Some of you may not be familiar with the cartoon and comic sensation that is Adventure Time. Congratulations, you almost certainly have a life and no children. Set in the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo, Finn and Jake troll around having adventures and generally being awesome. By far my favourite of the princesses they regularly hang out with is Princess Bubblegum, for the following reasons:
She rules the Candy Kingdom without a regent, or a prince, or anyone else telling her what to do (she also created the Candy Kingdom and its people)
She is a scientist and inventor, who is drawn to smart people who relate to her as an intelligent woman
She is as often rescuer as rescued
(I should say at this point that I'm really only familiar with vol.1 of the comics and series 1 of the show, my knowledge is probably out of date for the hardcore fans out there.)
So, like the Princess herself, I set out to create myself a Peppermint Butler.
Materials:
White foamboard (5mm thick, A3) Daler Rowney Canford Card in 007 (Bright Red) and 049 (Navy Blue)
From the craft kit:
A large plate
A craft knife
PVA glue
White paper
Black marker
Responsible adult (or equivalent if this is not available where you live)
I started by drawing around the plate on the foamboard. I folded the navy card in half and used the bottom 1/3 of the plate against the pre-cut edge to create his tux. I then added the tails, without rubbing out the shape of the plate. I cut both pieces out, then cut the tails off the one with pencil marks, along the curved line. I also drew the outline of the plate on the red card and marked where the tux would sit.
Using a responsible adult (My Girl), I cut the foam board with a craft knife, and then tidied the edges with scissors. I positioned the two tuxedo pieces against one edge and glued down
I drew the markings freehand onto the red cardboard, in the right positions on the circle I drew earlier, and cut out two of each. I placed them onto the foamboard based, and glued into place.
I drew the arms, legs, hands and feet freehand on card and cut them out (again, two of each piece), and one bow tie. I glued these together and placed them onto the body. The cuffs I made from plain white paper and wrapped around the wrist. I added the black lines in marker pen, and drew on his face.
I know I'm a little late to the Hallowe'en party but I was in Hobbycraft the other day (other craft shops are available, etc.) browsing through the books. Whilst browsing, I found Super Scary Crochet, which I had seen and liked before so I started to flick through. Lots of the patterns are really fun, I liked "Mummy" (and really liked that her description of a mummy, whilst brief, aims at accuracy - nerd alert!). Unfortunately, in the middle of a lot of really fun amigurumi patterns is "Murderous Mental Mary".
"Mary is a serial murderer who lives in an institution ...
She has murdered lots of nurses and ... doctors"
Pattern (c) Nicki Trench, www.nickitrench.com
According to the pattern description, "Mary is a serial murderer who lives in an institution, but occasionally escapes. She has murdered lots of nurses and has a blood lust for doctors. Each time she kills, she dribbles blood with excitement" (see left, below).
Mary's inclusion in this book plays into the same fears that the "mental patient" and "psycho ward" costumes play into. There is no need to play up a character with talk about mental health issues, or "institutions", but the hyperbole of horror is always out to shock, and my guess is that this was the author's intention here. A murderer in a high-security prison? Not scary enough. Let's make her mental, and add some "blood lust" in for that extra frisson of excitment.
"Each time she kills, she
dribbles blood with excitement"
Pattern (c) Nicki Trench,
www.nickitrench.com
To be clear, although I think this is all pretty rotten, Nicki Trench didn't invent the idea of the "mental patient" as a figure of horror and disgust any more than did Tesco and Asda. The fear of the "other" and of a loss of control are well-documented areas of the human psyche. We fear that we know we could become, the things that hold up a mirror to what we perceive as the worst of ourselves. A murderer is horrifying, but a murderer who is out of control and "mental" is almost irresistible to our own internal lust for horror and fantasy. This always has been the case, one only needs look at the ways in which Bedlam hospital was opened to the public for their gawping in the C18th to see the noble history of how we relate to mental illness. 'Bedlam' is also currently the name of a popular C4 documentary about a mental health trust in South London; the very name has become synonymous will illness and spectacle. (For a good overview of the history of Bedlam, I would recommend Catharine Arnold's excellent study, Bedlam: London and its mad.)
Don't misunderstand my intentions here, I'm not going to start calling for people to stop stocking Ms. Trench's books, or start a letter-writing campaign. Nicki Trench is a talented designer, and I'd always urge you to support creatives - they need to eat, too. 'Mary' is but a symbol of how widespread in our culture the fear of "madness" is.
I also want to address the accusation that people who are worried about the association between horror and depictions of mental illness have lost our sense of humour. I am always aware of the risk of "going on about stigma or overblowing it. It might seem petty in the grand scheme of things, but I see people day in, day out, who are terrified of disclosing mental health issues to anyone (even a professional) in case they lose their job, lose their friends, are labelled a "freak". That fear hasn't just popped into their heads from nowhere, the stigma is real and damaging. It leads people to avoid seeking help, and in extreme cases not seeking help can lead to death.
If you want to do something to help, take a look at Time to Change. You could even sign up to their pledge and make my day.
To end on a lighter note, here's a video made by the charity Bring Change 2 Mind:
I started by drawing around the plate on the foamboard. I folded the navy card in half and used the bottom 1/3 of the plate against the pre-cut edge to create his tux. I then added the tails, without rubbing out the shape of the plate. I cut both pieces out, then cut the tails off the one with pencil marks, along the curved line. I also drew the outline of the plate on the red card and marked where the tux would sit.
