In reflection to the previous class exercise, I wanted to gain more knowledge into creating insightful characters whose depth shaped the narrative action. Thinking back to characters that have inspired my writing and bore significance in generating a thoughtful plot, I was immediately led to write on my favourite author, the Australian Christos Tsiolkas. Although his work is not of the film/TV industry, rather novels (despite at least two of his works being adapted into a film and a TV series), the characters he created in The Slap and Barracuda drove me to invest in the characters unlike that I have experienced with other authors’ work.
Tsiolkas, an openly gay man born of an immigrant family from Greece, is known for possessing the ability to capture his vantage point as an outsider through his characters. As a writer, Tsiolkas has a gift for affecting his readers to relate to the character, not by imposing a fictional structure but by utilising experiences that in one way or another, everyone can personally relate to. This is evident in the award-winning The Slap, where unlike other works of fiction that had clear cut archetypes of protagonists and antagonists, Tsiolkas effectively blends morality and creates characters driven by motives that are all equally valid. Its hook, which the novel is titled after, is a very-Australian BBQ at which a man slaps a child he is of no relation to. Readers are instantly drawn to choose sides within the conflict; the hardworking, successful Harry whose thriving business provides for his ‘perfect’ upper-middle class family, or Rosie, a loving mother fighting for her ‘abused’ child’s right, despite struggling to make ends meet for her lower class family. Both sides in the conflict have their own ‘good’ and ‘bad’ qualities and narrate realistic human convictions of redemption and change.
When interviewed by Allen & Unwin about his work on The Slap, Tsiolkas shares the story which inspired his novel:
“I was at my parent’s house, a few years ago, and they were hosting a barbeque for relatives and friends. At the time there was a couple there, friends of mine, who had a three year old son. My mother was in the kitchen cooking up a storm – pita, pasticcio, potatoes – while Dad and “the men” were firing up the barbeque. I was in the kitchen helping my mother, and she, slightly frazzled with all she had to do, was getting annoyed that the three year old boy was opening up cupboards and drawers, taking out pots and pan and using them as building blocks. She kept trying to make him stop and go out and play, but he was taking no notice of her. Nearly tripping on a saucepan, she became exasperated with him, pulled him up gently and with the smallest of taps on the bum, said ‘No more!’
The little boy – and I won’t forget the look of shock on his face – placed his hands on his hips and said to my mother, ‘No-one has a right to touch my body without my permission!’ To which my mother replied, ‘You naughty, I smack you.’
There was no violence in her action and all the adults laughed, including the parents. But going home afterwards I couldn’t help but think over the incident and what it expressed about generational, cultural and familial change.”
Tsiolkas then continues to speak about how he wanted to experience the author’s joy of writing and creating characters by writing about his own backyard, but one thing is clear in this. Particularly in this novel, composed of chapters written from the viewpoint of varied individuals present at the incident, it is indisputable in this interview that Tsiolkas’ stories were inspired by characters from his own life.
Perhaps this is the key to crafting such thought-provoking narratives. In fact, other novels by Tsiolkas such as Merciless Gods, Loaded and Barracuda, tell the stories of outsiders, mostly immigrants and/or homosexuals, reimagined from his own life. This does not necessarily dictate that one should write about their life (though of course, you are welcome to do so), what is imposed is that aspiring writers should look into their own real stories for inspiration. After all, there is nothing that we are more knowledgeable of than the lives that we lead.
“Thanassis (67) is a widower and father of three. His wife passed away from cancer four years ago, bringing him to a new understanding of loneliness. He comes to a realisation that he spent his youth working, and as a strict father, he feels that he had pushed away his children in the process. In an attempt to find purpose in his new life, he tries to get closer to his three kids, despite all of them having their own families and living away from home. He discovers a second chance for redemption by bonding with his middle child’s daughter, Sophia (5), nurturing her like his own.”