Geetha Kannan
Genre – Adventure Fiction
An adventure is a moment in life that rushes our adrenaline. Adventure inspires people and fills their hearts with a thirst of thrill and excitement. It is a mix of several dangers, fearlessness, intellect and prowess, problem solving, and triumph. The essence of the ever-popular adventure genre is the perfect balance of all the above mentioned aspects brewed in a story enthralling the readers/viewers. Adventure fictions are tales of incredible and unbelievable journeys and experiences. The story reflects the life of a character set off to embark on a journey for a certain purpose and plays a large role in the direction of the storyline.
The main components of adventure fiction include an interesting plot, a protagonist, a quest, an unfamiliar or dangerous environment, an infamous antagonist, risks, sacrifices, transformation, and achievement.
Plot – One Piece is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga series of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. A Pirate named Gol D. Roger was executed and right before his death, he revealed that he had attained every treasure the world had to offer, the One Piece, and had hidden it at the end of the Grand Line, mysterious waters where countless pirates met their demise. The treasure One Piece inspired people to become pirates in pursuit of the treasure thus beginning the Great Pirate Era.
Protagonist – The protagonist of the story is a boy named, Monkey D. Luffy, whose body became rubber after unintendedly eating a devil fruit. A devil fruit is a fruit possessed by the devils of the sea and gives certain powers or abilities that a normal human cannot do or have at the cost of their ability to swim. A person with devil fruit powers will sink into the bottom of the sea if they ever fell in it. A protagonist will embark on a journey mostly by themselves and form bonds as they proceed.
Quest – Luffy, twelve years after the Great Pirate Era began, sets out on a quest to become the King of the Pirates, and attain the One Piece. His primary objective was to gather a crew of pirates who eventually came to be called the Straw Hat Pirates. The quest aids in the development of the story with a series of events, twists and hurdles.
Antagonist – The life of a Pirate is not a walk in the park. As the story progresses, the crew gains a lot of attention from the Marine Forces and the World government who want to put an end to the Pirate Era. In every turn of their journey, the straw hat pirates are constantly tested and are put up against powerful adversaries and situations that they must defeat and overcome to attain their goals.
Risk – Being a pirate alone is quite risky, in addition to this, the thought of sailing on the sea with the constant threat of drowning, being attacked by other pirates, marines, the destruction that comes on the uncharted waters are quite intimidating; but not for the Straw Hat Pirates. They love taking risks, which includes sailing right through the most dangerous storm or riding a stream that knocks you up into the sky in hopes of seeing a sky island or barging into a heavily guarded marine base to save a friend. They have done it all.
Transformation – They are the most essential element in adventure fiction. Seeing our Protagonist grow often has a great impact on the viewer or reader. Throughout the series, Luffy’s driving force was to grow stronger to protect his friends. He throws himself in every risk and learns and grows through it. The crew is determined to sail through the second half of the grand line called the New World. But they soon gather, that they were not strong enough to carry on. After being defeated by a Pirate affiliated with the world government, the crew was split into different directions of the world against their will as a result of the fight. After the execution of his pirate brother Ace, Luffy attempts to convey to his crew to meet him after two years so he can grow stronger and will never lose someone close to him ever again. The whole crew uses this as an opportunity to grow in strength and skill.
The crew ultimately meets after their transformation and sail to the New World, with stronger motivation, bonds, and inspiration.
Another interesting story is Jumanji, a film based on children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg. This is the story of a supernatural board game that brings about the dangers of a jungle with every move played in the game. A boy gets trapped in the game while playing with his friend. Twenty-six years after this incident, two kids who are siblings find the game and release the boy who was trapped in the game but now is a fully grown man. The three decide to finish the game to set things straight and undo the destruction caused by it.
Some famous adventure fiction novels are Harry Potter by J.K Rowling and Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi.
Good adventure fiction opens up a new perspective to its reader/viewer and draws them to a world that we may have never thought of. We unintentionally incorporate elements or even be motivated by small things that conspire in the story. It would effectively get the spectator hooked and make them not only anticipate but imagine and come up with their own versions of the story, like a very own fan fiction. One more season! One more chapter! Is often a plea by viewers to know what happens next. In my opinion, adventure fiction is undoubtedly the best concept to invest time in.
Citation
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“10 Tips and 6 Elements of a Good Adventure Story” The Urban Writers, April 30, 2021. https://theurbanwriters.com/blogs/publishing/10-tips-of-a-good-adventure-story retrieved July 15,2021
“Middle School Fiction Genres: Adventure” University of South Florida
https://usflis.libguides.com/c.php?g=1137069&p=8298090
“One Piece (Manga)” One Piece Wiki. https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/One_Piece_(Manga)#Plot Retrieved July 16, 2021
“One Piece TV Series” Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece_(TV_series) Retrieved July 16, 2021
“One Piece” Censored Wiki
https://censorship.wikia.org/wiki/One_Piece
Riganas, Nick, Jumanji 1995, IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113497/plotsummary Retrieved July 16,2021
“The benefits of reading adventure books” Elemental Science, February 16, 2016 https://elementalscience.com/blogs/news/reading-adventure-books Retrieved July 16, 2021
