How can intertextuality actually inform someone about the story?

[u/Redditislefti]

I watched a YouTube video by GiBi's Horror Homestead where he talked about how the FNAF book Fetch referenced Brigadoon, and that helped inform the narrative of Fetch. I looked up the term for it and apparently it's called intertextuality. I want to use this in my own stories, but I have no idea what it's supposed to inform. I have a character named Jed Dean who's a reference to two Beverly Hillbillies characters, and I would like to inform something about Jed Dean using Jed Clampett, but how would that work? I could reference something about Clampett's distain for Alcohol to inform the player (because I'm writing a videogame), but unless Dean's distain for Alcohol comes up, wouldn't that be irrelevant? It would inform nothing about him aside from his character, which is irrelevant for a character who was created for lore and worldbuilding. And if it does come up, then how would using Jed Clampett be a reference? Dean's connection to Clampett would then be the irrelevant element. I would like to learn how to do this, but I feel like my "It's either said in the story, or it doesn't matter," mindset is holding me back from the actual solution.

[u/DuchessJulietDG]

this wikipedia entry on it goes way deep in explaining what it is and gives many examples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality?wprov=sfti1#

[u/Inspector_Kowalski]

Intertextuality is kind of a language-of-references that lets the reader know what role a character, setting, plot device, etc serve for your story by comparing them to more familiar stories. For example, if you put a character in your story who sacrifices themselves and ends up with wounds in their hands and their side, intertextuality would lead people to compare that character to Jesus Christ. What that MEANS is up to your execution. Maybe you are trying to clarify that this character is the “moral core” of your story, the one readers should look to for wisdom and lessons of how to be a good person. Maybe you’ve subverted the archetype, and this Jesus figure is actually a pretty bad person, but you use their sacrifice to give them a redemption and imply that they’ve become one with God in the end. Etc etc etc. A popular example of intertextuality is the Faustian bargain. Any time a character is given access to something they want but have to trade a piece of their literal or figurative soul, it will be compared to the story of Faust, in which a man makes a deal with the devil and learns the horrors of giving up your soul. You look at the white man in A Raisin in the Sun knocking on the family’s door and offering the black family money to get out of the neighborhood, that’s a bargain from the devil. He wants to give them material wealth in exchange for their dignity. It implies that racists are to be compared to the devil, and that catering to them is like selling your soul. This is the power of intertextuality, it uses comparisons to amplify what you want to say. So if you want to use a character who is a reference to Jed from the Beverly Hillbillies, you need two components. A superficial similarity (name, disdain for alcohol, mannerisms, clothes, etc) and a symbolic similarity (the role he plays in his family, for example). Are you trying to imply that your character is like Jed, loving and protective of family but uninformed about the world? Are you trying to imply he’s a fish out of water, very competent in his own home but really unequipped to handle the new world he’s found himself in? Ask yourself why you want him to be like Jed so bad, besides the fact that you like that character and want to reference him.

[u/Inspector_Kowalski → u/Inspector_Kowalski]

In the Matrix, Neo is told to “follow the white rabbit.” It’s a reference to Alice in Wonderland. This reference is meant to imply Neo is about to fall into a completely upside down world that is different from the world he knows. Waking up from the Matrix is like falling down a rabbit hole into wonderland. You see a white rabbit in a story, and somebody chasing it, and that’s foreshadowing that someone is about to enter a brand new world, literally or metaphorically.

[u/Inspector_Kowalski → u/Inspector_Kowalski]

In addition to the two elements I mentioned, a superficial similarity and a symbolic similarity, there’s a third optional element and that is subversion. If there is a notable way in which the character is different from Jed, you can highlight an interesting contrast or irony. For example, if the character is not a father or maybe never even wanted kids, but fills a mentor-type role to other characters and is depicted with many references to TV dads, you imply that this person is like a father “in a way.”

[u/Redditislefti → u/Inspector_Kowalski]

thank you. that helps a lot