PLOT PERSONALITY

I was destined to be born in Alleppey (now Alappuzha - a world-renowned backwater spot filled with national and international tourists even during the monsoons). Though I spent my childhood and adolescence in Alleppey, nurtured the best cliques of my life there, I don’t live in Alleppey anymore (I’m really sad about it).  

Coconut Toddy and Arrack are signs of Alleppey’s heritage and I have grown up being proud of these local brews. My mother who has turned 93 recently has many stories to tell connected with the Toddy and Arrack, the much appreciated central Travancore brews of our good old days. Even we were all proud of the specially brewed rum (Old Monk) at the McDowell Distillery at Cherthala, a nearby town.

On my journey of life I have found and tasted many labels of rum and arrack, and tequila. But Old Monk rum was special for me for many a reason.

Later in my life, I had been to McDowell distillery in Cherthala for working with their brand campaign projects but I have had my affinity with the brand Old Monk much earlier than those events of my life.

During my earlier days as a screenwriter, when I had late night chats on stories with directors and producers who preferred Tennessee’s Jack Daniel’s? and Scottish Johnnie Walker? I was keen on revealing my character with two things: I’m from Alleppey (Cherthala is part of Alleppey) and I’m keen on cost cutting.

Old Monk? really was a metaphor and motif to show others that I mean them. The brand was sole supporter to tell my characteristic. Without saying much, Old Monk exposed my intentions and told my friends at the party that I preferred home-brewed rum to a foreign-brewed whisky. Also, I put my foot down and communicated without saying it aloud I’m really concerned about the costs that fall on the project by drinking Rum to Whiskey.   

The concept that brands over time develop metaphoric relevance has been existing already. ‘Badge Brands’ are meant to link something about ourselves to others in the biosphere.

But over the long years I now reckon the unavoidable influence of the character called Old Monk in my life both then, and now, to assist a much deeper inner need I fervently wanted attention. Through that meeting with the directors and producers in Bengaluru, I was employing Old Monk to tell myself a story.

Truly, I was using Old Monk to help me find myself. As I was trying to make a career in writing, making an impression of myself in front of my director and producer, I was scripting and rewriting my life story. And Old Monk was an influencing character in that story with a Super Objective.

This is called Plot Personality in psychological terms. Brands (metaphors or motifs) play a vital role in this exercise of Plot Personality. We are prone to interleaf motifs and brands in our personal stories.

. . . TBC.