Storyboard of Potential Narrative (An undetermined script)
The Background Rad lives in the city of Juveira. It is a weird mix of high street and cutesy residential buildings along canals with alternative culture thriving in the back alleys. She has lived in an apartment with her grandmother Eyra all her life. Her mom was a seamstress and the tiny studio she worked in, Rad now uses as her hideout where she likes to make things and chill with her cat.
Growing up. She was never was never a very social kid because she led a pretty isolated life with her grandmother who did not go out much. By the time she was in high school, she was a quiet observant ordinary person who was almost completely invisible. Her name was Judith then.
The Trigger Judith once went on a trip to some ruins with her class and while she was lost in her own world looking at the architecture, she got left behind. She got left behind accidentally and had to stay with a kindly old man for 2 days before she managed to procure a ticket to go back home. When she entered home 2 days later, Eyra asked her where she was and Judith calmly said that she simply stayed over at a friend’s place. This was a turning point where she realized the extent to how isolated and invisible she was and she began wondering why she bothered trying to fit in/conform/be socially presentable at all if no one even noticed her?
The Social Experiment •
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She decided to break out one of her costumes and wear them outside one day. The things she made were usually so unlike how she presented herself in the outside world that no one recognized her. She called herself Rad. She went and ate falafel at a skate park and had a conversation with some punk who was doing the same. She experimented with her behavior and body language. Since no one knew her anyway she could be crazy. She was hyperactive because of this new freedom and even erratic sometimes. She returned home more curious about who Rad could be this alter ego she created. She started going out as Rad more and more. For longer hours. Sometimes she went around as Rad for an entire day.
She got weird stares but realized it was about as disturbing as not being seen at all. It was as good and as bad as before, except she started liking this version of herself more.
One day she came home as Rad. Her grandmother as accepting as always, stared a few seconds harder and then complimented her new style and that day Judith officially became Rad fulltime. She started going to school as Rad. Except for that one person who did the paperwork and had to change her name on the attendance lists, no one realized Judith was gone. They treated her as this new punk kid. A person or two even talked to her. It was good.
Pre-Present Rad eventually got a lot more confident about herself and her creative instincts and this teacher even commented that she should try art school. Since Juveira actually had an art programme more affordable than others Rad decided to head there after graduation. It was great at first. She was excited to be among other creative individuals where she thought her eccentricity could be an asset and not all that unusual. But a few months into it she realized that she found the same old hierarchies and social pressures but in different forms and growing more and more cynical about the pretentiousness of the school and being denigrated by people who see her eccentricity as immaturity, she ends up dropping out of art school. She had thought that art school will give her some direction, some purpose in life but she left it feeling more confused about her future and her own identity than ever.
Present She works in a comic book store during the day. Still lives with her grandmother. Likes cats to a weakness. Dove headfirst into skateboarding and roller skating and likes hanging around at the skate park or in the alleyways with cats. Whenever someone asks her what she wants to do in her life, she says that she wants to open a cat shelter in the future. Even though she seems to have a small and satisfied life, there is some unease on her part. She doesn’t particularly like meeting people from her art school in the store. Also it must be mentioned that since in Juveira a college education is reasonably affordable for most working class families, it is not that common to drop out.
Judith appears as an alter ego talking to Rad sometimes. Like a forgotten companion.
The Turning Point
Someone notices her while skillfully rollerblading her way through traffic to save a cat. Turns out it is a barista cum derby player called Geyla. Since roller derby as a sport is new to Juveira she is trying to recruit people and tries to befriend Rad and gets her into the community. Geyla takes a liking to Rad while trying hard to convince her to try for derby. She tries to get her attention for a proper conversation and finally figures out that she will calm down and talk only when she is with a cat. Using a cat to lure her into an alley, she begins to talk to her. Rad asks her why she is so obsessed with derby.
Geyla and Rad speak about the pressure to be ambitious in life. Geyla tells her about her derby life and that to some people, spending so much effort on a subculture sport seems useless but that is perhaps what alternative is. You don’t need to live by the world’s definitions of a good life. You just need to find that niche that you really like. Rad reveals that she likes DIY fashion a lot and does not want to go the haute couture way. She just likes making. Geyla asks her that isn’t art school a good place to start then?. Rad tells her that she finds it too pretentious.
The Understanding
Awkward silence. Rad then reveals that she fears that she is pretentious too. That who she is, is never someone she really is. She feels like she will never be comfortable in herself and that her entire identity is a pretension, which is why she dropped out because art school made her look at her identity harder and given her past, she could not cope. As she sees this Judith stands at the back watching. Geyla tries to explain that she doesn’t need to figure herself out completely ever. We change all the time and our pretensions are us too in a way, a part of our identity. As she says this Judith joins Rad in petting the cat and begins to disappear a little.
The End Rad is working at the comic book store when an art school friend asks her if she’s ever intends to come back. This time instead of saying she dropped out, she says that she is just taking the semester off to work on her personal projects and will be back soon.