The Blue Boar & Miss Charlotte

After careful consideration (and a full four hours of sleep), I've finally settled on one specific film plot. As I stated in my blog post, "The Sub-Genre Search Begins," "my movie will definitely include a strong female character." What I didn't know at that point in time was who she was or what her purpose would be in my story. I also did not know that I'd be producing a historical film, which meant I'd have an array of characters to choose from when selecting who I want to appear in my film opening.

While I'm completely familiar with the characters who drove the plot of Arthur Miller's 1953 play, "The Crucible," which tells an exaggerated and somewhat fictionalized version of the Salem Witch Trials, I aspire to shed light on different characters in order to bring a new story to the screen. I often find that in the present day, musicals' storylines are being taken from movies and books more and more often. I won't deny that I love musicals like "Legally Blonde" (taken from film) and "Dear Evan Hansen" (taken from a novel), but there's something to be said for the inspiring genius of musicals like "In the Heights," "Rent," and, of course, "Wicked." Taking inspiration from "The Crucible," I plan to utilize a similar combination of fiction and truth.

As I was scanning over the timeline mentioned in my blog post, "What a Witch," I read about a woman who escaped from prison. After she was tried and found guilty in the beginning September of 1692 (September 9th, according to the Wikipedia page linked above), she managed to break out in less than a month and avoid being hanged (September 22nd). This woman's name was Mary Bradbury.

Instantly I was smitten with the idea of using her as my main character. I decided to dig into her character more as after reading through a few fictional novels on the trials as a child and scanning an overview of "The Crucible," I never saw her name. In her Wikipedia page, it is stated,

"Witnesses testified that she assumed animal forms; her most unusual metamorphosis was said to have been that of a blue boar... Through the ongoing efforts of her friends, her execution was delayed. After the witch debacle had passed, she was released. By some accounts she was allowed to escape. Others claim she bribed her jailer."

A BLUE BOAR.

WHAT.

As there is no possible way to truly confirm nor deny how Mrs. Bradbury managed to get out of her cage, I thought "there's no reason I couldn't use this concept for my opening!" There happens to be one small problem, though. Her age. She was baptized in 1615, meaning that she was around the age of 77 when this happened. Unfortunately, this goes directly against my vision of a young woman on trial.

Because I can't give up the stunning image of the blue boar that now resides on the insides of my eyelids, I've decided to use her story as inspiration for my own fictional character. As I would like my character to be a teenager, I decided to research the most popular names for female children during the 1600s. After finding a few names that I liked, I decided to research their meanings on this website and found that I really liked the meaning behind the name, Charlotte, which means free woman. I want my main character to be completely immersed in the natural world. She abides by Puritan and societal expectation but, just like the creator John Calvin feared, she defies it in secret. She does not intend to be a rebel, it's simply in her nature to immerse herself in the natural world in every way possible.

The title for my film is currently undecided, but I must admit that calling in "The Blue Boar" is the first decent idea (in my personal extremely educated and profoundly professional opinion) that I've had thus far. According to Wikipedia, boars symbolize "toughness and courage." After reading this, I had to cross check it with another reference, so I found this webpage which said, "[boars] symbolise courage and ferocity in many cultures."

Here's a little (and by little I mean this took 3 hours because I am not an artist) doodle of how I see Charlotte in my head. The inspiration for her appearance and attire came from the images next to her, both of which coming from movies based in the Puritan time period.

The images underneath were taken from the film "The Witch," which takes place during the Witch Trials themselves. As you can see in both images, the girl's hair is tied back by a headpiece. they also have very light makeup (this is the film world, after all) and no jewlery, which makes sense as Puritans didn't believe in the value of worldly possessions. Their outfits are also layered and long, women always shown in dresses or with a long skirt, their chest covered by another layer underneath their visible top. The colors are very modest and plainative, nothing ostentatious. Because of this, my sketch has a plain face, her hair swept back. As you may have noticed, a few strands of her hair are falling out of her bun, intentionally highlighting how while she may appear Puritan enough to fit in with a crowd, she could never entirely follow what they preach. The fact that she has visible freckles as well highlights how she spends much of her time outside, an indication of

The real question to address is whether or not my leading lady possesses actual abilities...

Guess you'll have to check out my outcoming posts to find out!

• A Little Bit (Alex Brightman) from "I Could Use a Drink"
• You, Me, The Sea (Ethan Slater)
• Million Reasons (Lady Gaga)

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Wild boar. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2018, from https://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythology-folklore/wild-boar2/