Behind the Scenes of "George!"
"George!" was supposed to be a horror story based in Fort Apache. Usually my fictions turn horror, but this time my horror turned fiction.
The character George was supposed to be one of those people too smart for their own good. He was annoying, self centered, prideful and pompous. The Fort Apache Reservation is situated right next to rich whites who live in a country club. I have to mess with their prejudice and pomposity all the time. George had all their flaws. In the end, George was supposed to die and add to the ghost stories marinating the old boarding school. But as I wrote, I began to realize that my horror story really wasn't a horror story at all, but a vent. And vents are no good.
So I really took a look at George without my anger. He was already stupid, but he had the potential to be very funny. I didn't want to hate him anymore so I got rid of his tight country club attitude and turned him into an idiot with preconceived notions, but who was willing to learn. His thoughts about Native Americans are very stereotypical and come from several personal experiences. For instance, a college student once asked me if I lived in a tepee. I could hardly believe that this sort of ridiculousness was happening to me, and from a lawyer's daughter on top of that. I nearly laughed in her face. Did everyone believe I came out of a tepee? I heard her telling five or six of her friends and they were all surprised I lived in a house.
The part where George believed they had hanging meat in their tepees was something my mom believed through no fault of her own. She was fascinated by Native Americans because Edgar Rice Burroughs talked about Apaches in A Princess of Mars. She lived in Hawaii and loved all things Native American, and learned all she could, but never had any contact with them. What the schools taught really sucked, too. So she was surprised that there was no hanging meat when my dad brought her home.
As for George thinking that Apaches feel the pain of the earth, I do believe some people really believe we do, especially what they taught in my junior high in Mesa. It's gone now. Anyway, doesn't anybody with a sliver of heart cry when a forest is leveled for something utterly asinine? Besides, I heard a lunatic on drugs talk about the pain of the earth so I thought it would add extra stupidity to George's personality.
But all this is not the crux of the story, it is the backdrop to the story line. George is in love with a woman who thinks he's the most reprehensible creature she's ever seen. She too has preconceived notions, but they range along fashion and looks. And George is as unfashionable and gross as you can get. His appearance came about from an encounter with a stink man while I was sitting in class. You could tell he hadn't washed his pants in a week and he was bragging that he didn't have to. For some reason he thought he still smelled good and he couldn't understand why girls always washed their clothes. He started stretching his arms over me while in class and I could smell his pits. George stretches over Anna in a scene as well.
Now the horror story was gone and it was just fiction. And to me a funny one although some people who read it thought I was teaching about culture and the modern Native American. Others found it hilarious, so I guess it depends on the reader. I for one enjoyed writing his reactions to Marianne. For the record, I meant the story to be funny without any politics attached.
I made the woman Anna detest flipflops and hairy feet because of my friend. She doesn't like those things either. Anna's fashionable clothes and pretty hair is also an inspiration from this same friend. One day we ran into a guy with hairy, pasty feet wearing flipflops with a suit. It was truly gross and gauche, so George inherited the boy's feet and fashion sense.
The supposed love story between George and Anna never fulfills. I thought of putting them together at the end. She would learn appearance doesn't matter and the ugly guy gets the girl. But that was gross. In point of fact, Anna wants to be free, and she finds freedom in the Apache man named Bob. When Anna goes with Bob, it's a nod to my mom who lived in a world where everything had to be perfect, and then she found freedom in my dad who let her be herself. She wasn't a bauble on his arm, but a person at his side.
Bob is also a conglomeration of reservation boys who are in no way noble and stoic like so many false depictions of Native Americans. Bob is fun, Bob is funny, Bob gets the girl.
Dr. Berret and Dr. Greene are two old teachers with a firm grasp on reality. They come from a few wise college professors that would regale our classes with research trips and whatnot.
I found it pretty funny that in the end George gets his act together, not for Anna, but for the tour guide Marianne. I think I'll do a second story to see how that turns out. I still don't know. Sometimes these endings just pop up.
The character George was supposed to be one of those people too smart for their own good. He was annoying, self centered, prideful and pompous. The Fort Apache Reservation is situated right next to rich whites who live in a country club. I have to mess with their prejudice and pomposity all the time. George had all their flaws. In the end, George was supposed to die and add to the ghost stories marinating the old boarding school. But as I wrote, I began to realize that my horror story really wasn't a horror story at all, but a vent. And vents are no good.
So I really took a look at George without my anger. He was already stupid, but he had the potential to be very funny. I didn't want to hate him anymore so I got rid of his tight country club attitude and turned him into an idiot with preconceived notions, but who was willing to learn. His thoughts about Native Americans are very stereotypical and come from several personal experiences. For instance, a college student once asked me if I lived in a tepee. I could hardly believe that this sort of ridiculousness was happening to me, and from a lawyer's daughter on top of that. I nearly laughed in her face. Did everyone believe I came out of a tepee? I heard her telling five or six of her friends and they were all surprised I lived in a house.
The part where George believed they had hanging meat in their tepees was something my mom believed through no fault of her own. She was fascinated by Native Americans because Edgar Rice Burroughs talked about Apaches in A Princess of Mars. She lived in Hawaii and loved all things Native American, and learned all she could, but never had any contact with them. What the schools taught really sucked, too. So she was surprised that there was no hanging meat when my dad brought her home.
As for George thinking that Apaches feel the pain of the earth, I do believe some people really believe we do, especially what they taught in my junior high in Mesa. It's gone now. Anyway, doesn't anybody with a sliver of heart cry when a forest is leveled for something utterly asinine? Besides, I heard a lunatic on drugs talk about the pain of the earth so I thought it would add extra stupidity to George's personality.
But all this is not the crux of the story, it is the backdrop to the story line. George is in love with a woman who thinks he's the most reprehensible creature she's ever seen. She too has preconceived notions, but they range along fashion and looks. And George is as unfashionable and gross as you can get. His appearance came about from an encounter with a stink man while I was sitting in class. You could tell he hadn't washed his pants in a week and he was bragging that he didn't have to. For some reason he thought he still smelled good and he couldn't understand why girls always washed their clothes. He started stretching his arms over me while in class and I could smell his pits. George stretches over Anna in a scene as well.
Now the horror story was gone and it was just fiction. And to me a funny one although some people who read it thought I was teaching about culture and the modern Native American. Others found it hilarious, so I guess it depends on the reader. I for one enjoyed writing his reactions to Marianne. For the record, I meant the story to be funny without any politics attached.
I made the woman Anna detest flipflops and hairy feet because of my friend. She doesn't like those things either. Anna's fashionable clothes and pretty hair is also an inspiration from this same friend. One day we ran into a guy with hairy, pasty feet wearing flipflops with a suit. It was truly gross and gauche, so George inherited the boy's feet and fashion sense.
The supposed love story between George and Anna never fulfills. I thought of putting them together at the end. She would learn appearance doesn't matter and the ugly guy gets the girl. But that was gross. In point of fact, Anna wants to be free, and she finds freedom in the Apache man named Bob. When Anna goes with Bob, it's a nod to my mom who lived in a world where everything had to be perfect, and then she found freedom in my dad who let her be herself. She wasn't a bauble on his arm, but a person at his side.
Bob is also a conglomeration of reservation boys who are in no way noble and stoic like so many false depictions of Native Americans. Bob is fun, Bob is funny, Bob gets the girl.
Dr. Berret and Dr. Greene are two old teachers with a firm grasp on reality. They come from a few wise college professors that would regale our classes with research trips and whatnot.
I found it pretty funny that in the end George gets his act together, not for Anna, but for the tour guide Marianne. I think I'll do a second story to see how that turns out. I still don't know. Sometimes these endings just pop up.
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