Featured in the 2024, Mres showcase for the school of Arts & Humanities, Royal College of Art
Embedded Files
The Underdog, is a contemporary psychological mystery; Set at a bus stop during a rainy night in London, after a chance encounter with a mysterious woman called, 'Jake'. When the bus delayed, Jake begins to tell you, the reader, a story about her life, and something inside you feels inclined to listen – as though you’ve heard her stories before; somewhere deep inside your own soul. This presses you to listen further, following Jake throughout the night as the world around you begins to dull out, and her words surrounding her cold, unconfronted past, starts to overpower your reality. With an unending rain, The Underdog, keeps you trapped in Jake's drowning reflection of London, leaving you as a bystander to watch Jake be consumed again by the guilt of grief and blame. The only difference, is that this time, you may have a chance to change things. You might have enough time to save at least one of you. Will you let the underdog continue the cycle of self-punishment, or will you take her place at the bottom of the lake?
The Underdog was created as blend of fiction and thesis, to explore the concept of unconfronted grief. Written as a 2nd perspective mystery, set in modern-day London. The novel brings the reader to the forefront of The Underdog’s tale by turning the reader into an active participant to interact with our case study, and protagonist - Jake.
Development sketches of the underdogs
THE UNDERDOG behind-the-scenes
Creating Jake
The Underdog acts to create an interpersonal dynamic between the reader and Jake. Because of The Underdogs' use of 2nd perspective, with terminology such as, “You reach over the counter”, and “You take a deep breath”, it puts the reader in the same scene with Jake. She talks, and acts, as if she is talking to you. The Underdog is a lived experience between both of you; it makes whatever happens in the story personal to the reader.
Alternative cover designs for The Underdog
Jake, our protagonist, has unconfronted grief - the traumatic events she’s experienced in her past have not found any resolutions. As far as she is concerned, her trauma doesn’t affect her daily life; she believes that though she’s never confronted her past, she is capable of living with it. This is polarizing to what the reader derives from Jake after meeting her; seeing instead a woman completely under the control of her trauma, to the point where she doesn’t even acknowledge it as the root cause of her depression. Leaving it to us, as both the reader and a witness to her stories, to help Jake.
Development sketches of the underdogs
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