The George Orwell masterpiece Animal Farm is famous for portraying very real human political drama in the form of anthropomorphic animals. it appealed to audiences in that it showed very real social and political drama that many would find uncomfortable or offensive in a more digestible package, that made the message easier to understand. If you have a point to make about the world around you (like in this article I wrote about social commentary), but think your message would be too radical for your audience to accept directly, then you might want to consider telling your story as an allegory.
Why allegory works
When you give the elements of your story symbolic meaning, then that allows your story to play out on multiple levels. People can enjoy it at surface value, but more astute readers will see the parallels between your characters and the things they represent and will be able to interpret your story metatextualy. Your story will gain a new level of depth, meaning and appreciation from your audience. And any statement you make will be easier to digest because it isn't forcefed directly, but wrapped inside a more acceptable form of story. For instance, The movie Aliens and the original Star Wars trilogy are beloved films despite being both being direct criticisms of the Vietnam war. And the graphic novel Maus is considered one of the greatest comic book stories ever created because it wraps up the horrors of the holocaust in a simple tale of cat and mouse.
How obvious should you make it?
The level of effectiveness of your allegorical story could be determined by the amount of subtlety and nuance you put into your symbolism. You could bury your message in the narrative so that only people who are really looking for your message will figure out what you're trying to say. Donald Glover's seminal music project "Because the internet" is believed to be full of subtext and meaning under the surface of the songs that people are still trying to dissect and decipher, in addition to the music videos for the project which tell self-contained stories that also hint at deeper meanings. On the flip side, you can be very upfront and in your face with the allegorical parallels, like how the X-Men very obviously represent oppressed and marginalized groups of people who are hated and feared just for existing. Another example is the polarizing film Don't Look Up, which was a blatant allegory for the attitudes of certain groups of people towards climate change (and also served later as a critique of those same people's reactions to the 2021 Covid pandemic).
You can find a middle ground between being obvious and being subtle, like how the second Star Wars trilogy hides a deep political allegory of the rise of fascism under the cover of sci-fi action, lightsabers, lasers and a love story.
Choosing the allegorical subject and how to represent it
The potency of your allegory lies in pairing up just the right story with just the right underlying message, and successfully marrying the two. When thinking of your message I advise taking on a topic you feel strongly about, that you would make a statement on in general even without a story vehicle to layer on top of it. I actually wrote an entire article on stories as social commentary that you can read here. You are more likely to make a stronger point if it is a topic you feel passionate about, so you can start there and then find story elements that parallel the topic you want to tackle, and build from there.
The opposite option is to tell the story first, and then do a deep dive into your setting, plot and characters to see if there are any possible deeper meanings and themes woven into them that you might not have noticed when you were writing. My novel Godmode started off as a simple action horror story that morphed into a critique of animal experimentation, corporate culture, workplace ethics and the negative effects of bullying & peer pressure. Once you parse the deeper themes your story hints at, you can then lean in and accentuate those parallels by making more references to the message in both overt and subtle ways. It may require altering some elements of your story, but the payoff is that your story gains added depth and nuance that will keep readers engaged long after their first read of your story.
To be preachy or not
The books Brave new World and 1984 both used dystopian futures to present strong messages against fascism, totalitarianism and mob mentality, and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was a harsh critique of capitalist society which literally led to the protagonist declaring himself a communist at story's end. L. Ron Hubbard made equally pointed criticisms of western hypocrisy in his Mission Earth series of science fiction novels. These stories all had direct points to make and made them directly. If you feel that strongly and your narrative dictates, you can go that route, but you don't have to. You also have the option of letting your story lay out the scenario, and your reader can parse their own meanings and come to their own conclusion, like William Burroughs did with his trippy classic Naked Lunch. Each option has its advantages and risks; being too didactic with your message runs a risk of turning off readers (usually the very ones you are trying to reach with your message), but not being direct enough with your stance risks your readers not getting the message at all. The best solution is to stay true to the story and the development of your characters, and let those elements dictate how heavy-handed your message winds up being.
Adding deep cuts to the metaphor
You also have to consider how many layers deep you want your allegory to go. You can add so many metatextual references to the point where everything that appears in your story is a symbol for something else. There is a risk in that your story may come off as pretentious, or many of your references (and therefore much of your message) may go over the heads of most of your readers. But I advise that you should err on the side of having too much metatextual context than not enough, and add as much symbolism and deep cuts as you can think of.
Conclusion
Writing allegorical stories and adding deeper meaning to your narrative may seem challenging at first. But if you find a message you believe in and the right story to match it, you can create a narrative that is much more than just the sum of its parts. Your allegory will encourage multiple reads and deeper thought and analysis than a more straightforward story, which should generate more appreciation from your readers. I recommend giving it a try.
If this article helps you in any way, subscribe! I post articles like these every week.
Comments
No posts