Tragedy and Sad Tags · 2:31am Jan 4th, 2015
After some internal debate, as well as speaking with commenters and Gwg, I did some research on behalf of making Taming the Storm a better story. Why am I looking into this? Because the next story to be updated once New Kind of Party is up is Taming the Storm, and so I have to take it all into account to make sure I show the reflections and enhances I'll be doing. But this post isn't about the next Taming the Storm chapter. No, it's about something that is fundamentally important to this story and all others that share a similar fate. The difference between tragedy and sadness in a story, and how each is used with and without the other. It will help explain what my story is going to be like and why some characters are acting (so far) as they are.
I present for my case with the following pieces of evidence:
- Tragedy is literally defined as
In literature, the concept of tragedy refer to a series of unfortunate events by which one or more of the literary characters in the story undergo several misfortunes, which finally culminate into a disaster of ‘epic proportions’. Tragedy is generally built up in 5 stages: a) happy times b) the introduction of a problem c) the problem worsens to a crisis or dilemma d) the characters are unable to prevent the problem from taking over e) the problem results in some catastrophic, grave ending, which is the tragedy culminated.
-Literary Devices Literary Devices (http://literary-devices.com/content/tragedy)
- Sadness, as almost universally defined, is
1. Showing, expressing, or feeling sorrow or unhappiness: a sad face.
2. Causing sorrow or gloom; depressing: a sad movie; sad news.
3. Deplorable or inadequate; sorry: a sad state of affairs; a sad excuse.
4. Dark-hued; somber.
- The Free Dictionary (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sad)
- Sad stories don't always have tragedy in them. A story can be sad without having to prescribe to the above definition of tragedy. It doesn't mean bad things can't or don't happen, because there is no story unless it has some unfortunate fact that gives it its sadness. It just has a different way to be sad. Some fact, event, feeling or other element causes the reader and main character sadness.
-Tragedies don't always have sad elements in them. Like the story of Julius Caesar. His story is that of a powerful, arrogant man who, through being blind to the issues and warnings, falls to ruin and is killed. I personally don't see how that is sad. Yes, it's strong, very moving, but I am not sad that he died. He was arrogant and was asking for trouble. But perhaps that's just me and this particular point is more a personally based one.
HOWEVER! I did look up stories based on tags, and found that not all tragedy stories have a 'sad' tag, nor does all sad stories have a 'tragedy' tag. Yes, it is common, and some of the more well known and powerful ones are both sad and tragic, but it is not exclusively connected.
- All the main characters in a sad story do not have to be sad themselves. Yes, they can have times when they are sad but they can still have an overall optimistic view of the world. Why? Because of a few reasons.
1) It shows the difference between the characters. Gives more interactions and shows just how different/ 'sad' the focused characters are from them.
2) Those who are optimistic can have moments of sadness, just like everyone else. They just bounce back faster.
3) Everyone knows that always cheerful person, admit it. No matter how lousy someone feels, the overly friendly and happy person seem to just latch onto someone they deem 'worthy' (not that the happy person will think of it in those terms) and be their friend no matter how sad/dejected/depressed their new friend is. The cheerful ones that won't give up, to give some bright light in the darkness of depression.
- Sad stories don't always have to end sadly. Things can be hard and depressing, but that does not mean the main characters can rise above it or gain some kind of happiness.
If resilience is the ability to bounce back, to endure and/or to come through difficult times better off for the struggle, that means that there is a happy ending to the story, or at least to that chapter of it... All stories allow for either tone, and the ability we each have to bend our stories toward the happy ending reflects our resilience. Resilient people do or can live happy stories.
- Resilience and Happy Endings (http://oka-online.com/resilience-happy-endings/)
This means that so long as the characters can endure, grow, or move beyond what makes them 'sad', they can have a happy ending. The main characters of Taming the Storm are very resilient (and if you can't tell by this time, then you may need to go back over the story with the characters in mind as they are shown in the show and re-watch them grow even further). They can earn their happiness and happy ending.
What does this mean for Taming the Storm? It means that while (some of) the characters have sad elements to them, and the over all start of the story is sad, that does not mean it has to stay that way. Yes, the sad parts is what drew a lot of you to this story, but that doesn't make a complete, full story. Not like this shall be. Yes, as one commenter pointed out, Sweetie Belle isn't 'sad'. Does this mean I have to suddenly make her a dramatic and traumatized character? No. (The commenter didn't mean for this kind of change either.)
It may be that she stands out because she doesn't have the sad element. And if you think about her in the TV show, she wasn't one to be sad all that much. There was a few moments that she was sad ish (usually because of Rarity's actions and because of bullies). It's in season four that we learn she has a bit of a complex when it comes to her sister. Right now, my story is in season 2 (this applies to all three stories at this time). True, this means that it should show in how she acts around her sister, but so far she hasn't really done much with Rarity. So compared to the drastic lives of the other three main characters, she is rather well off and happy. But everyone has to experience some kind of happiness to make the sadness all the more bitter.
People and ponies can adapt and be used to so much. They can be used to and know only sadness and hardship. But it isn't as bad when you have no good memories to compare it to. Sure, they know they aren't very well off, but they can find contentment wherever they can. It's when you have or had some kind of happiness and lost it that makes things truly painful. Taming the Storm is a story about how these sad ponies regain and earn their new happiness. But not everyone can have a sadness to them like they do. It is a little jarring to find these happier ponies while reading about Dash, Flutter and Scoot's tragic stories, but it is just as jarring to them as it is for you. They see these ponies who have happiness, lives, loved ones, and know that they are inherently different because of what they've gone through.
Now, why have I made the longest blog in my history of using the internet? Because of research. (though gosh this is getting long) The comments and speaking with my editor made me think about the story and the different tags. And I take my research very seriously and tend to go a little waaaay overboard with it. With this, I hope everyone reading Taming the Storm sees 'sad' tags differently and have faith that while I have some happy characters (namely Sweetie Belle at this time). And those who haven't read the concerned story at least sees tragedy and sadness in a new light. Also, I want to note that I do not like sad endings. I know they happen, and that life will never have a perfect happy ending, but I believe that these ponies can and should get a happy-ish ending.
That and I wanted to encourage more discussion. I do like sharing ideas and talking about things after all. 
So please, if you've made it this far and want to point out something or ask about Taming the Storm, comment, question or what have you below! I'd like to see what others think about this kind of thing. Or anything about the topic of tragedy and sad stories.
2699133 Yes, yes, I actually listen to my commenters and think about what they say.
Hope this helps put the story into perspective and whatnot.
...That was a lot to go through
2700947 to read...? yeah, I was really trying to be clear in what I was thinking and why... >.> any and all my school work papers were extremely long. my classmates could never get how I managed to do that.