‘Bart’ played by Cleavon Little
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Cleavon Little portrayed a groundbreaking and positive representation of a Black hero in a Western comedy. Bart's character is celebrated for its role in challenging racial stereotypes in cinema. Today, the film and its characters are regarded as important cultural landmarks in the history of American comedy and satire. Bart, played by Cleavon Little is the film's protagonist and the first Black sheriff in the fictional town of Rock Ridge. He is intelligent, quick-witted, and calm under pressure. Despite facing racism and prejudice from some of the townsfolk, Bart uses his wit and charm to win over the community and ultimately bring law and order to the chaotic town. His character serves as a symbol of resilience and progress in the face of bigotry, making him a central figure in the satirical Western comedy.
Carmen was a cigarette. Quitting her was akin to slapping a patch on your forearm and declaring yourself a non-smoker. It wasn't that you no longer craved the bitter taste of nicotine and ash on your tongue ー you just valued breathing more.
It wasn't that he no longer loved her ー he just valued living more. Like cigarettes, Carmen could kill you. Though, it wasn't slow. It didn't start with innocent coughs that slowly hacked away at your lung capacity. It began with a drunken kiss and ended with an empty bank account.
Her attention was the addiction. Every smile was a match; every kiss, an inhale. Every touch pushed further away the anxiety, reaffirming the need for just one more. Like her preferred type of Pall Mall, Carmen was unfiltered. She was passion and hate and insanity rolled tightly into a slender, blue eyed brunette.
Carmen was the temptation of a co-workers offered cigarette. It wasn't that he didn't love her, he just wasn't a smoker.
The Character Vignette Challenge is being hosted by @rumples-tumbles. The deadline is 1 January 2018.
Challenge Details:
Write a character vignette. What's a character vignette? I want to you capture a single moment in time that focus solely on a character which most likely will reveal at least one level of characterization. You can explore writing in moods, settings, genres, styles, etc. for bonus points (but we'll get to that in a minute).
You may submit up to three of these vignettes (of course, you may also submit only one; I'll be judging each submission individually). You may pick your own character, or ask me to give you one at random (but please specify if you'd like a particular era (ex. founders, second wizarding war, etc.) or a particular family line (ex. the Blacks, the Longbottoms, etc.)) they can be chaptered in one story or they can be presented as three individual stories.
If you are wanting to experiment with additional elements to your story, please feel free to ask for random moods, settings, genres, styles, etc. or choose something you'd like to experiment with. Feel free to request/use as many of these in your vignette(s) as you'd like. Up to three experimental attempts in each vignette will be rewarded 1 point each to add to your overall rubric score. If you're choosing to include this, please indicate it when you're dropping off the link for your entry and list them in your chapter notes, please, for my sanity and so that they are not overlooked.
((Going to put this under read more as it veers a bit dark and very violent as well as some possibly triggering content))
Everything is numb.
And not numb in the good way. If there even is a good way to feel numb. But numb in the way that nothing she does feels real. Or even feels at all. The drink has no burn. No taste. No dulling. The cigarettes don’t leave her with that smokey film in her mouth and the minor calming sensation. Even the somnus doesn’t lull her into that trance it always does.
She has snapped and everything is numb.
The recent days have been filled with good and bad. The bad more biting and cutting than the good. Wounding her to the very core of a shattered and broken being.
The old cravings have been hitting and while she was able to shrug them off before, tonight is different. She has nothing to shake it with. She can’t feel. She can’t hardly think of anything but that urgent need. And how she needs to stop feeling this hollow. This empty. This broken.
The night is young and the ships full of new arrivals are pouring in. So many Eorzeans visiting the port in these troubled times. Some of them linger in the hostelry. Others wander about towards the market district. Feral senses pick up on in particular who looks nervous and lost in a strange new place. And everything in her that once felt nothing now screams for this.
So on comes that old mask of smiles and lies. The grinning cat that did anything to survive and always with a smile on her face. Nobody should see what’s underneath. Not even herself. Especially not herself. The quiet and meek merchant is approached. They’re new. And lost. Coming to Kugane to try and make a fortune before the rush of more people come flooding in.
They won’t be missed.
“Oh I knows th’way I does.” Lies the grinning feline. “Look ‘ere there’s a shortcut ‘roun’ this ben’ y’see. I’ll takes y’there meself. yanno I were ‘fraid th’firs’ time I were ‘ere too.”
The generosity is thanked over and over. Everyone trusts a smiling face.
They only question it once the crowds of people empty out and eventually it’s just the two of them at an all but abandoned pier. But by now it’s too late. The hunter has it’s prey.
Slow. She has to do this slowly. To savor it. To FEEL it. Hands seal like a vice around a scrawny neck before any cries of help can be uttered.
The visage cracks and that smile turns into the mad grin she always gets in times of violence. All too wide and full of teeth. With feral yellow eyes that seem to bore into her victim’s very soul, those thin slits hiding the lack of soul within her own. Looking more like a beast in these moments than Miqo’te.
Struggles are feeble against the bulky cat. She easily overpowers the mousey merchant who’s never done hard labor in their life. And as they let out the last rattles of a dying body and the light fades from their eyes, the alleycat breathes deep.
As if she too was being choked that whole time.
It comes first as a trickle but rapidly turns into a torrent as it starts. Like a damn breaking.
First comes that fading warmth between her hands. The patter of the rain against her shoulders. That lump in her throat that she’s been struggling with for hours starts to fade. Tears stream down her face which is now twisted into something less than that murderous grin. Half joyous at feeling again. That rush that this brings overtaking her. Half sobbing because she can actually feel again. And the pain inside hasn’t dulled any in that deadened period.
For a long few moments she sits there laughing out sobs up to the heavens as if in challenge before more logical thought kicks in. And with cold calculation the body is disposed of in the harbor. Where none will find it for some time.
Once she’s stabilized herself Myra struts back into the crowd as if nothing was ever wrong in the first place. After all she seems like just any other cat that nobody would ever suspect here.
The character Django is a multifaceted and deeply developed figure, embodying themes of freedom, revenge, and transformation. He is portrayed as a former slave turned bounty hunter, skilled and rapidly growing in his abilities. Django's primary motivation in the film is the desire to free his wife, Broomhilda, and restore their love.
The film has been described as a 'spaghetti western' and a 'Blaxploitation film', notable for its use of violence and the unusual choice of a black hero in a genre typically dominated by white characters. Djangois a complex character whose journey from bondage to freedom is intricately woven with themes of revenge, moral ambiguity, and personal growth. The film presents a unique interpretation of the Hero's Journey, see Joseph Campbell1. Layers of social commentary explore themes of freedom, revenge, and self-determination. Django's transformation is both a personal journey and a symbolic representation of the struggle against oppression.
Cast:
Django: Jamie Foxx
Dr. Schultz: Christoph Waltz
Big Daddy: Don Johnson
Dawned on me yesterday I hadn’t given Kosuke an updated vignette/reference sheet so uh... woops. Fixed it now at least. Really happy with how this came out.
