[UA] Who is the True King?

[John Tynes]

I added the reference to "Diamond" Joe Esposito in the TK archetype
write-up, but it was Ken who supplied it. I was looking for an ascension
that would shift the archetype from nation-kings to neighborhood-kings--for
gameplay reasons if nothing else, prompted by Stolze--and asked Ken for an
informed recommendation. Esposito has the benefit of being a suitable
historical figure without the liability of being a hugely famous one.

I don't think Elvis or Morrison really fit as any sort of TK, nor does any
other entertainer save Reagan. I think the TK archetype invokes a political,
fealty mindset that isn't the same as the fawning adoration of pop
celebrity. Stronger TK alternatives to Esposito would be people like
President Roosevelt (either one), or David Duke--political/leadership
figures who inspire a following on the basis of ideology as well as
charisma. By the time FDR died, there was a generation of American teenage
children who had never known another president.

David Duke, of course, would be a failed avatar. For a few moments he
appeared poised to lead a socially conservative, racially bigoted movement
into the national consciousness, with mystic propwash like the infamous KKK
training camp set up for the benefit of telegenic would-be politicos
sympathetic to KKK ideology. But his hour on the stage was mercifully brief,
and he fell off the path.

Elvis is an interesting case. You'd think he'd be a candidate for some kind
of avatarhood, but short of The Self-Destructive Artist it's hard to see a
valid one. The problem with reading a biography of a public figure is that
any notions you have of simplicity and archetypal nature are shattered by
the sheer weight of the daily grind and the mass of decisions and
contradictions that comprise a personality. I read Peter Guralnick's superb
two-volume bio of Elvis (LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS and CARELESS LOVE) and
nowhere did I see a man of sufficient consistency of word, thought, or deed
to make any credible sense as a serious avatar, at least as I see
avatarhood.

Of course, UA is a game chock full of pop ideas, and rendering analogs like
Elvis = True King is fun and appropriate. But I'm biased towards using UA as
a filter through which to study the real world, just as I've used CALL OF
CTHULHU over the years, and so I'm leery of those appealingly simple
analogs.



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