Stranger than fiction

The 2024 election is too crazy to be written as fiction.

Here is a 93-second sketch, imagining a screenwriter pitching a story about the 2024 election to a co-writer or producer. It is a dark commentary resolving into a tragedy. The story needs a hero.

I would write it differently, as a wry comedy with a happy ending. The country resists the peril facing it from an internal threat and saves itself with the common sense and decency of its own citizens. After some missteps, we, the people, are the story's hero.

There is a lot of talent creating content in this country. TikTok gets criticized as a bad influence on America, but this brief video is an example of the kinds of extraordinary material that gets posted there. You will find more work by this content creator on TikTok@alloramomo

https://youtu.be/BUqWlDP9Vu4

The sketch is superbly acted, and it is worth one's time. I realize some readers don't like to click on videos. Here is the dialog for people who prefer to read it:

Producer: The structure of the story doesn't make sense.

Writer: How come?

Producer: I mean there's an assassination attempt on the ex-president that he dodges, right? Then he comes out with an American flag, like, uh, Liberty Leading the People.

Writer: That's the inspiration!

Producer: So he's the hero?

Writer: No! He's running for his own gains. And uses the attempt as nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Producer: So he's an Antagonist?

Writer: Or a Protagonist. I mean that's how he's viewed by the citizens. But the audience knows he's an Anti-Hero.

Producer: So then the sitting president

Writer: Yes

Producer: Gets hit with the plague and a few days later decides he's not running. Is this an act of sacrifice for the Hero?

Writer: No! It may seem like benevolence, but he's dropping out because his party recognizes his own weakness. And so would rather hold power by nominating someone else.

Producer: So it's not an altruistic act on his part.

Writer: Absolutely not. His hand was forced.

Producer: Making him another Anti-Hero!

Writer: Yes!

Producer: OK! So the Hero is the successor then, right? The vice president is being set up to run for election

Writer: Close! Optically it may look like it. I mean, that's why we made the character a Black woman, to really symbolize overcoming of the odds. Because who in this country has it harder than Black women?

Producer: She can be part of the LGBT community.

Writer: And that will come in the next episode, but really we want to set her up as like a Joan of Arc! You know, like a foil to her opposition.

Producer: But Joan of Arc was a Hero. A Martyr. And she is not?

Writer: No! She only got to her position through imprisoning her own community. She acts in her own self-interest as well.

Producer: So she's another Anti-Hero! So that's a problem. Who's the Hero?

Writer There is no Hero.

Producer: There's no Hero?

Writer: No. The story is not a comedy in a Shakespearean sense. It's a tragedy.

Producer: For who?

Writer: The citizens! They're forced to view these Anti-Heroes as Heroes. That's the tragedy.

Producer: So the real antagonist

Writer: Is the system itself.

Producer: OK. Is there any comic relief?

Writer: Well, there's a candidate with a worm in his head.

Producer: Get the fuck out of my office. 

 

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