In Young Adult literature there's always a Type-A... or so it seems, leading the pack, standing back with an unreachable glower, ready to swoop in for the troops at a time of need. They're usually the love interest, the unfeeling bad boy that needs the gentility of a mousy creature to whip them around. I hate it, I really do, the distortion of the Type-A with romance, because real Type-A's can stand alone. Whether you swoon over them or not in private is your own thing, but REAL Type-A's keep it real. REAL Type-A's say it like it is, even if it's embarrassing or uncomfortable or crass. They get a bad wrap these days, but I'd like to vouch for them--even though, frankly, they can stand on their own.
I've been writing a Type-A character over the past few months who has brought me back to my roots. Long ago, after the inability to sleep, or study for a french final, I streamed Stand By Me on my ghetto laptop... I think I might have even used the all evil Limewire--yes, this was forever ago.The way I understood storytelling changed dramatically, the way I viewed the protective Type-A altered too. Stand By Me isn't about the soft side, it's about the truth, seeing it for yourself, accepting life at face value, but not accepting it for your future.
The irony of the Type-A in Stand By Me is that Chris Chambers, our specimen in question, doesn't stand alone. The love he has for his companions is the source of his strength, making an already solid character even more resilient. Does Edward need Bella and Jace need Clary, is romance the source of their strength? What YA novels are saying about the Type-A is that the brutish male lead is made human by the female love interest, somehow softening the core of the Type-A. What YA lit does--in general--is strip away the strength from the Type A under the asinine assumption that we all need romantic love to survive. Honestly, I just want to see less of it. Most of this is rambling, but I'd just like to see a male lead with a strong sense of self not have to fall for the average chick who's the main character and prance off into the sunset like the gay man he was really hiding inside. I'm sorry.
Below is the clip that I think fully defines a strong Type-A, a stand alone from Stand By Me. Be warned, there is mild language in this clip, but it is my favorite scene in the film that so artfully portrays the complexity of friendship and inner doubt:
I've been writing a Type-A character over the past few months who has brought me back to my roots. Long ago, after the inability to sleep, or study for a french final, I streamed Stand By Me on my ghetto laptop... I think I might have even used the all evil Limewire--yes, this was forever ago.The way I understood storytelling changed dramatically, the way I viewed the protective Type-A altered too. Stand By Me isn't about the soft side, it's about the truth, seeing it for yourself, accepting life at face value, but not accepting it for your future.
The irony of the Type-A in Stand By Me is that Chris Chambers, our specimen in question, doesn't stand alone. The love he has for his companions is the source of his strength, making an already solid character even more resilient. Does Edward need Bella and Jace need Clary, is romance the source of their strength? What YA novels are saying about the Type-A is that the brutish male lead is made human by the female love interest, somehow softening the core of the Type-A. What YA lit does--in general--is strip away the strength from the Type A under the asinine assumption that we all need romantic love to survive. Honestly, I just want to see less of it. Most of this is rambling, but I'd just like to see a male lead with a strong sense of self not have to fall for the average chick who's the main character and prance off into the sunset like the gay man he was really hiding inside. I'm sorry.
Below is the clip that I think fully defines a strong Type-A, a stand alone from Stand By Me. Be warned, there is mild language in this clip, but it is my favorite scene in the film that so artfully portrays the complexity of friendship and inner doubt:
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