In Defense of the Author Avatar
I’m going to be seeing James Gunn’s Superman soon now that it’s on streaming. On that topic, I want to break apart a fun observation I noticed regarding Gunn and his critics.
A common complaint among anti-woke grifters on YouTube (a rabbit hole I accidentally tripped down after MCU’s Phase 4 turned into an annoying mess) is when they bitched about authors putting themselves into their characters. The trope is known as “Author Avatar” is fairly common in stories, especially fan fiction, and is probably older than dirt. Apparently, this is something they like to attack Gunn over as if it were some kind of negative when that couldn’t be father from the truth.
Rocket Raccoon
In the MCU’s Guardians trilogy, the breakout character was Rocket Raccoon. Everyone loves him and so do I. Gunn has admitted that Rocket is him, meaning this version of the character is more or less an Author Avatar. It’s not hard to see why. He loves animals. Of course he’d put his heart and sole into Rocket.
And guess what? Rocket is the most beloved character in the MCU. He is the unofficial mascot of the franchise. Rocket has had entire cartoons and comics dedicated to him. The latter of which I have
And it was the first character in the whole MCU that I actually fell in love. My mouse character, Aidan Cheddar, was retooled to explore the same themes as Rocket after watching Guardians 3.
Aidan Cheddar
Aidan is now a cyborg whose origins are inspired by both Rocket Raccoon and the Secret of NIMH. There are moments when it pains me to give even give such a tragic backstory but I also know that’s what makes him so compelling. He is a character wroth fighting for and writing stories about. This retooling was all so I could cope when my late grandmother fell terminal ill. Aidan wouldn’t be Aidan without this.
On the bright side, this does open up whole new doors. Basing Aidan on Rocket actually solves an age old problem I ran in my first attempt to write a story about him. He got caught stealing cheese and my character took him in instead of throwing him out. Here, the mouse was a little naive and manners weren’t exactly his thing.
The whole story about him being taught to behave and the character reluctantly teaching him opening up again. This new backstory makes me want to rewrite the story now because it explains so much now.
Steven King
But Gunn was simply putting his take on an existing character in order to adopt for a cinematic universe. But what about something where that isn’t the case? Well, Steven King does this in nearly all of his books.
While I’ve never seen or read the majority of King’s stuff. I’m not really a horror person, I have watched The Langoliers and loved it! When I read up on the movie, it was noted that writer character could be thought as an Author Avatar of King himself. Is it absurd that a writer figured it out before the detective Jessica Fletcher-style? Probably. Then again the whole situation was something out of the Twilight Zone, anyway. A mystery writer aiding in solving their problems onboard a flying plane where everyone who was awake suddenly vanishes is the least crazy thing in this thing scenario.
Furry In the Room
Of course, I can already see accusations me being a furry an excuse to dismiss my opinions. The furry fandom is well known for inserting themselves into an established worlds through the same Author Avatar trope but they’re also artistes and writers who are well known in the community for creating their own worlds as well. In fact, it is this love of Robin Hood or Nick Wilde that often that often inspires their own take on the subject. It was for me with Sonic The Hedgehog.
The fandom is more of a fan of a concept or trope than an actual specific intellectual property, making it one of the most resilient and diverse communities that I’ve ever witnessed. I never left it because of that and it is just how I’ve been able to express myself.
We all put a peice of ourselves in our story. Gunn, Steven King and myself do it.