Coltrane Rogers’ cultural highlights

Coltrane Rogers is an emerging writer of English and Chinese heritage. He has published work in The Isis Magazine and Lancaster’s Flash Literary Journal, and is now working on his first novel.

TV Series: One Piece (1999-)

Most people’s first reaction to 1000+ episodes is that One Piece is too long. And they would be right if not for the fact that such a scale does not reduce its poignancy or precision. Eiichiro Oda began the manga in 1997, aged just 22, which at such a young age with such vision and foresight screams less ‘penman’ and more shaman. Across decades, the story deepens into a world that initially presented itself through bright colours, absurd characters, and slapstick humour, but carries just beneath the surface themes of war, genocide, and geopolitical rife. Growing up with One Piece, I have watched how the Straw Hat Pirates fare through good and bad, seeing as the themes become more legible. Very rarely can stories remain ridiculous but handle oppression and freedom so deftly.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388629/?ref_=mv_close

Workshop: ActionFlo @ Legacy Fighting Arts, Petaling Jaya

When travelling across Malaysia, I discovered a small Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym that became more than just a space to train. I slept there, fought there, and eventually met some of Kuala Lumpur’s unsung storytellers. These guys were fighters and writers. We battled it out on the mats, then would go downstairs to the mamak outside of the Legacy gym, drink teh tarik, and eat roti. It was the same spot that hosted our workshops and meetings – bouts of idea ping pong and the next fresh thing. My friend, who directed ActionFlo, wanted to ‘fill the void in Malaysian film’ with explosive action and horror. And for a while I wrote for him, learning the developmental stages of screenwriting, and so experienced what felt like the most fleeting and esoteric workshop that might never happen again.

Photo: Coltrane Rogers

Music: Maii and Zeid

The Arabic indie-pop duo Maii and Zeid were introduced to me by a friend who incorrectly overestimated my grasp of Arabic. While I’ve listened extensively to the duo, their song, Ehdefni – roughly translated to ‘Target Me’ – stood out. For a long time I listened without ever understanding the lyrics. It was the electro-pop texture that first arrested me, followed by Maii Waleed’s eerily mournful voice cutting through the melody. Only after translating the lyrics did the song gain new meaning. Her voice seems to shake free from the song’s synth-like verberations and become an almost metaphorical shedding of the noise surrounding her, until her voice is swallowed again. I loved this song first without knowing what it meant, and the added comprehension only made it better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVOTM7976ds&list=PLVGHbEJ_xwQoYWWbwEcMKF_S_d8WQeVO3

Novel: Autobiography of Red (1998) by Anne Carson

My budding fascination with Greek myth and verse poetry were two separate worlds until Anne Carson collapsed them into one. Autobiography of Red retells the myth of Geryon, the red-winged monster who was slayed by Heracles during his twelve labours. Carson transforms Geryon into a shy, gay teenager, who is also still a red, winged monster, while Heracles is the rebellious boy he falls in love with. Forget arrows dipped in the blood of the Lernaean Hydra, Carson’s Geryon is wounded by the cutting edge of love. What’s fascinating about this retelling is that Geryon’s character is explored and expanded beyond the context of Heracles’ heroism, which in the myth is only how he is ever explored. Instead, this interiority is shaped by Geryon’s exploration of desire, queerness, and heartbreak.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/362150/autobiography-of-red-by-carson-anne/

Playwright: Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh is one of few artists whose works I have consumed wholly. Though having the blood of the Irish myself, I’ve always felt somewhat removed from my roots. McDonagh has torn down the wall standing between myself and my insight into the nation, painting a picture through his dark humour and dangerous wit, circling wasted youth, isolation, and the domestic claustrophobia of guilt and responsibility. Finishing The Leenane Trilogy, I did not know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. His plays make me feel like a fly on the wall looking out across all the many quiet but erratic lives as they act cruelly and ridiculously in the same exchanges, and they also come across as deeply alone.

https://www.primecutproductions.co.uk/the-beauty-queen-of-leenane-1

Favourite WritersMosaic writer: Will Self

From the first page of Will Self’s, How the Dead Live, I was jolted into the parodic and satiric world of Lily Bloom. Not only is the prose peppered with puns, and the story itself fast-moving, but a masterful level of poignancy detailing our humanity compels us to look both forwards and inwards.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/486770/how-the-dead-live-by-will-self/9780141040172

Coltrane Rogers

Coltrane Rogers is an emerging writer of English and Chinese heritage.