Peacock, Flounder, & Hybrid
Designing memorable characters using association as a guiding principle to enhance story
Introduction
This much is true: We experience stories through characters. They give us access to their minds, their relationships, their dreams, their fears and their world. When well-crafted, a good character can give us insight to ourselves, too, sometimes transforming us in the process. However, knowing what makes a character pop on screen or remain with the reader long after they have moved on from the last page is as elusive as it is crucial. The literature on the subject matter is enormous. Countless people before me have said a lot: make them interesting, give them a quirk, allow your characters to be flawed, etc. While these are valid suggestions, I will offer an alternative that borrows from something we’re already familiar with—association.
Association
When we describe characters—things, events, and places as well—we describe them first according to their most striking feature. Hence, we’d say: “The tall, old man who exclusively wears suits with wisdom tooth for buttons”; or: “The bald, soignee bank manager never to be seen in public without her dashing dachshund.”
What these two examples offer are characters easily identifiable based on an association made between them and a unique item or trait. That’s the secret: associate your characters with something that takes on the role of a symbol that points back to them. The association can be as simple as an adjective, which the character embodies, or as obvious as a phrase, which they repeat frequently: Sorrow. Sorrow. Prayers.
The association can be used to balance the character arc; it can be used to draw contrast between your protagonist and antagonist. Based on this simple principle, you can build an entire network of symbols that not only give insight into your characters, making them memorable, but also add a layer of nuance and intricacy to your story. However, association is a clue to another thing you’re already familiar with which we’re going to exploit—cosplay.
Cosplay
Nearly all memorable characters are cosplayable. (I’m using the word cosplay in a broad sense to not only mean clothes and makeup but to include tics, phrases, habits, profane tendencies and so on). The quickest test you can put your association through to determine its vitality is: Does it elicit cosplay? Can a reader or audience member cosplay as your character? If not, then you might have to revisit your outline. While this might sound ludicrous at first and inapplicable to certain stories even, the logic behind the method is quite compelling.
First, you’ll have to think of cosplay as the character’s psyche made visible and aural; it is their psychological state reduced to perceptible cues and articles. What they wear, what they eat, their attitude towards authority, how they laugh—who they are, in short, can be compressed into elements that can easily be cosplayed, i.e., imitated.
However, the risk of using cosplay to reverse engineer or infuse traits and items with symbolism relevant to the story is that you could end up with easily recognizable characters who are not memorable.
To make your characters memorable, ensure that the associations you make remain in service to the story. The choices you choose to champion, when brought under scrutiny, should bring harmony to the narrative as a whole.
In Avatar The Last Air Bender, for example, it makes sense that members of the water tribe wear blue; fire nation, red; the earth kingdom, green; and the air nomads, a pastel orange, signifying their peaceful nature. (Notice how a group of water benders bound to a geographic area constitutes a tribe; fire benders, a nation; earth enders, a kingdom; air benders, nomads. Notice how those grouping informs each side’s political worldview, too.)
Zuko’s infamous scar traces its origin all the way to his backstory where his quest for honour began.
Ground associations in the dilemma and desire the characters face and they will be recognizable & memorable. Now, based on how obvious it is, association can be divided into three categories: peacock, flounder, and hybrid.
Peacock
Just like the infamous bird, this is the most lurid and obvious of all three. A peacock association is one that’s impossible to miss. It occurs so frequently it runs the risk of being, too, on the nose. If used appropriately, however, it can be a great signifier to showcase the character’s philosophy, mental state, and as a way of expression.
In Hollywood, a perfect example of this is Joker and Batman: it is obvious these characters are donning costumes, costumes that in any other situation would be utterly ridiculous, but used in service of the story, their outfits, as unhinged as they are, work magic. The joker as a character wields chaos—he isn’t a maniac, he uses mania, something which the clown makeup suggests; and Batman, a paragon of order, is associated with bats—which come out at night, just as Batman, not Bruce Wayne, does—and wears black, which is monochrome and contrasts well with the lurid Joker. These characters are memorable because of masterful association that manages to be in service of the story and, consequently, elicits cosplay.
Papa Ajasco & Company is my favorite Nigerian example. All the characters on the TV show have unique traits, items, and quirks that enhance their character, making them easily recognizable, and gives the story a certain uniqueness.
Papa Ajasco himself can easily be cosplayed—a long-sleeve and tie worn over a pot belly and tucked inside Ankara wrapper, glasses, and an unmissable receding hairline; Boy Ajasco wears a cap with an ‘A’ and a pointy end signifying his proud & prickly personality, respectively; Boy Alinco has six eyes—he wears flip up sunshades—and he has an exaggerated two step forward one step backward thing going on, which is a nod to his promiscuity, and further alludes to his stagnation.
Scar from Shanty Town is another good example of the peacock association method: his gruff voice with effected emphasis on each word and the scar that runs across his face informs you about his ruggedness. Scar’s henchman who frequently touts “body dey pepper me” falls into this category, too.
All the characters we see in memes follow this same pattern.
Flounder
When we’re describing things or characters to people we don’t know, we relay their most striking feature, but among two people discussing a character they already know, due to shared understanding, nuance enters the picture: the character’s incredulous height takes a backseat if they love to plant ferns.
This is a subtle variation, like the flounder fish which camouflages to fit into its environment, where the elements of association are so masterfully woven into the story that you could easily miss them. They don’t always elicit cosplay as the peacock association does, but they are distinct in their own way.
Does the character, an assassin, leave a coin with a relief that’s a spitting image of the victim on them after killing them? Do they eat noodles every night? Does the character bury tees round his garden only to glue painted golf balls on them every midnight? If yes, why? Do they pray, like Eric from Jade’s The Trade, thanking God for a successful kidnap? How do these choices tie into the story? What do they say about the character?
Kambili’s father, the missal-flinging man in CNA’s Purple Hibiscus, pressing more ash into each member’s head during communion as compared to other priests is a stellar example of a camouflage or flounder association.
In Bong Joon-Ho’s critically acclaimed Parasite, camouflage association was applied to the characters climbing stairs in the first half of the picture to signify their ascent, while the second half, as things start to go awry, we only see them descending stairs.
Flounder associations are broad in scope, sometimes making use of what I’ll refer to as a style: a loose association that points to an aesthetic or mood, which invariably leaves room for broad interpretations. This is closely tied to genre and is what forms the idea behind set designs. Instead of a rich character that wears an obscene emerald jewel, you’ll have a character who always dresses in elaborate brocades and bespoke handmade gowns that cost a fortune. Style is all about suggesting, not stating, it’s gossip not a confession.
When done well, you can guess what the character would say or do. A perfect example of this is Kendall Roy from the HBO show, Succession, who most viewers claim you can slap on nearly any random quote next to his picture and it’ll read like he said it, the more unhinged the better.
Flounder association, almost imperceptible when masterful executed, adds layers to your characters and story in a way that a peacock association can’t.
Hybrid
Just as the name implies, this is an association-to-elicit-cosplay technique that utilizes items, quirks, and traits that camouflage seamlessly into the story but still manages to stand out. Eric’s newsboy cap in The Trade; Ben 10’s watch and entire alien suits all come to mind. It is also the constant uses of both peacock and flounder association in the same story. In Parasite, which mostly makes use of flounder association, Kitek, the father—the entire poor family is, too—is associated by the rich family with a rotten smell, “like a boiled rag.” This sentiment acts as a setup for a crucial plot point later in the film. Hybrid association makes for a more complex characterization process, giving the character a nuanced demeanor that would otherwise take too long to hint at with mere exposition.
Conclusion
Using the peacock, flounder, and hybrid association methods masterfully will ensure your stories grip your readers and audience long after they close the books or leave the cinemas. And characters who come to life in the audience’s mind is brought to life—the real world—through cosplay and a shared regurgitation of these associated traits either in dialogue or in viral social media posts.
Bro, your writing amazes me every day.
This, as usual, is a masterpiece.
Stories with distinct characters, no matter how badly written they are, always leaves us with a memory. This is beautifully written.
Weldone!