At the beginning of the year, I wrote a piece on Joker’s story world and its transformation over time, proposing a five-phase framework. I was curious to see how this model would apply to the more subtle story world evolution of Argentina, 1985 written by Santiago Mitre and Mariano Llinás. First, let’s review the framework.
The Joker’s Framework
As the story world evolves, it will journey through various phases, with each one of them playing a distinct role in the story.
The Initial State
Stories start within a particular world defined by a set of characteristics like the time period, the location, the characters, the general state of affairs, the events, etc. The Initial State is the current situation in the story world. It is the starting point for the story.
The Igniter
An event takes place. It sparks a reaction. It challenges the status quo and sets things into motion, triggering a series of incidents.
The Defining Incidents
The Igniter has forced the story world to evolve. The circumstances have changed and we can never go back to how it was. During this phase, a series of events will take place that will show how the story world is expanding, maturing and being challenged. These defining incidents will take us to the Tipping Point.
The Tipping Point
Everything that has taken place so far boils down to the tipping point. The Igniter has pushed everything to evolve and the Defining Incidents have showcased that transformation. Now we are faced with a larger situation that drives a major shift in the story world.
The New World
Finally, the story world has completely morphed into a new state. After everything that has happened, how can it not? This is the New World.
Deconstructing Argentina, 1985
Now that we have reviewed the framework, let’s see how (or if) it applies to Argentina, 1985.
The Initial State
The story starts at a significant time in Argentinian history. After years under a brutal dictatorship, an opportunity for justice finally arises.
A National commission on the disappearance of Argentinians during the dictatorship has been established and the possibility of a trial against the victimizing commanders is in the air.
Two distinct narratives plague the nation. In the first, the brutalized are not considered victims, but terrorists and subversive forces. In the second, they are actual victims who suffered unspeakable violence under this regime.
This is the initial state of the story world. At this point, we don’t know if a trial will happen. There is uncertainty. Will justice be done? This leads us to the Igniter.
The Igniter
As we head into page 17 and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces submits their ruling informing that “according to its investigation, the decrees, directives, orders, and military procedures to combat the stateless subversion were, in both their content and form, unobjectionable”, the federal court is compelled to act. It is therefore decided that a trial will take place, not by a war tribunal this time, but by a civil one. This is our Igniter. It challenges the status quo and triggers a set of Defining Incidents.
The Defining Incidents
Allowing for a trial has forced the story world to evolve. What we knew to be true at the beginning of the story is bound to go through a transformation. The Defining Incidents show us “how the story world is expanding, maturing, and being challenged”.
A sense of danger
A sense of danger is omnipresent throughout the story, but as the trial is announced, threats are a common occurrence. There is no doubt that our main character’s safety is no longer guaranteed.
The threats were sure to come.
His team isn’t exempted from the dangers of seeking the truth.
The Deputy-Prosecutor has a taste of it too.
Given that the case relies heavily on the victims’ testimonials, it isn’t a surprise they are targeted as well.
It was bound to have an effect on them.
And the bomb threats…
The Divide
As mentioned previously, there are two opposing narratives that divide the nation between those who believe the victims and those who consider them terrorists, convinced that the commanders fought against subversion. Luis’ family is part of the latter and serves in this story as a guiding parameter for the divide.
Her change of heart is a strong Defining Incident representing change. The story world is mutating.
The News Coverage
For a country that went through years of a dictatorship with journalists being heavily persecuted, the press coverage of the trial becomes a Defining Incident. Free press in this new fragile democracy may not be without bounds, but it heralds a departure from the dictatorship.
The coverage by the press has been fair so far, stating the facts and facing the truth.
The Testimonials
The trial provides an opportunity to the victims to share their experiences and to challenge the oppressive narratives against them.
The Tipping Point
Once we arrive at the Tipping Point we are faced with a major shift in the story world. In Argentina 1985, the sentencing is the Tipping Point. The investigation, the trial, and every single challenge has taken us to this point, what we have been waiting for.
It may not be what they were hoping for, but it shows that the story world has evolved beyond recognition.
The New World
Argentina has gone through a serious transformation, from a dictatorship where justice was a foreign concept to this new world where the members of the military juntas can be brought to civil court, be prosecuted, and sent to jail. It’s a New World. However, the battle isn’t over yet and the main character sets a new goal for himself.
Conclusion
Testing out the framework we explored for the transformation of Joker’s story world was a blast and I’m glad to see it still applies to Argentina, 1985 even though the evolution was much starker in Joker. Argentina, 1985 presented a more subtle transformation. Maybe it’s because the story style is quite different or maybe it indicates that the evolution of the story world could have been further developed, but then again, I’m not sure it would have added greater depth or interest to the story.