[UA] Requiem for a Dream

[Stevens Dustin]

I just saw this horror-fest yesterday, and now this
unbelievable taint permates my skin. My wife and I ran
out into the yard and commenced to furious yard-work
to get the "unclean" feeling away from us.
Technically, it's a brillant film, but oh, god, the
agony and the horror (right up there with Bad
Lieutenant). Still, I found it intensely UA-able, in
that kind of a bleak John Tynes UA (versus say the
more humor-laden wacky Greg Stolze UA). 

I apologize to the list if this one's been dissected
methodically before. With that, spoilers below
(although, you might want to read anyway, to save your
self the self-mutilating ritual of watching this puppy
for game hooks):

SPOILERS

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CHARACTERIZATION AND OBSESSION

Ellen Burstein's (sp?) character Sarah Goldfarb is by
far the most UA-like fictional character I've ever
seen. This woman is Obsessed with a capital O.
Although the movie is about drug addiction (Sarah's
addicted to diet pills, a strict regime of uppers and
downers; her son, son's friend, and son's girlfriend
to heroin), it's Sarah's obsession which drives her
beyond the limits of normalcy: to be on TV. Everything
she does is toward this end goal. Every thought, every
action, everything is for television.

When people play their character's obsession's in
game, I think using Requiem as a litmus test for good
RPing would be smart. If your character isn't willing
to go to jail, go insane, be dismembered, or debase
themselves in the most humilating ways for their
obsession, then how could they call themselves
obsessed?

The characters in the film were obsessed to escape
internal pain and turmoil, for various reasons (unable
to love, or not receiving love). They just didn't wake
up wacked-out and obsessed one day. Likewise, UA
characters could be fleshed out by asking simply "why
is my character obsessed?" Not everyone has to be
using their obsession as a panacea or as a screen to
hide from themselves, but not everyone in the world is
horribly obsessed the way UA characters are. There's
gotta be a reason why.

Anyway...

THE REFRIGERATOR

Coolest movie monster in the last ten years. I think
you could do a lot worse things to start a UA scenario
then to say,

"You're standing on a street corner when an elderly
woman with lipstick smeared all over her face runs
past you screaming that her refrigerator is trying to
eat her."

Or maybe the PC's frig is acting up. Have they
summoned any demons lately? This movie shows how to
use animated kitchen appliances in a way that doesn't
smack of "Maximum Overdrive" (although I still have a
soft spot for the steam-roller scene in MO).  Combine
this frig with the one in "Ghostbusters" ... eh, maybe
not.

TV SET REALITY

The frig goes hand in hand with the scene where Sarah
Goldfarb, by being sooo damn obsessed, merges reality
with her television set. At first, people in the set
are now roaming around her chair, but eventually she's
simultaneously on the television stage (complete with
cameras) and in her living room. Visions of the
Statosphere?

THE DOPE TRUCK

Although, not something I find too realistic, the
scene where Marlon Wayans and Jared Leto are waiting
patiently in line to buy dope in the back of an
abandoned supermarket from a man in a tractor trailer
seems ready-made to be transplanted to UA. The PCs
hear about a large ship of ___________ that will be at
a specific location and time. Who shows up to buy? Who
shows up to sell? And why is most everyone (except the
man with the gun) willing to wait patiently in line to
get it. And what is being sold? Drugs? Fuzzy lumpkins?
Free magical charges?

The other item is the abandoned supermarket. How eerie
would it be to wander around a location that should be
rife with people, but is horribly vacant? I had an
idea once about a sunken hospital, which had a cult in
it, led by a vaguely humanoid avatar of a God. More
Cthulhu to UA but, but I think the hospital might make
for a very surreal moment.

THE SEX SHOW

Now, that "hot ass to ass action" is a common phrase
in my household, I'd say this scene is ready-made to
transplant to a UA campaign. Of course, the show
doesn't have to be about sex--it could be anything
immoral that young, bored, very well-paid executives
might blow their cash on. Maybe a cock fight where the
roosters have human heads? Heads that bare vicious
teeth and bite. Odds are good that Alex Abel knows
quite a few "pervert shows" are being performed right
now. Add this together with the orgy scenes from Eyes
Wide Shut, and it could all become so very disturbing.

What I'd more likely transplant into UA though would
be the theme this scene has: there are those who have
power and money, who are 'in the know', and there are
those who are going to be exploited by those with
power and money so they can be 'in the know'. Marion
doesn't know where to find drugs, so she's willing to
be exploited by someone who does. This also places in
a never-ending loop with her drug obsession: she goes
to her obsession because it relieves her of the pain
she has from what she's done, but to get there, she
must do more of what causes her pain. 

Does that make sense?

Anyway, I guess that's much too long of a post for
now.

Steve Dustin
zoom2baba at yahoo.com


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