This topic is about manipulation and manipulators. This is a super broad topic because manipulation is everywhere: not just unscrupulous people but in normal communication, advertising, story writing, art etc. for good, evil, and purely neutral objectives. But for the purposes of this cast we got Tantz to use her expertise to limit it down to mainly focus on people.
So what IS manipulation? It's getting others to do things or change their thinking, often against their interests. They think it's their own decision based on their own wants and reasoning but in reality they're behaving in the way that the manipulator wants them to, using triggers, deception, and other clever methods. As children most of us learn how to easily manipulate others through behaviours and actions: things like tantrums, fake tears, being cute etc. Basically big obvious stuff that easily gets a reaction. Thankfully most of us also grow OUT of such crude behaviour, though some silly adults never do, or if they do they go back to it.
The behaviour of master manipulators is driven by a perception of weakness: they see manipulation as their main available option to exert power because they don't feel they're able to in any other way. They can make great villains. A memorable manipulator villain is the mother in The Sopranos. A great example of the power of nasty manipulators is shown in the 1988 film The Chocolate War (also a great use of Kate Bush's "Running up that Hill"), where one boy's act of rebellion at the school causes him to be the target of a bullying campaign by a master manipulator.
Sometimes manipulation is unintentional: certain things trip triggers we have and we change our behavior despite our better interests. The whole "sex sells" is based on that. People knowingly take advantage of that but it's ripe for comedy when they don't realise they're doing it. The character Francis in the comic Bottomless Waitress by Banes and I is one such example. The film Something about Mary is an entire story based on this premise because characters romantically fall for Mary, and do whatever they can for her and then they even deliberately manipulate others in their competition for her affections!
Do you have a character that uses manipulation to get their way or can you think of an example of a noted manipulative character in fiction?
This week we have another best off from Gunwallace and this time it's - Firefly cross - A very mystical sound, with traditional, middle eastern style music mixed with dark techno fuzz, this one is intriguing!
Originally from Quackcast 285, 10th Oct, 2016.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Thread about manipulation - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/180225/
Featured comic:
The Fox and Feather Saga Vol One - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2026/mar/16/featured-comic-the-fox-and-feather-saga-vol-one/
Featured music:
Firefly cross - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Firefly_Cross/ by Dragonsong12, rated E
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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