by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The more I think about what I saw of Babylon before its plot grew too trite and I bounced, the more I like it. It was very interesting and I rarely rolled my eyes or checked my watch — which is a pretty big compliment coming from me. But the key thing that I was impressed with was how it was able to do “representation” in an organic, non-woke way.
I think this came about because first and foremost I was so engaged in the story and the characters that I didn’t have time to disassociate and begin to pick apart how fucking woke it may or may not have been. I, as an audience member, was so engrossed in the interesting story I was being presented that I bought into the various non-white men who were involved in the story.
I really liked one secondary character — the woman director who we saw some of as part of the Margot Robbie plotline. I did, however, find myself thinking, “Were there that many women directors in Hollywood back in the day?” But that was just my usual overthinking.
The only reason why this is even important to me is the novel I’m working on has a lot of organic representation in it, to the point that I’m afraid the fucking MAGA Nazis will claim I’m being too “woke.” Fuck those guys. If you’re going to tell a modern American story well, you have to address the stories of POC, women and the LGBTQ communities. Though, the first novel in what I hope to be a six novel project is set about 25 years ago — and “Babylon” was set around 100 years ago.
In general, I really enjoyed how over the top and colorful the characters of Babylon were. I just think they were not as well served by their plot as they might have been. The plot near the end was just so trite that I stopped character about the characters — there didn’t seem to be anyone who had any moral center that I could latch on to as sort of my proxy as an audience member. Everyone was debauched.
Watching Babylon I was reminded how much work I have to do to make my characters not just characters but people. I need them to be a group of people you’re willing to spend more than a few hours with to learn what happens next. The story still isn’t as dark or “thrilling” as it needs to be — but it is intriguing. I hope, maybe, to save up enough to get an editor involved in the process at some point between now and when I start querying in fall 2023.
