I wrote Thicker Than Blood two years ago as a screenplay for a short animation using Matt Carless’s screenplay format (2004). The story came to me after having found inspiration from watching “Echoes” (2022). “Echoes” is a Netflix T.V. series about identical twin sisters who go through life constantly swapping places and living each other’s lives as well as sharing husbands and a daughter. Conflict arises, however, when one of them goes missing as she seeks freedom from the constant role playing.
Alongside “Echoes” I was also inspired by the axe killing of Betty Gore on Friday June 13, 1980. Candy Montgomery who had been having an affair with Gore’s husband was accused of fatally striking Gore with an axe forty-one times. Ultimately, Montgomery was acquitted of her crimes as she pled not guilty claiming self-defense as Gore attacked first. Coincidently 1980 was also the year “The Shining” premiered, a film based on Stephen King’s horror novel about a man who goes psychotic and attempts to murder his wife and children with an axe. The killing of Betty Gore went on to inspire the production of the drama series “Candy” and “Love & Death” (2022), both of which I watched.
Thicker Than Blood amalgamates the identical twin element of “Echoes” and Gore’s attempted axe-murdering of her husband’s lover Montgomery to create a story about Aurelia who murders her identical twin, Altaluna, with an axe. The short story is narrated by the protagonist Altaluna who, as a ghost, details the immediate aftermath of her murder and disposal of her body. Throughout her account Altaluna also shares details of tensions she had with her sister and Aurelia’s possible motives for murder, like the affair Altaluna had had with Aurelia’s husband.
Though on the surface Thicker Than Blood’s morbid and bloody story is about a sister murdering a sister, I wrote the story to personify the internal strife of living with contradicting characters/personalities within oneself. Specifically living with a part of yourself that you dislike and possibly hate. Hate enough to attempt to destroy. Much like Aurelia did with Altaluna.
In the story Aurelia represent the “lighter” side of myself. The more gentle, people-pleasing, “feminine” side. Whilst Altaluna represents the “darker” more impulsive, scruple-less, unapologetic and selfish side of myself. Both coexisting in one body raging a never ending war to take the main stage. Likened to the three hearts Portuguese Jesuit Joao Rodrigues accused the Japanese of having in 1576 when living in Japan:
Which nowadays Westerners have translated to meaning masks or faces. One we openly share, one we share intimately and one we never share. Aurelia is the mask I predominantly openly share to the public, whereas Altaluna is reminiscent of the mask I never share with anyone but would, on the rare occasion, prefer to exhibit.
Bibliography
“Candy.” IMDb, 9 May 2022, www.imdb.com/title/tt13729648/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Carless, Matt. “Screenplay Format.” BBC, BBC, 4 Feb. 2004, www.bbc.co.uk/writers/documents/screenplaytv.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
“Echoes.” IMDb, 19 Aug. 2022, www.imdb.com/title/tt14954498/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
“Love & Death.” IMDb, 27 Apr. 2023, www.imdb.com/title/tt14586350/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Matsumoto, Kiyoshi. “The “Ura of the Ura” of Japanese Mind.” Medium, 23 Sept. 2021, medium.com/@kiyoshimatsumoto/the-ura-of-the-ura-of-japanese-mind-6849b3675ed7. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
McEvoy, Colin. “Where Is Acquitted Murderer Candy Montgomery Now?” Biography, 27 Apr. 2023, www.biography.com/crime/a43659126/where-is-candy-montgomery-now. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.