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Tangela O’Sullivan (89)
Project: Web series (Driving to school)
Known as: Tange
Real name: Tangela O’Sullivan
Group affiliation: Sophia’s carpool
Physical description: Tange is 16 with long, curly red hair. She is skinny and often sits in unusual positions (she studies yoga and often crosses her legs and so forth in situations where others typically wouldn’t – like riding in the car). She likes tassels and bangles and so forth, so her design style can come off bohemian sometimes.
Personality: Tange is curious and optimistic. She is very nice, although it is not out of a need for acceptance and approval. She is very comfortable in her own skin and in fact is introverted in the sense that she finds herself to often be her best company. She loves Sophia and Alejandro and is perfectly happy that she is usually having her own side-conversation in the back seat.
History: Tange is Sophia’s neighbor and they have been friends for a long time. Tange is artistic and hopes to go into graphic design and her greatest joy is in creating things. Her parents run a local insurance firm, so she stands out a bit in her family as the creative one (her brothers are both in college and both majored in math). They named her “Tangela” after her maternal grandmother (who is Angela), and just decided to add a letter to avoid name confusion (they had no idea there was a Pokemon with the same name). Tange loves her name for its uniqueness.
She also holds an unusual spot in Sophia’s carpool. Where Alejandro (the provocateur) and Sophia (the level-headed realist) frequently verbally spar back and forth, Tange usually finds a single aspect of the conversation most interesting and almost talks to herself. She says things that the other two might not even respond to, only to answer herself a little later. For example, if Alejandro starts a conversation on recycling, he and Sophia may ultimately end up discussing morality. Meanwhile, Tange takes a shine to how people have built houses out of bottles and other creative reuse of materials. She’ll look things up on her phone, share factoids she finds interesting and so forth while Alejandro and Sophia may or may not even respond (usually they don’t).
It’s debatable which conversation is ultimately the most interesting; the active one between Sophia and Alejandro or the more fun, light-hearted conversation Tange is having with herself. The hope for the writer is that often Tange will have the answer Sophia and Alejandro might be seeking without the front seat knowing it.
Role in the narrative: Tange provides a counter-point to the conversations that Alejandro and Sophia are having. She is meant to be a reminder that as much as we can get swept into debate, there is usually a more playful take on the whole thing.
Abilities: She can draw, she’s really good with the Adobe suite, and she is smart.
Inspirations: Tange is what made me write up this project. These three characters have been comparatively thin vs. most of the others I’ve written in the 100 days project. This is because the plot isn’t the point – this is just a series of scenes with young people having discussions. I thought there was comedic potential in having a person solo pursuing whatever she found most interesting in the conversation. Also, I think she might often have the right of it, as Alejandro and Sophia sometimes get caught up in the debating and lose perspective. I named her Tange/Tangela for “tangent.” I suppose her inspiration comes from Greek choruses.
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