Narm and pool noodles makes me think of Holes by Louis Sachar. What's so bad about digging a hole in the ground every day?
He does three things that I can think of:
- The narration sort of skates dissociatively over the emotional experience, using the trauma-processing tools of the mind as part of the diegesis.
- He makes the humor the characters' and narrator's humor. You're cued to separate the situation and the narrator a little bit, and therefore to look at both of them. "What are they doing?" _and_ "how are they feeling about it?" The reader is asked to unpack the horror themselves.
- The plot roots the present-day experiences in a larger frame that is more obviously terrible. (Maybe he doesn't connect these things as tightly as he could have if he wanted to highlight the terribleness of the present-day experiences.)
This reminded me a lot of the always-excellent Jacob Geller's video, "Analyzing Every Torture Scene in Call of Duty". If you're interested in the topic, it's quite possible you've already seen it, and if not, it sounds like you've already arrived at many of the same conclusions regarding torture and the ethical ramifications of its portrayal in fiction. He covers the "ticking time bomb" myth, the pernicious idea that "good people" can resist breaking while "bad guys" will fold due to some inherent quality of moral character, and the question of what choosing to commit torture says and doesn't say about the person who chooses it. All through the lens of one of the most consistent throughlines of one of the largest media franchises on the planet, and from someone I consider the most thoughtful and insightful person currently working in the media criticism space. Not sure how much of it will be new to you, but worth a watch if it's an interest of yours (or for anyone else who might want another perspective on the ideas).
Narm and pool noodles makes me think of Holes by Louis Sachar. What's so bad about digging a hole in the ground every day?
He does three things that I can think of:
- The narration sort of skates dissociatively over the emotional experience, using the trauma-processing tools of the mind as part of the diegesis.
- He makes the humor the characters' and narrator's humor. You're cued to separate the situation and the narrator a little bit, and therefore to look at both of them. "What are they doing?" _and_ "how are they feeling about it?" The reader is asked to unpack the horror themselves.
- The plot roots the present-day experiences in a larger frame that is more obviously terrible. (Maybe he doesn't connect these things as tightly as he could have if he wanted to highlight the terribleness of the present-day experiences.)
This reminded me a lot of the always-excellent Jacob Geller's video, "Analyzing Every Torture Scene in Call of Duty". If you're interested in the topic, it's quite possible you've already seen it, and if not, it sounds like you've already arrived at many of the same conclusions regarding torture and the ethical ramifications of its portrayal in fiction. He covers the "ticking time bomb" myth, the pernicious idea that "good people" can resist breaking while "bad guys" will fold due to some inherent quality of moral character, and the question of what choosing to commit torture says and doesn't say about the person who chooses it. All through the lens of one of the most consistent throughlines of one of the largest media franchises on the planet, and from someone I consider the most thoughtful and insightful person currently working in the media criticism space. Not sure how much of it will be new to you, but worth a watch if it's an interest of yours (or for anyone else who might want another perspective on the ideas).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPiL3-CYzWk