A Rebellious Tone

After taking the holidays off to desperately put out year-end fires relax and spend time with my family, I’m back on the blog to talk world-building, tone, and the value of very large storyworlds.

Over the break, I finally got a chance to see Rogue One. (Just in time, too: another day and they would have taken away my geek card.) I had a couple issues with the movie, but overall loved it. It was great to see a big-screen Star Wars adventure that didn’t focus on a Skywalker or a Solo.

One thing that struck me about the movie was that its tone was very different from the previous films. Whereas they were very Flash Gordon, Rogue One is much more The Dirty Dozen — it’s  war movie, not a pulp space opera.

I’ve written a little about tone before. In that post (go on, read it, it’s short) I postulate that tone (along with characters, setting, and conflict) is a key element in a storyworld. A consistent tone leads to a more consistent world.

I still believe that. And yet. And yet…

Rogue One is the exception that proves the rule. Or perhaps it proves a new rule. As writer Greg Stolze pointed out when we were discussing this topic, if a storyworld is big enough, it can encompass multiple tones. He noted how the Marvel cinematic universe, for example, is big enough to include not only standard superhero fare, but spy thrillers, noir-style mysteries, and heist movies — each of which has its own tone.

And yeah, now that I think of it, Star Wars has tried different tones before. I’d argue that the prequels have a far more political tone than Episodes 4-6,  which have a rather black-and-white view of the galactic power struggle. I’d also argue that the prequels suffered for this change in tone because it wasn’t handled very well. (That has as much to do with marketing as with the story itself, but that’s a post for another day.)

So what’s the lesson to be learned here? I’d say that it’s while tone is a key part of a storyworld, it’s something you can adjust from one story to the next, so long as you’re (a) aware of what you’re doing, and (b) very careful while doing so.