What is a 3-beat, you ask? Well, the term is a little amorphous. However, the most powerful way to deliver a piece of subversion is in a 3-beat.
It’s possible to deliver a subversion all on its own, especially of the cultural acceptance of the trope that is being subverted is strong enough. This sort of subversion can be played out on the micro-level – as we see here when all three beats are delivered in a matter of seconds – or over the course of the entire story. But at the end, our expectations are subverted when she asks the question again even after Alphonse has given the expected answer. The first two times Vamp Willow asks the question, we think she’s simply trying to figure out who the Vampire’s boss is. Vamp Willow: “ Who do you work for?” Bats eyes suggestively. Vamp Willow: Breaks one of Alphonse’s fingers. Vamp Willow: “Really? Who do you work for?” ( Transcript Here).Īlphonse: “There’s been some mistake – we were sent after a human.” A vampire version of Willow has come over from another dimension and laid the smackdown on Alphonse, a vampire who, believing her to be the regular Willow, attacked her. Consider this piece of dialogue from season 3, episode 16 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doppelgangland. Subversion can be applied in other aspects, as well. Neither of these characters would be as compelling without these dichotomous aspects of their personalities, i.e., if they were simply the meth cook or the slayer. The title character from * Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the only one who “stands against the demons, vampires, and forces of darkness” – but also worries about boys and clothes and simply passing History class. Walter White in Breaking Bad is a nerdy, seemingly-conformist high school chemistry teacher – who begins cooking meth. Many great characters are actually subversions, or at least display some manner of subversion in their personalities. But you can also use subversion in fiction to make your plot, characters, and dialogue more interesting.īasically, you take an accepted convention or system and flip it on its head. Normally, the term is applied to politics, as in subverting the government. Today’s article is about subverting expectation in fiction.Īccording to the Oxford Dictionary, subversion is the act of undermining something, usually an established system or institution.
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