The Evolution/Interpitations Of Characters

Sam Betlem:1200521 Elliot Burton:1200430

Lewis Carol’s: Mad Hatter

Red Dead Redemption: John Marston

Mad hatter Intro

The mad hatter one of the most famous characters throughout literature. A Character renown for his lack of sanity.

A character with no concept of time, stuck in time at 6 o’clock, with the constant belief it is tea time.

The mad hatter is shown as unstable, erratic and very comical. He has been shown as a villain, a hero and a stand alone character.

A character shown through many different medias. Film, book, television, graphic novel and games.

“You Might as well say ‘I see what I eat is the same as I eat what I see”

John Marston Intro

Protagonist Bounty Hunter Good Or Evil? Family Man

Role as a Character

The role of the mad hatter changes depending on the different interpretation of this character.

The original book of Alice In Wounderland, depicted the mad hatter as a stand alone character, a true madman who fits the mad world around him.

Lewis wanted this character to really break the meaning of sanity and to stray away from such a normal character.

The characters role is to let the audience forget about the normal, he is constantly asking unanswerable questions and forces the audience to question the unknown entity that is time.

“Why is the raven like a writing desk”… “I have no idea you see”

Different Interpretations Any character as famous and well known as the Madhatter is bound to have different

interpretations or remix’s of character. Each time this character has been made he has been changed sometimes drastically,

sometimes they are subtle. The hatter has been remixed time and time again, in Tim burtons film he is one of the main

roles throughout the film playing the love interest for alice In the television series SyFy miniseries, the hatter plays a very simular role, his appearance

has changed drastically yet he still plays one of the key characters and again love interest for Alice

One of the biggest remix’s of the character is from a graphic novel called the looking glass wars, the hatter has experienced one of the biggest changes losing his insanity to be replaced by a main role hero character wielding daggers.

Mad Hatter In Games

In 2013 Alice’s madness hit the world creating a completely new setting for Lewis Carols tale.

In this much darker interpretation the mad hatter has been shown as one of the evil bosses that inhabits the game. Obsessed with clocks and drowning people in tea, this is a very drastic change from the original and an even bigger change from Tim burtons interpretation.

Batman has also monopolised on this character making him one of the villains throughout the batman games the character is based on Lewis Carols interpretation

Character Archetypes

The term Archetypes came from a philologist called, Carl Gustav Jung, who developed the idea after looking into ancient Greek history.

The idea that each character fits into a specific stereotype.

The hatter would fall into the joker archetype. This archetype hasn't been broken in most of the remix’s of the character, the only exception to this would be the graphic novel of the hourglass wars where the character could be argued to belong in the “Hero” archetypes.

“If you knew time as I do, you wouldn't talk about wasting it. I dare say you never spoke to him”

Vass Vass is one of the most recent insane characters, in recent

games to date. A large amount of research was taken from the mad hatter

to create this character Far cry 3 is filled with references between the mad hatter

and Vass. Not in looks wise but personality wise you can see the clear similarity.

He asks unanswerable questions and is constantly stuck talking to himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY_RV7la38Q

“Ever since the queen said I murdered time he wont do a thing I ask, its always six o’clock now”

Overall Conclusion of Hatter The mad hatter shown as both a hero or villan a love

interest or a madman lost in his head.

This character has changed drastically throughout the years since he was first created in 1865

Now we have seen him in modern films, graphic novels, television, games and literature.

Through all these remix’s he has always kept one trait. His insanity; the one thing keeping the character the same throughout the media’s.

“Its very easy to take more than nothing”

History of the Character John Marston – Born 1873 – Died 1911 He talks about his family like his mum and dad. As you progress through the story, John Marston interacts with people you are with and talks about things that are going on in the past, present and future. Your past is most important and john refers to it a lot. Talking about being in the Dutch Van Der Linde Gang and meeting Abigail, his wife. Wife – Abigail Marston Your wife Abigail is introduced until a few missions before the end. She is a young lady and was with you in the Dutch Van Der Linde Gang. Her and John left the gang with there son Jack. Son – Jack Marston A troubling young boy who is the second protagonist. He is taught everything John knows and when John dies you play as Jack and have all of Johns fame, money and guns.

Inspirations + Influences Clint Eastwood Clint Eastwood is a main inspiration and influence to this game because of all the work he has done in old western films e.g. “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” Clint's character in the film “The Unforgiven” is William (Bill) Munny. One of the main enemies is called Bill Williamson and looks very similar to Clint's character. Also visually outfits that Clint has worn are very similar to outfits you can wear in the game. In “The good, the bad, and the ugly” Clint wears a Poncho and when you go to Mexico in the game you unlock a very similar outfit. Javier Escuella is another main enemy and is very similar to the bad character in the film “The good, the bad and the ugly” played by Eli Wallach. Also the ugly character in the film resembles Dutch van der Linde who is the main enemy in game. So the games main enemies are all varied and are similar to the film “The good, the bad, the ugly”.

Inspirations + Influences

Ben Wade + Dan Evans – “3:10 to Yuma”

Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) is very similar in ways to John Marston and resembles in look especially. Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is also very similar but more in personality then Ben Wade.

Red Harlow – Red Dead Revolver

Red Harlow is the protagonist in “Red Dead Revolver” People have said that inspiration is taken from him to evolve John Marston. The back story is different but in visual concept they are very similar.

Conclusion of John Marston

I have realised the amount of inspiration and concept that has gone into making the character that is John Marston.

The similarities between old and modern films on the west that has helped create and inspire this character to become who John Marston is today.

The change you can make in him from a cowboy hero to a western villain.

“People don't forget. Nothing gets forgiven.”

–John Marston

Bibliography

http://reddead.wikia.com/wiki/John_Marston

http://www.imdb.com/

Alice in wonderland Lewis Carol 1865 (novel)

Through the looking glass 1871 (novel)

Alice Adventures In wonderland 2010 (film)

The looking glass wars 2006 (graphic Novel)

Alice Madness Returns 2012 (Video Game)

Alice and the country of hearts 2007 (manga)

Alice Miniseries (Television)

Conclusion

We have looked at two very different characters one a strong willed family man, the other a raving lunatic who is obsessed with tea party's. Both these characters have gone through changes as

different interpretations have come up. Some changes are just visual, where as others have changed the very definition of the

character. This presentation was to show how characters change and evolve depending on how and who is telling the story.