As most old adults know, the easiest way to grab Hollywood's attention is to write a great Young Adult franchise. Studios are looking for any property that they can spin into the next Twilight or Hunger Games, and preferably one where they don't have to pay for the rights.
This means that the Public Domain is a new source of original inspiration. Practically any text can be converted into a YA love story. See: Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Riding Hood, Once Upon a Time, and Beauty and the Beast on The CW. There are competing Peter Pan projects in the pipeline as well as Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Cinderella reboot for Disney.
Elements needed:
I'm talking, of course, about Plato's "The Republic."
*****
PLATONIA STRAUSS ("Toni" to her friends) feels like an outsider. She feels like her world lacks any and all justice. High school is an emotional dystopia for a socially awkward 16 year old girl. Purple streaks in her hair help her to stand out from the herd, despite her intention to remain anonymous.
Toni has always had the inclination that something is wrong with her homeland. Her classmates are more concerned with appearances than being themselves. The unjust and vain seem to succeed and get into top colleges. Toni harbors an inherent disconnect with the world. Because of which, she spends her time sketching, listening to The Smiths, wandering about aimlessly, stewing in a perpetual diatribe on teenage unfairness, and writing in her diary about her dead mother.
Raised by a single father along with her stoner brother, GLAUCON, they reside in the city-state of Athenia, WA. Toni feels distant and removed from nearly all of her classmates. There is, however, the town bad boy THRASYMACHUS JONES, nicknamed "Thrash." Bold ne'er do well captain of the lacrosse team, Thrash is the big man on campus, playing by his own rules. For some reason he is infatuated with the outsider Toni. She is unclear if his affections are true or merely an attempt to manipulate her feelings, particularly since "She's All That" is one of Toni's favorite movies and she has actually learned a lesson or two from mid-90's high school cinema.
At the town's Founder's Day ceremony, MAYOR CHARLES CEPHALUS recounts the story of how eons ago the brave Athenians founded the city. The land was originally inhabited by a group of demons known as the Phaetons. The Athenian settlers banished the Daemons into the abyss and created a new society, based on tradition and obligation. Cephalus warns his people to be perpetually alert, just in case the Phaetons fulfill their destiny and return, opening up Athenia to a world of darkness, pain and chaos.
Toni has been selected to give a speech in front of the town. Perpetually nervous, she stutters and stumbles over her words. Her classmates erupt in laughter. She looks to Thrash to defend her, but he's too busy snickering. Toni runs away into the woods.
While running away from embarrassment, Toni trips over something that protrudes from the earth. She scratches at the soil, discovering a hatch.
Runic characters are etched into the lid
A combination lock controls the mechanism. On a whim, Toni spins the dial to her favorite number, 347. It opens.
Looking down, Toni discovers a large cave. She can see a society of people, shackled to the cave wall. They labor on large machines. Gears turning, levers pulling. Large cables rise through the ground. Looking up outside the cave, Toni sees that these cables flow to Athenia's power plant.
As she looks back down through the hatch, the sunlight hits Toni's body, casting a shadow down into the cave. And her shadow falls over a BOY.
Upon seeing the change in light, he rouses every last ounce of energy in his body and he angrily pulls away from the wall. Muscles rippling, he breaks loose from his chains and decides to see the world for what it truly is.
He and Toni are instantly drawn to each other. After years of living underground, his skin is pale. Yet due to the physical labor, he is ripped like a water polo playing, rock climbing Pilates instructor.
Socrates explains that there is a whole society of humans who have been chained in the cave. They watch the light dance on the cave walls, but they don't truly understand why they are down there. No one has thought to ever question the status quo. Now that he is out of the cave, Socrates has no intention of ever going back. "Not after seeing all the beauties this world has to offer..."
Toni helps to enroll Socrates in the high school, so he can learn about the above-world's society. He listens in on the lectures about American History, but it seems empty to Socrates. Athenia claims to be founded on justice. But what is justice?
Socrates starts to tell the other students about how to make their world into a utopia. "Find what you are good at, and follow that path." Along with his impromptu study groups, Socrates starts to teach yoga after school, hoping to balance the spirit of his friends. "See the bigger pose. See the form. And then turn yourself into it."
Thrash instantly comes into conflict with Socrates. Despite Trash's imposing physical structure, Socrates gets the upper hand, particularly since Socrates only responds with more questions. A frustrated Thrash calls Socrates a communist, an advocate of the destruction of private property and money. To which Socrates replies, "Am I?"
Prom Night is coming up, turning the high school into a flurry of hormones and carnations. Socrates has no idea what this means. "Don't they have prom where you come from?" asks Toni as she bites her lower lip. "They never had dances in the cave. Just slave labor by candlelight." It will be both Socrates and Toni's first prom.
Socrates shares more about the cave people society. Their religion states that the soul is made up of three parts: the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive. There are very few men who have a balanced soul. These are the fabled "Philosopher Kings"that are destined to return to the city-state, rescue the Cavers and usher in a healthy city. Socrates believes that Toni could be one of the philosopher kings. She strives for truth. She could grasp the heavenly Forms. "But those weren't the forms she wanted to grasp right now."
Something about this legend registers with Toni. There is a repeating story element that leaps out at her. Toni realizes that these are the Phaetons. The Cave People's messiah is Athenia's devil!
Mayor Cephalus is the mastermind behind exploiting the Cavers. He is worried about the prophecy of the Philosopher Kings, obsessed with the possibility that they will wrestle his power away. To prevent this enlightened revolution, he enslaved the cave people.
Toni calls the entire city-state to the town hall to reveal Cephalus for the underhanded villain he truly is. The proud mayor, however, does not repent. Instead, he accepts and embraces his duties. All he was doing was looking out for the Athenians' best interests.
And the unjust city chooses Cephalus.
Toni and Socrates run off together, fleeing from the town elders. Socrates tells Toni that it is possible that the city-state is just another cave. There might be another, even truer world out there. And we have to keep striving for the Forms and the truth.
Meanwhile at the hatch, which Toni never fully closed, more of Socrates' people slowly climb out of the cave. They get their first look at the sun. After shielding their faces and waiting for their eyes to adjust.
And they are not happy...
******
Toni and Socrates on the run, hiding from both the Athenians and the Cave People. Can their love survive when it is caught in the middle of a civil war? Are you Team Socrates or Team Thrash?
___________________
1. Alternate title: "The Cave" based on the dialogue The Republic by Plato
This means that the Public Domain is a new source of original inspiration. Practically any text can be converted into a YA love story. See: Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Riding Hood, Once Upon a Time, and Beauty and the Beast on The CW. There are competing Peter Pan projects in the pipeline as well as Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Cinderella reboot for Disney.
Elements needed:
- A teenage female protagonist who spends a good portion of the novel writing in her diary (providing ultra-angsty exposition)
- A distant, emo love interest (preferably sparkling)
- Strange, guttural, borderline Seussian gibberish names like Haymitch Abernathy or Tris Prior
- A love triangle where neither option seems particularly promising
I'm talking, of course, about Plato's "The Republic."
*****
The Republic Chronicles, Book One: The Cave1
"Their love was conceived on a higher plane of existence..."
PLATONIA STRAUSS ("Toni" to her friends) feels like an outsider. She feels like her world lacks any and all justice. High school is an emotional dystopia for a socially awkward 16 year old girl. Purple streaks in her hair help her to stand out from the herd, despite her intention to remain anonymous.
Toni has always had the inclination that something is wrong with her homeland. Her classmates are more concerned with appearances than being themselves. The unjust and vain seem to succeed and get into top colleges. Toni harbors an inherent disconnect with the world. Because of which, she spends her time sketching, listening to The Smiths, wandering about aimlessly, stewing in a perpetual diatribe on teenage unfairness, and writing in her diary about her dead mother.
Raised by a single father along with her stoner brother, GLAUCON, they reside in the city-state of Athenia, WA. Toni feels distant and removed from nearly all of her classmates. There is, however, the town bad boy THRASYMACHUS JONES, nicknamed "Thrash." Bold ne'er do well captain of the lacrosse team, Thrash is the big man on campus, playing by his own rules. For some reason he is infatuated with the outsider Toni. She is unclear if his affections are true or merely an attempt to manipulate her feelings, particularly since "She's All That" is one of Toni's favorite movies and she has actually learned a lesson or two from mid-90's high school cinema.
At the town's Founder's Day ceremony, MAYOR CHARLES CEPHALUS recounts the story of how eons ago the brave Athenians founded the city. The land was originally inhabited by a group of demons known as the Phaetons. The Athenian settlers banished the Daemons into the abyss and created a new society, based on tradition and obligation. Cephalus warns his people to be perpetually alert, just in case the Phaetons fulfill their destiny and return, opening up Athenia to a world of darkness, pain and chaos.
Toni has been selected to give a speech in front of the town. Perpetually nervous, she stutters and stumbles over her words. Her classmates erupt in laughter. She looks to Thrash to defend her, but he's too busy snickering. Toni runs away into the woods.
While running away from embarrassment, Toni trips over something that protrudes from the earth. She scratches at the soil, discovering a hatch.
Runic characters are etched into the lid
A combination lock controls the mechanism. On a whim, Toni spins the dial to her favorite number, 347. It opens.
Looking down, Toni discovers a large cave. She can see a society of people, shackled to the cave wall. They labor on large machines. Gears turning, levers pulling. Large cables rise through the ground. Looking up outside the cave, Toni sees that these cables flow to Athenia's power plant.
As she looks back down through the hatch, the sunlight hits Toni's body, casting a shadow down into the cave. And her shadow falls over a BOY.
Upon seeing the change in light, he rouses every last ounce of energy in his body and he angrily pulls away from the wall. Muscles rippling, he breaks loose from his chains and decides to see the world for what it truly is.
"He couldn't quite explain the sensation. He couldn't quite put it into words. But what he felt was bigger than words. It was too powerful to be constrained by letters and syntax. He was feeling actual love. He was tired of merely seeing shadows. He wanted reality. He wanted truth. He wanted beauty."And so he climbs out of his oh-so-subtly metaphorical cave. And the first thing he sees in this new world...is Toni.
"Prior to seeing her, everything was a shadow. He never knew music, only echoes. When he saw her long hair cascading down her neck, for the first time he knew what it meant to want and yearn and lust. For the first time he understood truth. For the first time, he saw the world.
"All this time he had dreamt of a form. A perfect idea of a girl. Everything she should be. And that form was her."This boy is SOCRATES (no last names are given in cave people culture).
He and Toni are instantly drawn to each other. After years of living underground, his skin is pale. Yet due to the physical labor, he is ripped like a water polo playing, rock climbing Pilates instructor.
Socrates explains that there is a whole society of humans who have been chained in the cave. They watch the light dance on the cave walls, but they don't truly understand why they are down there. No one has thought to ever question the status quo. Now that he is out of the cave, Socrates has no intention of ever going back. "Not after seeing all the beauties this world has to offer..."
Toni helps to enroll Socrates in the high school, so he can learn about the above-world's society. He listens in on the lectures about American History, but it seems empty to Socrates. Athenia claims to be founded on justice. But what is justice?
Socrates starts to tell the other students about how to make their world into a utopia. "Find what you are good at, and follow that path." Along with his impromptu study groups, Socrates starts to teach yoga after school, hoping to balance the spirit of his friends. "See the bigger pose. See the form. And then turn yourself into it."
Thrash instantly comes into conflict with Socrates. Despite Trash's imposing physical structure, Socrates gets the upper hand, particularly since Socrates only responds with more questions. A frustrated Thrash calls Socrates a communist, an advocate of the destruction of private property and money. To which Socrates replies, "Am I?"
Prom Night is coming up, turning the high school into a flurry of hormones and carnations. Socrates has no idea what this means. "Don't they have prom where you come from?" asks Toni as she bites her lower lip. "They never had dances in the cave. Just slave labor by candlelight." It will be both Socrates and Toni's first prom.
Socrates shares more about the cave people society. Their religion states that the soul is made up of three parts: the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive. There are very few men who have a balanced soul. These are the fabled "Philosopher Kings"that are destined to return to the city-state, rescue the Cavers and usher in a healthy city. Socrates believes that Toni could be one of the philosopher kings. She strives for truth. She could grasp the heavenly Forms. "But those weren't the forms she wanted to grasp right now."
Something about this legend registers with Toni. There is a repeating story element that leaps out at her. Toni realizes that these are the Phaetons. The Cave People's messiah is Athenia's devil!
Mayor Cephalus is the mastermind behind exploiting the Cavers. He is worried about the prophecy of the Philosopher Kings, obsessed with the possibility that they will wrestle his power away. To prevent this enlightened revolution, he enslaved the cave people.
Toni calls the entire city-state to the town hall to reveal Cephalus for the underhanded villain he truly is. The proud mayor, however, does not repent. Instead, he accepts and embraces his duties. All he was doing was looking out for the Athenians' best interests.
"I protect you and keep you safe! You owe me! That is justice!"Toni poses the question to the townspeople: Do they want to accept consequences and find balance in their souls? Or do they want to continue as tyrannical overlords?
And the unjust city chooses Cephalus.
Toni and Socrates run off together, fleeing from the town elders. Socrates tells Toni that it is possible that the city-state is just another cave. There might be another, even truer world out there. And we have to keep striving for the Forms and the truth.
Meanwhile at the hatch, which Toni never fully closed, more of Socrates' people slowly climb out of the cave. They get their first look at the sun. After shielding their faces and waiting for their eyes to adjust.
And they are not happy...
END OF BOOK ONE
******
Toni and Socrates on the run, hiding from both the Athenians and the Cave People. Can their love survive when it is caught in the middle of a civil war? Are you Team Socrates or Team Thrash?
___________________
1. Alternate title: "The Cave" based on the dialogue The Republic by Plato
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