[Writingworkshop] some randoms

[Neale Morison]

The idea sounds a little like the layering thing I think about. You can 
write something with a superficial meaning, and stack up several deeper 
meanings, and the deeper meaning can have a deeper meaning.
And so on. Dodgy example but the first one that occurred to me: Hans 
Brinker with finger plugging hole in dyke dies of thirst -> you can have 
too much of a good thing, there is paradox  in sacrifice -> the universe 
is cruel in its indifference. By the way, what was wrong with that kid? 
He could have plugged it with something else and kept his hands free for 
the long night ahead.

There's a Stephen King movie, called Cat's Eye, that contains several 
short stories. It's one of the most successful adaptations of his 
stories. King wrote the screenplay. The Ledge is about a guy who is 
forced by a vengeful crime boss to walk around a building on a high 
window ledge. The shape of the ledge, with its angles and easier and 
harder bits, determines the dramatic shape of the action. The ledge is a 
graph of the audience's emotional response. It keeps you on edge, in 
suspense. The ledge is a metaphor for the plot, and at the same time it 
is the plot. Great idea, nice simple realization, ending apt but obvious 
and rather weakly managed. Yes, okay, I was stoned when I saw it.

Similar gag in the name of the movie Cliffhanger. My wife and I saw 
Cliffhanger at the movies together before we were married, and we 
enjoyed it a lot but we both laughed at the credit "Based on a premise 
by John Long". Presumably the title contained the premise. The term 
"Based on a premise" entered our permanent lexicon for anything where 
the idea was perhaps not fully worked out or maybe a little obvious and 
superficial. "It was okay, but it was based on a premise." Anything 
where you can sum up the work in a word. In fact Cliffhanger needs two 
words. Cliffhanger and snowy. There's another party game style 
challenge, to add to the find a metaphor for metaphor challenge.

I see the caipoeira as an example of metaphor. Stylized movements 
simplify and illuminate the movements of fighting, preserving certain 
aspects of interest and leaving out the messy bit. Physical metaphor.

A metaphor for metaphor. A generally understood, possibly simpler, more 
manageable thing that can be substituted for the process of 
substitution, and that gives you insight into the process of 
substitution. It feels very recursive, and my brain is starting to hang. 
The custom of selecting champions to take the place of armies in a 
battle. Does that work? Giving someone an apt keepsake? I have to go, 
but I want you to have my bong. Theatre is a metaphor for metaphor. 
Isn't it? As soon as I start to think about it I lock up.

Good challenge, Daniel.

Daniel Peters wrote:
> Haven't ever got very far with this, maybe someone ideas? I tried to 
> write a poem a few years ago about poetry itself treating metaphor as 
> caipoeira, the brazilian dance fighting art.  So if you had to find an 
> appropriate metaphor FOR metaphor, what would it be?  Does anyone find 
> the caipoeira angle interesting, effective?  I've since felt that the 
> poem never made it far not because of the ideas but my own immaturity 
> as a poet.  Just curious, now that I have the ears of a few more 
> seasoned veterans.......
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