Nostalgia
A word which here means to look back at something in a romanticised fashion due to its relevance to your childhood.
Like many people, I sadly sit staring at a bookcase full of books that I have accumulated, yet very few that I have actually read and these days I barely read them at all. But as a child I would spend the majority of my free time gorging on different books, some much better than others and some I probably shouldn't have been reading at that young of an age, however there was particular book that is the earliest memory I have of genuinely reading and appreciating something independently. That book had the face of a skeletal man with a monobrow sneering at you and three scared children cowering in the background with the words A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket' over the top. For the next couple of years I was begging libraries to get each book in stock as I was enamoured in the mystery and tragedy of the lives of the Baudelaire Orphans and the dry wit of their seemingly miserable onlooker retracing these horrific events to the reader with repeated warnings to 'stop reading' I was recently met with a wave of nostalgia and wanted to look back at how incredibly influential this series was on so much of my life. As of yesterday I have finished my first year of university teaching and after spending a year trying to learn more about critical film theory and history whilst in a pandemic and having the tenth of the education for the same price, it's fair to say I have been feeling the need for something comforting and revisiting A Series of Unfortunate Events seemed about right. This is going to be a very niche topic and I've probably got a lot to say about it, there will be spoilers and speculation and a lot of whimsical love but bare with me as I delve into the history of this horrible tale.
The Bodacious Books
The books originally revolved around the ironic repeated tragedy of the lives of three intelligent children at the hands of a greedy man named Count Olaf. The first 4 books basically focus on repetition and thick irony, with the excitement of the new locations, disguises and misfortune being the main focus of enjoyment. The biggest draw is the completely unique and intriguing writing style of Lemony Snicket, a man drenched in melancholy tasked with investigating the lives of these orphans, he speaks with an educated and involved voice that is distinct and brilliant. With constant reminders to stop reading, playing with form and this distinct character that slowly unravels to be more relevant, he is the defining success of these books and the way Daniel Handler portrays Lemony Snicket is a feat. Their is such gothic bliss in this first few books, with the focus on dark tragedy and subversive attitudes to Children's Literature, they appeal to that part of me as a kid that wanted to be different. However there is also a real sense of mystery that runs through the first 4 books, they begin to include hints at a wider world and some brilliant little clues to what eventually would become the main focus of the series.
At the end of Book 5 The Austere Academy, the Baudelaire children lose their new gained friends to Count Olaf and as they drive away we are introduced to the phrase V.F.D. This is when the books really shine for me, they begin to unravel into this ever building conspiracy, with each book providing small hints and answers but also piling on the questions and enticing you into the mystery. Now, I've tried to hunt through the Wiki and decipher the complicated backstory to these elements, you can spend hours going down rabbit holes of fan theories without much prevail. Handler always revelled in the mystery, as the books go on there is a sense that he is completely playing with his audience and just enjoying hinting at a deeper story, without ever owing you the answers, Snicket tells you repeatedly that you wont get a happy ending or the answers you desire. However, I do really enjoy how there becomes more of a sense of adventure and action to the second half of these books, the repetitious comfort of the first few books is repeatedly subverted and they fold into one concrete plot rather than episodic nightmares. Snicket maintains his register, but becomes a more interesting character as his plot involvement becomes more important and as a reader you glimpse moments where the story of the Baudelaire orphans overlap with the story of Lemony Snicket.
It seems weird to say, but honestly my favourite three books are by far the final three as they are the most thematically rich and really bold with their storytelling. The Grim Grotto takes place within a submarine, which as a kid I had an absolute obsession with the deep sea and fell in love. It also was the most solid interpretation of the essential theme of moral ambiguity that is vital to this series, I'll talk about it more later. The Penultimate Peril is the big (ironically) finale you would expect, with characters from previous books returning and every element and piece folding into each other. The secret organisation of V.F.D is front and centre and it all feels like it is heading to somewhere satisfying … until it all goes up in smoke. That feeling of being so close to truth, justice and success but it being taken from you at the last moment is incredible and the fact that Handler chose to literally abandon and possibly kill of 90 per cent of the characters is a bold one that I think pays off wonderfully. It wouldn't be satisfying to get a happy ending here, it just would feel like the antithesis to the tone of the books and the way you are trusted to theorise and speculate is something I always admire in narratives.
The final book is not only my favourite in the series, but also one of the most formative books of my childhood. It is absolutely grim, melancholy to the last second and has a tone unlike anything you have ever seen. The End is about coming to terms with The End. Olaf and the Baudelaire children are on a new exotic location but nothing feels quite right, the pattern isn't there anymore and the feeling is much more realistic. This is a story with no real convenient answers, no comforting black and white villain/hero dynamic and no structured narrative of much at all and I love that. To end a series about formula, cycles of trauma and the growing distress in the unknown with just a simple story about people on a desert island is wonderful. The tone is so distant, hazy and confusing and it really works with what the whole series was building to. The ending where our protagonists literally sail off into this distance into uncertainty is a melancholic moment I haven't really felt before and for that alone, it is well worth it.
The Malleable Metaphors
But what is ASOUE about? The reason I wanted to write this inevitably way too long and probably not that compelling piece was because I got really invested in the thematic potential behind Handler's writing. The entire series is allegorical, with such a strong focus on recurring themes and a disinterest in narrative unless it services making a point. On the surface level there is the micro political themes within each book, commentaries on the absurdity of institutional education, upper class culture, labour unions, medical malpractice, bureaucracy, the justice system and the laws that govern society. These are fun little anarchist themes that Handler plays with, utilising the settings as ways to make small little points about his gripes with certain institutions, my favourite is how he absurdly tackles the way education is so subjective and pointless without proper guidance. But then the bigger themes come into play through his use of repetition, the books have been criticised for being frustrating and for promoting 'disobedience in children'. I find this hilarious, a big noticeable thing about the books is how the adults are repeatedly idiotic and useless, the problems within the Baudelaire children's lives come from the ineptitude of adults, usually due to the institutions they build. Mr Poe is meant to be in charge of their welfare and is brought down by his inability to listen to these children and not rely on bureaucracy.
Handler does offer a solution in some parts, the inclusion of V.F.D promotes the antagonising of the concept of ignorance. "A library is an island in the middle of a vast sea of ignorance'. Information and education is vital, it is so important to strive for knowledge and to do good in this world of broken structures and fire. However Handler then goes one step further, by subverting this very notion and by introducing the concept of moral greyness and the idealistic perspective of the V.F.D. In the books it is hinted that this organisation is essentially imperfect, brainwashing some children into a certain way of thinking and ultimately leading to a schism that overturned this world into chaos. This is when he introduces two essential metaphorical ideas that contribute to the idea of moral greyness.
The Sugar Bowl. To fans of the books, the idea of the Sugar Bowl will make them wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. An object of great importance that is desired by both sides of the schism and appears throughout the book series as something of desire, without ever explaining what is in it. Personally, this is where I see the books as working best as thematic allegories, the Sugar Bowl is a commentary on the Macguffin and the implication that desire and greed comes in multiple forms. The want for the Sugar Bowl causes so much destruction, even by noble people because it is simply something so important and vital, we never find out what is inside it because the point Handler is making is that it doesn't matter what is ultimately inside it. Even the most noble of organisations fall apart when desire and objective want is introduced, we can validate our action in the context of achieving this important object of desire. The second is something introduced within The Grim Grotto known only as 'The Great Unknown'. A huge unknown entity that exist under the sea that is unfathomable in so many ways. What is it? Does it matter? It is heavily implied to be simply a metaphor for death, or for the uncertainty that lies within. The unpredictability and unfathomable confusion that it represents is something that is important in understanding the complexity of this story.
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| The insanely frustrating Snicket Family tree that has left many fans speculating for years |
I adore the holes left by the books, I think they are full of fascinating concepts and I don't think I was ever that invested in something so allegorical. The act of solving the mystery, going down the rabbit holes and being left with no answers makes you feel that intense glumness and disillusionment with the world that Lemony Snicket radiates throughout his writing. It is suitably macabre and I think has only gotten better with age, as I revisit and look back at those books so much brilliant subtext bubbles to the surface and I could probably write my dissertation on the metaphorical mysteries accumulating in that ending. But that actually brings me on quite nicely to the two adaptations of these books and the fascinatingly different takes.
The Frustrating Film
The Nearly Perfect Netflix Adaptation
Alright, so I just spent way to long writing about how distinct and unique the tone is within the books and how well the sense of mystery and unknown is allegorically brilliant. But the Netflix Show does something really quite different, that works in its own right. The biggest praise I can give it, is that there was a clever massive amount of effort that went into making the best adaptation of these books as possible. The beauty of ASOUE is that it was sort of a culturally unique moment, with nothing ever coming close to what Handler created with these books. So instead of floundering about and trying to nail that tone, the show adapts it or a younger audience and leans in on making a narratively satisfying and pretty bang on adaptation. It is overall much lighter in tone, with a focus on comedy throughout and leaning into the inherent goofiness within the books, but it recreates some moments almost verbatim and as a fan of the book is just inherently satisfying. Handler being heavily involved really made a difference, as he clearly wanted to make a more compelling narrative here than the more depressing emptiness within the books.
It really works, seeing the mystery represented again but in a way that is just inherently more realised from the start is brilliant. You can kind of tell within the books that Handler never really planned out where they were going and the mysteries never really had concrete answers (although he insists you can work out what is in the Sugar Bowl) and for me that worked because his writing was inherently thematic. With the show, he clearly wanted to make the lore more explicit and give us the answers we have been waiting for. There is an element of disappointment with some answers, because there was never going to be a satisfying answer so instead the show revels in the narratives themselves. For a lot of it, the success comes in part to nostalgia, I was just insanely excited to see a live action interpretation of anything from the books, with the actual adaptation being pretty spot on. There are some glaring issues, visually the show relies too much on janky CGI but at times I suppose that does make the world feel intangable which works for the tone of this world. The humour and musical numbers are really the worst part, it is all very modernised and quippy in places which often means the tone never really sets in place, but I suppose the audience it is going for would become exhausted by the utterly depressing events.
The casting is brilliant, Patrick Warburton is formidable as Lemony Snicket and I loved how they adapted his narration, it wonderfully communicates that inherent uniqueness of the prose within his books. Neil Patrick Harris is a much better Count Olaf, I like his more cartoonish feel and his often ineptitude, I think it works thematically and whilst it doesn't quite make him as terrifying as the books, the varied characters he gets to play feel much better than the books made them out to be. It is overall really solid, they inherently understand the books really well and whilst they don't quite nail the tone of The End, the added focus on a conclusive narrative is so rewarding and I am not ashamed to say that ending made me absolutely sob my eyes out. I think it does a good job of choosing which questions to leave unanswered and which to draw focus too without sacrificing the tone, it just doesn't quite have the thematic intrigue of the books. Overall I enjoy the goofier take and I think it is more emotionally ambitious and maintains its younger audience whilst still addressing a lot of the darker elements of the books.
The Comprehensive Conclusion
I never expected to have this much to say about this series, I didn't really realise how much this story meant to me. First of all, they taught me repeatedly the meanings of so many words I had never heard of. They taught me that inherently things can always be worse, savour what you've got and when you think you've met your darkest day don't lose faith. They taught me that there isn't a world where authority and power is synonymous with trust and goodwill, just because one is in an institutional system it does not guarantee that system is true. They taught me that sometimes even the noblest of hearts can make mistakes and be corrupted, sometimes you need to do a bad thing for a noble reason and sometimes bad people can do noble things. They taught me that there aren't always answers, in fact it is more likely there is no answers and that an inevitable force of the unknown should be always considered. It taught me to not judge character, to always question and interrogate and value one's curiosity whenever possible. I'm nowhere near an expert on the lore or anything, there is almost definitely a prequel book I haven't read that points out a mistake I've made in this piece but I still consider this series to be incredibly special to me. I hope you do too, I hope you have a something like this that you hold close to your heart, go tell someone you love something, it makes a difference. Thanks for reading.
The World is Quiet Here.