Thoughts On Forging

[fae_boleyn]

OK, so, I've tackled Arthur's job as the point man (here: fae-boleyn.livejournal.com/14015.html), now I want to turn my attention to Eames' job as a forger. I don't think I have as much to say about this one, mostly because I was also trying to counter what seems to be some accepted fanon that really annoys me in the Arthur/point man meta. This one I don't really have an agenda for.

So. Forging. I actually think this has to be the riskiest dreamscape job, and I suspect that there are only a handful of forgers out there. I know some people think Eames is the only one, but I find that a bit unlikely, unless the dreamshare community is very small. Because even if Eames is self-taught, which is a possibility, someone else had to have come up with the idea of changing their physical form in dreams and managed to pull it off convincingly. I think we've all dreamed ourselves into someone else's body at least once in our lives - I had a really odd one involving myself as Joan of Arc after a very odd episode of this kids' show called Wishbone, but that's another story altogether. Also, if you can fold up a city like a tortilla, why can't you make yourself look different? I wouldn't be surprised to find a handful of "semi-forgers", which is to say people who can change individual things about their own appearance, like hair, eyes, or height. The best of these would probably be able to manage opposite-gender versions of themselves, but they wouldn't be able to forge another person, real or made up.

Which brings me to my next point. I tend to think that there are two kinds of what I'm going to call full forgery. The first we see with the Blonde, and the second we see with Eames' forge of Browning. The Blonde is, in my mind, someone Eames created. I can't remember his exact phrasing and my computer doesn't want to play DVDs today so I can't check, but he says something along the lines of having a lovely lady they can use to distract Fischer. This may be me reading too much into a turn of phrase, but it feels to me like Eames designed her, the way Ariadne or pre-Limbo Cobb would do a dreamscape. I see forgers as constantly observing the people around them, picking up a gesture here, a hairstyle there, that pair of eyes on the guy in the corner, etc., and blending them together to create original, generic characters for simple things like distracting a mark.

Then there's the more complex forgeries, those of real people. We know that Eames spent hours observing Browning, and that he actually had to practice Browning's gestures and such over and over again. I suspect he did some of this in reality as well as in the dream, for the muscle memory aspect of it. This type of forgery also requires a certain amount of psychoanalysis, because in order to be convincing as a character, you have to understand their mindset, not just mimic their behaviors. This is something that I had to do myself, for an acting class last year. Our professor had us writing papers in character about the mindset and background of our role, really getting us into the characters' heads. A forger would have to be a lot better at this than a bunch of college kids fulfilling their fine arts core requirement.

Which brings me full circle to the first thing I said in this discussion. Forgery is the riskiest job there is in dreamshare. Why? Think about it. A forger inhabits the character of another person. The biggest risk in dreaming is losing yourself; how much higher do the odds of that go when your job involves being someone other than yourself? So how does someone like Eames do what he does without going nuts? Simple. He doesn't believe it himself. I've seen the idea in some places that even the forger must be convinced that he or she is the person they're pretending to be or the forge won't hold, but I can't see how that doesn't lead to madness. (Of course, if you're writing a fic and that;s your plan...) The trick in forgery is to convince your audience, just like a good actor. But in the end, it's just a mask. A terribly elaborate one, but still a mask. A forger probably has to know himself or herself better than most people ever do, simply because they need to be secure  and anchored in their own identity to keep from losing it. I genuinely think there have been forgers who began to believe their own acts, and if someone didn't catch it, they probably lost their minds.

So that's about all I have to say on forgery, but I hope it was at least a little bit interesting.

 

Comments

[elixile22.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome! Oh definitely - the first example that comes to mind about the amount you can encapsulate in a movie vs. TV series is Serenity vs. Firefly. It makes a perfectly wonderful movie all on it's own but it seemed that half the cinema freaked out when a particular character death occurred, whilst the other half (obviously not seen the series) were virtually non-plussed. And it is just character time that makes that sort of engagement.

Uh- wow, tangent. Well I have to admit for eye candy it is Arthur (I've been a JGL fanboy for aboot a year) and I love his character also, most definitely. It's a toss up between the two characters, actually... Just Tom Hardy, man, yeah, he IS such a damn star!

Well, I like the poker chip. I like Eames as the chameleonic charmer, sharp as a knife but laconic as melted butter, and a battered poker chip suits him. I've not written in the fandom yet (been lurking since the start though) but I do find the totem concept interesting.

Mid to late thirties sounds good, Tom Hardy doesn't look 32 years though :o As for older men, I tend to write mostly males in their 40s (and am in my 30s myself) so aha I like to give the old guys some love too <.<

Oh absolutely, apart from the real difference from say deep South to NYC or something. Ah! But I think the flirting is almost the epitome of his murmured poshness - like a true roguish cad! Yeah, I think it might be more to do with people trying to work out why he would be involved in illegalities and do it so well. Mm. I've actually seen a fair few that pick up on his middle/upper classiness (perhaps even your fic! I need to check your journal ^_^) just plenty that go in entirely the opposite direction. Kinda just made me think... odd.

Thanks for replying and sorry for the length of this comment!

[fae-boleyn.livejournal.com]

First, I just noticed my error about his father - he's an MP, not a PM. This is why I shouldn't reply to comments in class. My journal is all Arthur/Eames and Ariadne/Arthur/Eames, so if that's not your thing, I warned you. :)

Character time definitely creates a deeper bond - it even works with films, like Star Wars, since there were several of them and you see the characters grow and change. I have never seen Serenity/Firefly, but I heard how rough that death was on fans of the show. It's Joss Whedon, though; I will never forget his Buffy/Angel deaths and how damned heartbreaking they were.

I've set Arthur's age at 30 and Ariadne's at 24 at the point of the film (at least for my A/A/E series; otherwise I haven't specified), so since my ships are A/E and A/A/E, it kind of... *shrugs* I'm 20 myself, but I've written characters of various ages - writing kids is trickiest, really.

Deep South vs. NYC, yeah, but for example I live in Philadelphia, and there are certain quirks of my speech that even sticks out in other parts of the same state. The flirting definitely fits a "roguish cad" as you put it, as does the general messing about with people's heads. I wrote him as getting involved with thievery because he was bored, which seemed to fit somehow.

Never apologize about long comments, I love them!

[elixile22.livejournal.com]

Oh! Don't worry dear, I read MP rather than PM (cos, I just uh- don't want to imagine Eames as the spawn of the likes of Cameron or some such. ACK) Sounds good to me :)

That is very true, then you have epics too, and there's always good character development in epics, but I think you know what I'm driving at! Good grief, yes, Anya in Buffy... I was all: *blinks and misses it* wuh-wut-whaaaaat?!

I can definitely see Arthur as 30 (he strikes me as being 29-34, even though JGL is rather baby faced at times) and Ariadne is an architect, so again that works perfectly. Some people can write kids really well but I have no idea how to!

Mm, I would expect that to be so. Even in a place as tiny as Britain the accent differences are immense. And I LOVE that idea for Eames, you don't even know how much. 8D

(Also, I've read some of your stuff! Do you mind if I friend you? I'm not going to spam, promise, just want to get out of the no-comment drain I seem to be in... and it would help, having active friends, you see? :p)

[fae-boleyn.livejournal.com]

LOL. Well, that's good. I don't know enough about British politics to know why you wouldn't want Eames to be the son of one of your PMs, but then again I wouldn't want to make certain Presidents fathers of characters either. (At least you lot have managed a female PM, even though I get the impression her at-home rep is not necessarily good; we can't get that far.)

The worst for me was Fred in Angel, because I mean, she and Wes had just gotten themselves together and then... ;_;

Most of the kids I wrote were in stories set in the 1500s, this didn't help.

Eames getting bored and falling into crime seemed fitting. He strikes me as a man who loves a challenge. As for ages, JGL is 30 himself, which is where I get that from, though I think I'm aging him up for my next mini-series project, for the sake of plausibility. Maybe I'll go with 33 or 34 for him and 38 or so for Eames.

It's also the urban/rural thing, since my state is mostly rural except for two large cities and a handful of smaller ones. I used to live in one of those towns, but had the Philly accent from my mother, and one of my classmates (at about age nine, mind) noticed.

(I assume you liked my stuff if you're friending me, and no, I don't mind at all! I'll friend you as well. Also I don't think I mind spam much, I just ignore what I'm not interested in reading. :D)

[elixile22.livejournal.com]

No, no, not trying to get us into a political faux pas here, honest! It's just a bit of a touchy subject with a lot of us right now :) Recessions, gotta love 'em. (Ah Maggie, yes, well. She was tough. Yeah, I think I'll go with that. And you know, it might happen one day - it's good to see a Pres of mixed heritage at least).

Oh, aye, poor Wes ;_;

Really now? That's intriguing!

Absolutely. Though I also like the defected militaristic (rebels don't usually get very far in the military, but the guy has got panache) angle too :) JGL is very nearly 30, isn't he? He shares the same b/day as my bro! <-- pointless random fact, I just like it. What's the new project about, may I ask?

Hmm - I take it it was not accepted too well? Kids can be pretty damn cruel at times (though, I suppose, making sense of the world and your own identity might lend more to stereotyping and prejudice. Lord knows, I had my share).

What I've read of your stuff yes! I'm in a bit of a slump right now, as I'm trying to get a new job and busy, so no real threat of spamalots xD I will try and get to read more of your stuff though. Thanks!

~Eli

[fae-boleyn.livejournal.com]

I hear that. And I'm sure it will, but... Eh, whatever, I may be a poli-sci minor, but I should leave it in class.

I write Tudors fanfic - fanfic because basic characterizations, etc., come from the Showtime TV series, though since I love the period I blend show canon with history - as much as one can in extreme AU.

Eames definitely spent time in the service, I just get that from him. Especially because of level three. Also I think Nolan or someone else in the know said it.

Burn Notice meets Inception, and there will almost certainly be some Whoniverse in there somewhere, for the new project. The first fic is already up, actually, that one is primarily Gen.

Actually it wasn't a problem, it was being the weird kid once I was actually living in Philly that was. Oh well, that was ten years ago.

:D Glad you like what you've seen.

[eustacia-vye28.livejournal.com]

Thread hijacking, hi! :)

My husband put it this way with Jossverse stuff: he listens to his fans way too much. And if his show isn't coming back, he kills the popular characters. I've only really followed Firefly, but he assures me this is true with Buffy and Angel, too.

Even within NYC there's variances based on which borough you're from, and which PART of the borough. We don't all talk like we're Brooklyn-born goombahs, even if New Yorkers always sound like that in movies. :D

[fae-boleyn.livejournal.com]

IT IS TRUE. Capslock over. But really, it is. Him and Russell T. Davies on Torchwood (and sometimes Doctor Who, but he's worse on TW). Gotta admire them for it in some ways though; I can't kill my characters.

Same with Philly, really. It's more subtle than NYC, though.

[eustacia-vye28.livejournal.com]

DUDE. Don't get me started on RTD. I've only seen the end of Torchwood S2 and COE once and I'm not planning to shred my heart again. :(

[fae-boleyn.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way, bb. Trust me.