in its entirety before releasing in very rapid succession. Maybe.
Why I say "maybe" is because (especially today, writing the ending to the first draft) it just might be too damn dark for its own good.
It will come as no surprise, but I'm a large fan of the macabre. Once in a while, I'll search the net for the latest movie to push the envelope in such odd directions. I've come away with hits: Oldboy, I Saw The Devil, Ichi the Killer, and Battle Royale, being a few. As well as some that I believe went too far: Cannibal Holocaust, 120 Days of Sodom, Men Behind The Sun, Antichrist, Martyrs, and sadly a lot more.
What I believe separates these two piles is if the darkness is warranted, or whether it adds to the overall experience in a meaningful way.
On at least five occasions while popping out chapters of "Strings" I honestly thought, "This is too much." Or, "This is getting too dark." In my mind I thought it was all necessary, to either create a tone, set up a character, or move the plot forward. As far as I can tell, no one slammed me for anything in that story, at least in the comments. Perhaps I did go too far and I didn't even know it.
What I'm slowly driving at is just what makes something "Dark" and what makes something "Too Dark"? Is it the reason it's dark, or just the level of the darkness? Two film series come to mind when I think about this: Saw and Hostel. I would say both have the same amount of torture and violence and whatnot, but I believe one is a lot more highly regarded than the other (not Oscar wise but regular film-goer wise). Is it because Saw spends more time on its characters and overall story arc that it can get away with it easier? I'm not going to dive into it because neither series are masterpieces.
Long story short, I'll probably post the story anyways. Both because I spent a lot of time on it, and because I'm oddly curious to see if I crossed the line. (And please believe me when I say I'm not trying to hype this thing up--I'm just oddly afraid of a backlash.)
So was there ever a movie or TV show you thought crossed the line?
Or was there ever a movie or TV show you believe was just perfectly dark enough to tell its story?
I'd be interested to know.
Thanks,
NBD.
There's no such thing as "Too Dark" as long as it is an important part of the story and not being dark for the sake of dark, you should be fine.
(I for one love a good dark story)
2514157 I completely agree. That's the way I like to look at certain dark parts of stories or whatnot, but I guess the trouble I find sometimes is trying to view your own work from a distance. As in, "I think this isn't too dark, but would others?"
Oddly enough, the story that prompted myself into blogging about this type of stuff is now my highest rated story. People on this site must really enjoy twisted material. (I love them, too...)
Excellent question. As someone who occasionally tries to write stories that are "too dark", I would say that the defining feature is the potential for having direct relevance to the readers' lives. So not too dark, but too close to home.
Another way to look at it is, too dark for ... what? To entertain? To be believable? To jive with the FIM universe? In these respects maybe some material can be too much, I think.
If you have time and are so inclined, please check out my contributions. A good number of them have been rejected from EQD and features on this site for being "too dark", and might provide insight.