Modern Gal Influence Map

Will likely be scrapped...

A smattering of things that influenced, either art or storywise, a story I've been outlining called "Modern Gal". "Modern Gal" follows the adventures and misadventures of Philippa "Phil" Bowen (Later Philippa Thorne) as she grows up, spanning from her childhood in the 1880s all the way through World War One. Including plot points such as infidelity, incest, and a whole lot of death, it's basically an Edwardian soap opera, though there are lighthearted episodes too. Though you guys won't see it for a couple years, I'm very excited about it.

The things that influence "Modern Gal":

1. The Anne of Green Gables series by L. Maud Montgomery. Having been one of my favourite book series since I was a young girl, I believe this is the series that started my fascination with that era, and I would be lying if I said there wasn't a little bit of Anne in Phil. That and Phil is named after Philippa Gordon, Anne's college friend in Anne of the Island.

2. "Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rondo". This is a short but really fucking weird anime. I watched it once, it was... alright... but parts of it really stuck with me. The relationship between Michael and Quintessence Thorne really reminds me a bit of that of the anime characters Kiraha and Aruto.

3. Frances Hodgson Burnett. She wrote The Secret Garden and A Little Princess among other things. Quin also takes a bit from both Mary and Colin in TSG, and there's a lot of influence from both novels in there, including the line from TSG where Martha thinks people from India are all super dark.

4. Edgar Allen Poe. Some of the darker story elements are taken from Poe. I've always loved his stories and poems (well, since I first started reading them at age 12 anyway) so he's influenced my sense of how horror SHOULD go quite a bit anyway.

5. Jane Austen. Ah, one of my favourite authors. Pretty much WHENEVER I write romance subplots I take a bit from her, and MG is no different. Phil has not one, not two, but three suitors, and I do hope to go about getting her married off in a most Austenian manner.

6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Again, some gothic horror elements, especially with one of Phil's love interests having a rather dark secret.

7. The Dresden Dolls. A band I am quite fond of, I listened to them a lot when drafting portions of the story.

8. Old "Punch" cartoons. "Punch" was a British satire magazine that began in the Early Victorian era and continued throughout... well at least World War Two, possibly longer, but it is no longer around. Anyway, reading it really gives me a sense of the humour and social climate of Phil's time.

9. Art Deco.

10. Ed Gorey illustrations. Again, for some of the darker elements, storywise.

11. Old music boxes. I just love the sound of them, and I have a feeling that were this a TV series, there would be one playing on the soundtrack whenever Quin appeared.

12. "Revolutionary Girl Utena". This series, I believe, was what started my love of the mind screw, something I use a LOT of not only in MG but in a lot of my stories.

13. "Parakeet Jones" by ~kicksatanout. This webcomic was what inspired me to create Modern Gal. I like the idea of using the historical era for aesthetics and technology, but mixing in some very modern twists, both artwise and storywise, as well as with the unusual names. (Though in MG's sake, I looked up unusual names that were ACTUALLY USED for some poor suckers in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.)

14. Rasputina. Again, music I listen to a lot of when working on the story, I really think if it were a TV series they'd sing the song over the end credits.

15. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin. This book was a gift from my mother for Christmas like 2 years ago, it's about the real Alice Liddell. I take a lot of Phil's relationship with her family from this.

16. Old school Disney. Here I put "Peter Pan", but pretty much anything up to and including "AristoCats". This is more an art than a story influence, especially since a lot of old school Disney movies (including "Peter Pan" and "AristoCats") take place in Phil's era.

17. "Shamanic Princess", another anime I watched a while ago. This one influenced me both aesthetically and storywise. I can't explain why but it did. Especially the comparison with the beginning of Tiara's life and the main part of the series, reminds me much of the contrast of Phil's childhood with the later part of the story going into WWI.

18. "The Dreamer" webcomic. This one also inspired me to do a historic webcomic, and also one character in the series was named after Alexander Hamilton, my favourite character in "The Dreamer".

19. The manga "Doll". Mostly an art influence, though I do think the gothic horror undertones of the story helped influence the drama of MG.

20. Mary Engelbreit. I loved her art when I was a child and recently rediscovered it and it really influences the happy look of Phil's childhood and teenhood in the 1880s and "Gay Nineties".

21. Art Nouveau.

22. The inked art of the Japanese artist Yoh. I just love how Yoh's art tells a story and how it looks! A lot of chapter art for MG takes influence from it!

23. Steampunk. Not a LOT of steampunk but the influence is there in some parts.

24. Lolita fashion. In combining aesthetics of Phil's time period with some very very mild modern elements, a lot of fashions in MG take influence from lolita fashion, especially what the children wear.