[Q] John Kramer [Saw I-V]

[_ggone_________________]

Hello, Gaia. I want to play a game.
a quest.

Quester Name: hostel_en_frunk
Guardian Name: June Greysmith
Character Desired: John Kramer
Character's World: Saw I-V



EDIT: APPROVED - Satin Regret, September 10th 2008  

[_ggone_________________]

Oh yes, there will be blood.
about John.

[to be edited with new revelations about John and his line of work from Saw V.]

[wikipedia;]
Saw is the first installment of the Saw crime horror film series. Directed by James Wan and written by Wan and Leigh Whannell, Saw was filmed during only eighteen days of production. It was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2004 and saw international release later that year on October 29. Saw is essentially an expansion of Wan and Whannel's 2003 short film of the same name.
The film's story revolves around two men who are kidnapped, locked in an institutional bathroom and given instructions related to escaping. Meanwhile, police detectives investigate and attempt to apprehend the criminal responsible, the "Jigsaw Killer".
Originally rated NC-17 for strong, graphic violence, the film was slightly edited to achieve an R rating. The unrated version is available as the Saw: Uncut Edition, a DVD special edition that was released around the same time that Saw II was released theatrically.

Basic Character Information
Birth name: Jonathan Kramer
Nickname(s): The Jigsaw Killer (Jigsaw)
Gender: Male
Age: 52 (at death)
First appearance: Saw
Created by: James Wan & Leigh Whannell
Portrayed by: Tobin Bell


Reborn Information
Name: John Kramer-Greysmith
Age: -
Gender: Male
Weight: -
Height: -
Skin: Fair, with dark hollow-looking eyes.
Hair: Dark blonde. As a child, it is much more abundant and healthy-looking than in the final moments of his former life.
Eyes: Deep blue.
Clothes: Being delivered in his signature black and red theatrical robe, he prefers to wear it over most of his clothes. Underneath it, he wears average, loose-fitting clothes, such as jeans and t-shirts.

Family: June Greysmith, the mother. Though well-aware of his adoption, her refers to June as his mother. The woman fascinates him with her way about life, and associates her motivation as 'selfish and tunnel-visioned.' With a little convincing, she may come around.
Takan Greysmith, the brother. Even with his slightly skewed perception of reality, John holds a strong inner respect for his adoptive brother. For someone so young, his deep-thinking ways and desire for world peace both pleases and interests John.
Status: Divorced? In his past life at least. Memories of Jill are few and far between however.
Orientation: Straight.
Children: None.

Likes: John's interest lies in handiwork. From the youngest age, his most favorite pastime is drawing, building things and examining the way things work, inside and out. He also enjoys intelligent company, those who respect him, and fine chinese culture.
Dislikes: Above all else, John hates those who have been given the gift of life, and knowingly squander it with their own choices an actions. Aside from that, ignorance and misguided judgement bother him. His dislikes are less than material.

History: [from wikipedia] The Jigsaw Killer character was introduced in the 2004 film Saw through the character Dr. Gordon's recounting of his first killings. Jigsaw is described as a mysterious person who kidnaps people he sees as wasting their lives and attempts to "save" them by administering various inhumane tests. As opposed to other killers, Jigsaw does not actually intend to kill his subjects. The purpose of his traps is to see if the subject has the will to survive, and thus inflict enough psychological trauma for the subject to appreciate their life and save themselves from their own demons. As his victims increase, the media dubs him The Jigsaw Killer—or simply, Jigsaw—because of the jigsaw puzzle-shaped piece of flesh that he cuts from an unsuccessful subject, a practice explained in Saw II as reflecting the subject "was missing a vital piece of the human puzzle; the survival instinct".
Much of the character's backstory was revealed in Saw II, revealing that he had become sick and had gone in for a check-up, where he learned from Dr. Lawrence Gordon that he was dying of colon cancer, with an inoperable brain tumor. From there, he stated that he began to see how many people took their lives for granted. He ended up driving himself off of a cliff, but survived the suicide attempt, and began his work to save people from themselves. John's work eventually got him the name of The Jigsaw Killer, in spite of the fact that the circumstances and intentions he had while conducting his work did not make him a killer by definition. John never accepted the name Jigsaw, nor encouraged the media or law enforcement to call him by it.
By Saw III, a dying Jigsaw is bedridden and extremely concerned over Amanda's failure to allow her subjects a fair chance to survive her tests. In his desperation, Jigsaw administers a final test to Amanda, in order to see if she was truly capable of successfully carrying on his work. Being kept alive by Dr. Lynn Denlon, a test subject who is forced to perform brain surgery on Jigsaw at the risk of dying by her own trap, Jigsaw attempts to keep Amanda from failing her test. However, after she breaks down, Amanda shoots Lynn. Witnessing this, Jeff Reinhart, the vengeful husband of Lynn who is also being tested, kills Amanda with a gunshot to her neck. After explaining the rules of a final game to Jeff, Jigsaw is killed when Jeff slices his throat with a power-saw.
From the story given in Saw IV, John was a successful civil engineer who got into property development, and a devoted husband to his wife Jill; she ran a recovery clinic for drug users, to which he gave his belief, "Cherish Your Life". However, after a robbery and the reckless actions of a clinic patient named Cecil resulted in the loss of John's unborn child, he became detached and angry, which ultimately resulted in the divorce of John and Jill. After being told he had cancer, as first seen in Saw II, and trying to kill himself, John began his work as Jigsaw, hunting down Cecil as his first test subject.
Personality: John is cool, calm and collected, crying very little as a baby and demanding even less as a child. He would much rather spend his time inside with his puppet Billy, surrounded by drawings and designs of all a manner of things. With small bits and pieces of memories of his past life returning to him, he finds a powerful purpose for his reincarnation; a more extend and well-planned reign over the Jigsaw alias, and a better chance to fully realize his potential within it.  

[_ggone_________________]

Live or die. Make your choice.
family.

[the guardian]
Name: June Greysmith
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Weight: 62 kilos
Height: 5"7
Skin: Fair, as though she has spent most of her time in an office. Which she has.
Hair: Blonde, usually tied up tight into a bun or ponytail.
Eyes: Dark blue
Clothes: While at work, of course, she has her uniform. An executive-style skirt/jacket, dark blue. However, when she's not at work, June tends to dress more like a typical mid-20 year old woman. When she's grumpy, she dresses down, and wears baggy clothes, when she's happy, she wears tighter-fitting clothes, and a lot of skirts.

Family: Takan Greysmith, the dustball. June just seems to get the most nagging, nasty feeling from the boy. No maternal instincts to speak of have ever fluttered up around him, and not a speck of love is there either. She might feel like a bad person for thinking it, but this child might just be the coming of the next damnation.
John Kramer-Greysmith, the piggy. Like Takan, June gets a nasty feeling from the boy. It's less of the next damnation, however, and more of his moral standing point on torture and life in general. She fears that when he is older, she'll awaken stuck in a head-smasher or something of the like.
Status: Unmarried, unattached. With Takan and john under her feet now, she doubts this will ever change...
Orientation: Straight, thankyouverymuch, I'mahomophobicsecretary!
Children: Takan. Unfortunately. John. Just as unfortunately. Why such a narrow-minded typical mid twenties secretary got stuck with two of the most deep-thinking boys in the universe is well beyond her. She tries to ignore them outside of food and clothes.

Likes: June likes the typical things; parties, the beach and her ever-growing social network. She can spend hours shopping, go a whole night without sleep at a party, and talk on the phone long enough to go into debt on her phone bill. She also secretly loves snacking on candies.
Dislikes: June hates normal things, too. Having her social-life interrupted, work, her boss, when he boss calls her into work late, working late, and being caught eating snack-foods and candies.

History: June was bought up in a fairly normal, slightly upper-class family. She was an only child, however this didn't bring her any more attention from her parents, who were always busy on their cell-phones, at work, on business trips and so-on. Emotionally, she could have cared less, as she got whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, and had quite loving parents when they had a spare second free to actually speak to her. As a little girl she demanded things. lots and lots of things. Dolls, pets, stuffed animals, anything pink that caught her interest. As a teenager, she would occasionally request the odd one hundred dollar note to go spend the night out with her friends. Though she somehow got good marks in school, she spend most of her time with her friends, partying or gossiping or otherwise being the usual teenage girl. Her parents are still alive, though she doesn't speak with them much outside of the odd money loan; which with her new job, she doesn't need quite so often.
Personality: June has a rather skewed perception of reality. First and foremost, it is all about her. When things don't go exactly how she wants, it's the end of the world, and when she has to think about other people's feelings, she'd rather cut her eyes out with spoons. She spends most of her time thinking about herself, and her conversations with her friends usually involve some form of whining about something that happened in the course of the day that put her out.




[the brother]
Name: Takan Greysmith
Age: Sweet Symphony (4)
Gender: Male
Weight: 12 kilos
Height: 2"6
Skin: Ghostly Pale
Hair: Sheep's Wool White
Eyes: Blank White
Clothes: Like a street urchin, Takan wears only the most ragged, baggiest dirt-colored clothes possible. June is unsure why, since he refuses to dress nice at the moment, even with her offers of clothing.

Family: June Greysmith, his caretaker. Takan thinks very little of June and her ways, being quite sure to inform her of this on a regular basis. It's uncertain, as of now, why Tak feels such a grudge against the woman who calls herself his 'care giver,' but hopefully soon we will find out.
John Kramer-Greysmith, his brother. Takan has a very love-hate relationship with John from the moment the boy arrives. The two will often sit for hours, attempting to psychoanalyze one another, and be driven insane by their often opposing viewpoints on humanity.
Status: Single. He's FOUR, you know.
Orientation: Neutral, for now
Children: None yet

Likes: Despite his cold exterior, Tak has a love for a peaceful world, and peaceful people. People who are in touch with nature generally strike a chord with him. For a young boy, his wants are not particularly material.
Dislikes: Ignorance. Of all things in this world, Takan despises ignorance the most. Aside from that, he dislikes newspapers, television news, and meat. (yes indeed, we have a vegetarian on our hands!)

Personality: Takan is quiet. And not in the shy, adorable little boy way. Oh, certainly not. Takan is quiet in that eerie, ghostly way, that suggests he knows something very horrible, but will be sure not to tell you. You're mistaken again, though, because he will be most certain to tell you exactly what he's thinking. Of you, of your new haircut, of the moral fiber of society breaking down. Anything that crosses his mind, he'll probably growl it out at you as he sees fit. On the other hand, Takan is a peace-loving, vegetarian, who wishes nothing more in his deepest heart of hearts for complete and total world peace. Isn't that a nice sentiment? Takan was born of the soul of an innocent young girl who was murdered slowly and painfully through hypnotizing and starvation, fused with the song that hypnotized her. The song, and the ever-growing awareness of his death makes him quite the bitter young soul.  

[_ggone_________________]

Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore.
critique.

[From: Arrien]
Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:10 pm
Subject: Judging notes - hostel_en_frunk
* Good entrance! Brings the character instantly to the forefront, makes us think about him. +
* Very interesting take on the character; the author really surprised me with how well they carried him off! I don't know the character beyond a brief Wiki initation, but it seems like the author really took the time to understand some of his motivations and thought processes, and was able to develop beyond that. +

Total score: 7/10
The character was represented in the writing, but it felt too brief and unfocused. It built toward something, which is a major plus; however, it did not develop very far, and we were not left with a clear impression of the character's reborn life, only their past life and where they are being built from there. A large part of the development wasn't even touched in this piece, and in the end, while we are left with questions and curiosities, we aren't given enough to know what we should be wondering about. There's a lot of development that this piece still could have used beyond the immediate nature of the character itself, and without that, the piece feels excerpted instead of a complete, coherent writing that can stand on its own two feet.]



[From: Xpressionless]
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:38 pm
Subject: Re:
“Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore.”

I love that you started with a quote from the movie! Especially one that is as memorable as this one (for those who have seen the movies anyway). It really grabbed my attention, suckered me in, and made me want to keep reading – a very good thing.

Her name was Amanda. That much he could tell. The rest of the room, her face, the source of the overpowering smell of blood and the cause for his choice of words were all in darkness. Was this real? It all sounded and smelled so real, yet he couldn’t see a thing; it was as though he was listening to a movie with his eyes closed. A movie he knew very well…perhaps even something he himself had done, and not a movie at all. He could not see her, and she had not spoken, but he knew the girl was there; his hope, his future. She held such a strong significance, such a strong…such…a…

The thing that grabs me about this paragraph is its descriptiveness and, at the same time, the lack of detail. You aren’t simply painting a visual picture for the reader, but are instead supplying them with enough detail to concoct their own macabre image while forcing them to use their other senses to imagine the scene. It’s also a nice (probably not the best word to use, but I’m sure you know what I mean) for those people familiar with the movie to be able to see things more from John’s POV, to be able to bear witness to his internal thoughts. I especially love the line/s ‘but he knew the girl was there; his hope, his future. She held such a strong significance’ – they blend to create such a powerful portrait of John, and I guess they highlight his vulnerability, his overwhelming need for his person. It definitely adds another dimension to his character.

Gasping dryly and jolting awake with that awful falling-off-something feeling, John’s eyes shot open and rolled wildly in his head as he registered sight once more. He could see again, though it wasn’t a pleasant feeling after being in darkness for so long.

‘Falling-of-something feeling’, I don’t know what it is, but that line just irks me. It almost seems comical in comparison to the rest of the piece so far, it seems to lack of the same... darkness, I suppose, as everything else. I would perhaps have considered finding another way to word this, especially given that you have used such strong words previously (i.e.; jolting, awful)

John rubbed his sore, maladjusted eyes, turned his head and blinked blearily at the clock on his wall. That couldn’t really be the time, could it? He sat up to get a better look at the clock through the gloom, the movement causing a book that he had obviously been reading before he drifted off to slide off his chest and onto his lap. It rested there, pages pressed open on a well-read page that John recognized instantly. It was a zodiac description he’d read time and time again to the point of memorizing it word for word.

I like that you’ve employed the whole darkness to light theme for the last three paragraphs, and continue to echo it throughout the rest of your entry with John’s realisation of who he was, and who he has a chance to become, as well as his acknowledgement of Amanda’s failures, his squandering of his ‘gift’.

However, I think the flow of the paragraph is interrupted by the line ‘causing a book that he had obviously been reading before he drifted off to slide off his chest and onto his lap’. Not the whole thing, as it set up the next paragraph, but the italicised portion. I think it just makes the sentence unnecessarily long, or wordy, or something – I can’t quite explain it, but I just think it could have been condensed, or worded more concisely.

‘The Pig type is usually an honest, straightforward and patient person. They are a modest, shy character who prefers to work quietly behind the scenes.’

OMG, I love this line! Not only does it highlight John’s personality, in a strange, perverted, dark kind of way, but it’s also subtly humorous and makes illusions toward the disguise he would later employ to capture his victims/test subjects. As a side note, that pig mask was evil. And I still can’t watch the camera flash/pig mask scene in the first movie.

John sighed heavily and snapped the thin book shut, putting it aside on his bedside table, beside a scattering of small clay figurines. He’d had many strange dreams, each one more real and horrifying than the last, though this one…this one he just felt held such a deep, powerful significance.

Such a strong significance, such a strong…

Repetition (in this case anyway) = Awesome! It really serves to drive home John’s attachment to Amanda, his need for a disciple to carry on his work.

He wished now that he could have seen her face, though he felt somewhere deep inside that he already knew her. As he struggled to recall her face, a wave of sadness, frustration and disappointment washed over him. Ah yes; she was dead. His one hope for continuing his line of tests…his ‘games’…had been held within her. But she was too emotional, too tormented, and a murderer.

Above all else, she was a murder, and above all else this was what angered and saddened him the most. To take a life without giving that life a fighting chance to redeem itself, to find itself, and to learn to cherish itself, was unforgivable. Unredeemable. He had held her in such high regards; after all, she had what it took to survive. That missing piece of the humanity puzzle that so many others lacked. But her modus operandi was so dismally incorrect…

These two paragraphs are incredibly potent, and flow beautifully. You can feel John’s sadness, his disappointment, and they serve to offer great insight into his thought process, into his own modus operandi. They almost make it seem as if John is this fatherly type person, someone who is also doing these things so that the ‘lesser’ may learn, and grow, something that becomes more apparent when he is placed next to Amanda – next to the murderer.

John shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the present. It was much too late at night to be pondering these odd scraps and details of what had once been his life. He was getting a headache recalling such things anyway. After all, he was here now, with so many more people to be given their chance to learn to cherish their life, and so much time to do it in. It was like a gift.

He now knew what he’d only just found out nearing the end of his former life, and he was just at the beginning. He’d learnt so soon what it meant to have your life squandered by fate or to squander it on your own, and the difference between those who did and didn’t deserve life. ‘Frightfully smart for a child, and always lost in thought’ was how he had been described by some of the people he’d met in this new life. ‘A mad genius in the making.’

No, he’d already been mad, and he’d already been a genius. Now it was his time to be a saviour.

You really pull the entire piece together perfectly, and I absolutely adore the ending. I don’t know if this was the sort of thing you were expecting, and I know I wasn’t overly critical, but that was because there was no need to be. Personally, I think your entry is wonderfully characterised and written, and I really hope that you win, because I cannot wait to see what you have planned for John!!!  

[_ggone_________________]

Cherish your life.

[reserved]  

[_ggone_________________]

Game over.
credits

[the creation of John Kramer cannot be attributed to one person. Here is a list of people responsible for the Saw series in general.]

Directed by: James Wan
Produced by: Gregg Hoffman, Oren Koules, Mark Burg
Written by: James Wan, Leigh Whannell
Distributed by: Lions Gate Entertainment
Starring Tobin Bell, as John Kramer.