Claudia
Claudia is a girl in her twenties. As a child she was left alone to develop with little parental guidance and through her relationship with T.V. movies developed an unhealthy relationship with Horror films, believing this to be the way life really is.
All the scenes take place in various parts of Claudia’s apartment, which is European in style with
a great deal of kitsch décor. She is agoraphobic and is kept in touch with the outside world by her neighbours who provide her with her every day requirements. She models herself on a variety of girls often twisting her look to suit whichever film she is watching at the time and there is often
a nod to the main character in the current film within her appearance.
The script portrays her as psychotic and there is always the feeling that although her character is scripted/can be seen as humorous, danger is just around the corner. However all this is normal to Claudia and she is of a cheerful disposition in this mad world of hers.
Quentin
Claudia has an imaginary boyfriend, Quentin, who is long suffering and a constant disappointment to her. They don’t live together but he visits regularly and they talk on the telephone if he can’t get in to see her. As he is part of her imagination his appearance changes to suit her mood. Sometimes he will be a David Beckham looking guy, whilst in another scene he will appear as a Pete Docherty type, Daniel Craig type or a Hollyoaks Babe. If she is having a bad day he will morph into an uncouth couch potato chav with all that brings with it.
He is as into the horror film genre as she and into role-playing to suit her whims and moods.
Claudia has a paranoid suspicion that he is constantly having affairs behind her back and keeps him firmly under her thumb, sometimes restraining him or keeping him prisoner in one of the rooms.
Mrs Laderman
Claudia’s neighbour in her 40’s. She alternately changes into a variety alter egos and is Claudia’s friend and confidant. Living in the apartment opposite, she was Claudia’s only link to the outside world. Although they are friends there is suspicion that Mrs L’, has designs on Quentin. In fact she has designs on Claudia.
Claudia is a girl in her twenties. As a child she was left alone to develop with little parental guidance and through her relationship with T.V. movies developed an unhealthy relationship with Horror films, believing this to be the way life really is.
All the scenes take place in various parts of Claudia’s apartment, which is European in style with
a great deal of kitsch décor. She is agoraphobic and is kept in touch with the outside world by her neighbours who provide her with her every day requirements. She models herself on a variety of girls often twisting her look to suit whichever film she is watching at the time and there is often
a nod to the main character in the current film within her appearance.
The script portrays her as psychotic and there is always the feeling that although her character is scripted/can be seen as humorous, danger is just around the corner. However all this is normal to Claudia and she is of a cheerful disposition in this mad world of hers.
Quentin
Claudia has an imaginary boyfriend, Quentin, who is long suffering and a constant disappointment to her. They don’t live together but he visits regularly and they talk on the telephone if he can’t get in to see her. As he is part of her imagination his appearance changes to suit her mood. Sometimes he will be a David Beckham looking guy, whilst in another scene he will appear as a Pete Docherty type, Daniel Craig type or a Hollyoaks Babe. If she is having a bad day he will morph into an uncouth couch potato chav with all that brings with it.
He is as into the horror film genre as she and into role-playing to suit her whims and moods.
Claudia has a paranoid suspicion that he is constantly having affairs behind her back and keeps him firmly under her thumb, sometimes restraining him or keeping him prisoner in one of the rooms.
Mrs Laderman
Claudia’s neighbour in her 40’s. She alternately changes into a variety alter egos and is Claudia’s friend and confidant. Living in the apartment opposite, she was Claudia’s only link to the outside world. Although they are friends there is suspicion that Mrs L’, has designs on Quentin. In fact she has designs on Claudia.
Here are my ideas for the three characters, along with the three words I want to use to help with the characterisation:
Claudia - White rose:
I have thought about creating Claudia as a girl in her twenties having mental disorders because she was left alone as a child and the only example in life that she had were horror films. She is agoraphobic and she never leaves her home, that's why she hasn't got any friends and she doesn't even know how the real world looks like. When she thinks about the sun shining, she thinks that the sun will burn her skin... when she thinks about the forest, she doesn't think about the green woods that w usually think about, but instead about dark, gloomy trees and foggy places. She has a sick mind, but her neighbours pity her and try to help her as much as they can.
Why I thought about a white rose in relation with Claudia is because the story behind this involves symbolic meanings of this beautiful flower. Referring to historical facts and going back in the 19th century, in the Victorian times, when language of flowers was popular and gothic horror literature was born, the rose had another meanings besides the meanings we know to be true today. A white rose symbolises purity, untainted beauty, morality, everything that is sacre and beautiful in the world. "Now, the opposite of a white rose, is a black rose. This may mean the opposite of what the white rose signifies, meaning impurity or immorality, revenge, and ugliness. Unlike the promise of new beginnings, the black rose may say otherwise, as signifying no return, or no hope."(Wikia)
You might say yes, this could be true, but it has nothing to do with Claudia's story. Not right. You'll see reading further.
Claudia couldn't leave her apartment even if she wanted to. She felt that she will leave, all the demons that were waiting outside will come to get her. She constantly had nightmares about her going out and never being able to come home alive... because her parents left the house one day when she was younger and never returned. She thought that there were monsters outside ready to kill her. She was insane. That's merely why she couldn't make any friendships and the ones that she got were based on other feelings or just pity for her situation. She spoke only with two of her neighbours, Mrs. Laderman and Debrah Morgan, although she only considered Mrs. Laderman as a friend and Debra just someone who used to visit her from time to time and ask her if she's okay. Last time Debra visited she was really nice bringing her a bouquet of white roses which Claudia really cherished. When her other friend and neighbour visited, Mrs. Laderman, she also complimented the bouquet even though she seemed to have an unusual smile on her face doing that. She felt that something is not quite right with her friend but they kept talking and she told her about Quentin. She spoke about him as if he was real and although he wasn't, Mrs. Laderman believed to be so, and didn't know that it's just the result of Claudia's sickness.
Quentin - The woods:
Quentin exists only in relation with Claudia. Quentin is Claudia's imaginary boyfriend and they have never seen each other in her apartment. Due to Claudia's obsession with horror films, she always portrays him in a dark forest, him being the only living creature that seems to be actually alive in the whole picture. But still, this is changeable by Claudia's mood. If she feels happy, he will be full of life and loving. If she feels sad or frustrated, he will be constantly worrying about her and looking desperate. If she feels miserable, he will look miserable as well. And if she feels dead, he will look like a monster, like a zombie who just returned from the dead. He exists as long as Claudia thinks about him and no one else can see him, although that she feels that he is very real. Maybe it's just the schizophrenia, or is Quentin really an invisible entity?
Mrs. Laderman - Door:
Mrs. Laderman is the middle-aged lady next door to Claudia. Claudia considered her her friend until a point, because Mrs. Laderman was her confidant and always there to listen to her problems when she felt like complaining. And she was complaining a lot. Mrs. Laderman was there for her since she was 13 years old and struggling with adolescence in the ugliest way possible: being agoraphobic and schizophrenic and not being able to go out and make friends and actually experience life. Mrs. Laderman loved Claudia, because Claudia was her only friend too. Well, she had another neighbour who talked to, and that was Debra, but they weren't so close as she just moved nearby. Was Mrs. Laderman's love for Claudia just a pure, friendly love? Or was it something else?
The truth is, since Claudia grew up things have changed between them. She started feeling something unusual towards her, and she started suspecting that Claudia is seeing with a boy. She felt incredibly irritated when she found out that Claudia is really in love with Quentin, that's why after Claudia confessed, she stopped coming over Claudia's home.
Claudia noticed that Mrs. Laderman is not how she used to be, and this happened right after she told her about Quentin. She started thinking that Mrs. Laderman had designs on Quentin, and stopped trying to reach her by the phone or anything.
One day, Mrs. Laderman wanted reconciliation because she missed Claudia and wanted to clarify her feelings towards her. She went and knocked on Claudia's door. She opened, and when she saw Mrs. Laderman, she had a nervous breakdown. She was really angry at her because all the time they haven't seen each other she was alone and devastated by her own thoughts. Instead of reconciliating, they started fighting. Mrs. Laderman wanted to let her guard down, but Claudia felt the weakness and stabbed her to death. When realising what she just did, she felt extremely guilty and scared and wanted to run away. But she couldn't. She was trapped in her own fears, trapped in her life and in her apartment. She felt like her own life was falling apart and she couldn't deal with this no more. She desperately called for Quentin's help but he was nowhere to be found. She panicked and she remembered about the pills that the doctor gave her to take when she felt like she couldn't deal with life anymore. She took them all in a desperate attempt to escape... and she escaped, in the end. In her last minutes she could see Quentin lying over her disfigured, with fire in his eyes and laughing with his teeth almost falling out of his big, mutillated mouth. He then told her: "I've been waiting for so long for you in Hell, next to our parents whom I've killed. I am so happy that our family is finally reuinted. You thought that I am your boyfriend? No, little sister, I am your stepbrother, killed by your mother at birth. She was having an affair with another man while being with our father... he found out about that while she was pregnant and thought that I am not his child. He discussed with mother about this and they both agreed to give a second chance to their marriage but to do so, they had to kill me at birth because they were't even sure that I was their child! They have killed me with cold blood and I wanted revenge. You know that you only could imagine me in the woods? There's where they have buried me as a newborn. There's where I have kept for years some space next to me for my beloved parents and for you, you second chance! There's where you belong, my dear sister, in the ground next to me and the whole family. You were right when you feared that going out of the apartment will harm you. Outside are another dead souls ready to eat yours alive. You have to pay for your parents sins, and you will with your own life. That's why I did everything I could to push you to take your own life and write yourself the sentence to Hell. That's where you belong and now I can finally find my soul rest knowing that I had revenge, even though I will burn in Hell for an eternity along with my family.".
The other charachter I have imagined is Debrah Morgan, Dexter's sister. She is a very compassionate girl, always wanting to help others, and that's why when she has time she visits Claudia, knowing that she suffers from a mental illness. She called Claudia that night to see if the roses that she gave her were still fresh, because she just bought another bouquet and wanted to give them to her. Claudia didn't answer the phone. Neither did Mrs. Laderman. She kept calling but nobody was answering and she felt that something must be wrong with them. She decided to visit Claudia to see if everything's fine and because her brother was staying at her that night, she took him with her. When they got to Claudia's home, they have seen the terrible scene with Mrs. Laderman on the ground, stabbed and in a puddle of blood and Claudia lying on the floor, with her eyes open, dead and cold. They started investigating the case looking for a murderer, because something was not right with their story. Looking at the roses from the window sill, Debrah noticed that they weren't white anymore. They turned black, and both her and her brother felt that here is something more than just a murder. There is a dark mistery that they have to reveal.
You might say yes, this could be true, but it has nothing to do with Claudia's story. Not right. You'll see reading further.
Claudia couldn't leave her apartment even if she wanted to. She felt that she will leave, all the demons that were waiting outside will come to get her. She constantly had nightmares about her going out and never being able to come home alive... because her parents left the house one day when she was younger and never returned. She thought that there were monsters outside ready to kill her. She was insane. That's merely why she couldn't make any friendships and the ones that she got were based on other feelings or just pity for her situation. She spoke only with two of her neighbours, Mrs. Laderman and Debrah Morgan, although she only considered Mrs. Laderman as a friend and Debra just someone who used to visit her from time to time and ask her if she's okay. Last time Debra visited she was really nice bringing her a bouquet of white roses which Claudia really cherished. When her other friend and neighbour visited, Mrs. Laderman, she also complimented the bouquet even though she seemed to have an unusual smile on her face doing that. She felt that something is not quite right with her friend but they kept talking and she told her about Quentin. She spoke about him as if he was real and although he wasn't, Mrs. Laderman believed to be so, and didn't know that it's just the result of Claudia's sickness.
Quentin - The woods:
Quentin exists only in relation with Claudia. Quentin is Claudia's imaginary boyfriend and they have never seen each other in her apartment. Due to Claudia's obsession with horror films, she always portrays him in a dark forest, him being the only living creature that seems to be actually alive in the whole picture. But still, this is changeable by Claudia's mood. If she feels happy, he will be full of life and loving. If she feels sad or frustrated, he will be constantly worrying about her and looking desperate. If she feels miserable, he will look miserable as well. And if she feels dead, he will look like a monster, like a zombie who just returned from the dead. He exists as long as Claudia thinks about him and no one else can see him, although that she feels that he is very real. Maybe it's just the schizophrenia, or is Quentin really an invisible entity?
Mrs. Laderman - Door:
Mrs. Laderman is the middle-aged lady next door to Claudia. Claudia considered her her friend until a point, because Mrs. Laderman was her confidant and always there to listen to her problems when she felt like complaining. And she was complaining a lot. Mrs. Laderman was there for her since she was 13 years old and struggling with adolescence in the ugliest way possible: being agoraphobic and schizophrenic and not being able to go out and make friends and actually experience life. Mrs. Laderman loved Claudia, because Claudia was her only friend too. Well, she had another neighbour who talked to, and that was Debra, but they weren't so close as she just moved nearby. Was Mrs. Laderman's love for Claudia just a pure, friendly love? Or was it something else?
The truth is, since Claudia grew up things have changed between them. She started feeling something unusual towards her, and she started suspecting that Claudia is seeing with a boy. She felt incredibly irritated when she found out that Claudia is really in love with Quentin, that's why after Claudia confessed, she stopped coming over Claudia's home.
Claudia noticed that Mrs. Laderman is not how she used to be, and this happened right after she told her about Quentin. She started thinking that Mrs. Laderman had designs on Quentin, and stopped trying to reach her by the phone or anything.
One day, Mrs. Laderman wanted reconciliation because she missed Claudia and wanted to clarify her feelings towards her. She went and knocked on Claudia's door. She opened, and when she saw Mrs. Laderman, she had a nervous breakdown. She was really angry at her because all the time they haven't seen each other she was alone and devastated by her own thoughts. Instead of reconciliating, they started fighting. Mrs. Laderman wanted to let her guard down, but Claudia felt the weakness and stabbed her to death. When realising what she just did, she felt extremely guilty and scared and wanted to run away. But she couldn't. She was trapped in her own fears, trapped in her life and in her apartment. She felt like her own life was falling apart and she couldn't deal with this no more. She desperately called for Quentin's help but he was nowhere to be found. She panicked and she remembered about the pills that the doctor gave her to take when she felt like she couldn't deal with life anymore. She took them all in a desperate attempt to escape... and she escaped, in the end. In her last minutes she could see Quentin lying over her disfigured, with fire in his eyes and laughing with his teeth almost falling out of his big, mutillated mouth. He then told her: "I've been waiting for so long for you in Hell, next to our parents whom I've killed. I am so happy that our family is finally reuinted. You thought that I am your boyfriend? No, little sister, I am your stepbrother, killed by your mother at birth. She was having an affair with another man while being with our father... he found out about that while she was pregnant and thought that I am not his child. He discussed with mother about this and they both agreed to give a second chance to their marriage but to do so, they had to kill me at birth because they were't even sure that I was their child! They have killed me with cold blood and I wanted revenge. You know that you only could imagine me in the woods? There's where they have buried me as a newborn. There's where I have kept for years some space next to me for my beloved parents and for you, you second chance! There's where you belong, my dear sister, in the ground next to me and the whole family. You were right when you feared that going out of the apartment will harm you. Outside are another dead souls ready to eat yours alive. You have to pay for your parents sins, and you will with your own life. That's why I did everything I could to push you to take your own life and write yourself the sentence to Hell. That's where you belong and now I can finally find my soul rest knowing that I had revenge, even though I will burn in Hell for an eternity along with my family.".
The other charachter I have imagined is Debrah Morgan, Dexter's sister. She is a very compassionate girl, always wanting to help others, and that's why when she has time she visits Claudia, knowing that she suffers from a mental illness. She called Claudia that night to see if the roses that she gave her were still fresh, because she just bought another bouquet and wanted to give them to her. Claudia didn't answer the phone. Neither did Mrs. Laderman. She kept calling but nobody was answering and she felt that something must be wrong with them. She decided to visit Claudia to see if everything's fine and because her brother was staying at her that night, she took him with her. When they got to Claudia's home, they have seen the terrible scene with Mrs. Laderman on the ground, stabbed and in a puddle of blood and Claudia lying on the floor, with her eyes open, dead and cold. They started investigating the case looking for a murderer, because something was not right with their story. Looking at the roses from the window sill, Debrah noticed that they weren't white anymore. They turned black, and both her and her brother felt that here is something more than just a murder. There is a dark mistery that they have to reveal.
References:
- Wikia (no date) Black rose. Available at: http://symbolism.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Rose (Accessed: 6 March 2016).
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