In this handout, I want to make a few comments about shaping and revealing character
First, a summary of the some of the principle points on what makes a strong character, from The Screenwriter's Bible, along with some annotations by me::
A character needs a goal, one that is specific and measurable.
I prefer to think about the difference between inner goals and external goals. Characters desire something-a sense of self worth, a sense of love, a sense of acceptance-but a character pursuing only an internal goal makes for weak drama. We have to ask ourselves what external goal may grant the character their internal goal. For example, in American Beauty, Lester Burnham wants a way out of the numbness in which he's found himself. The film gives him an external goal, that is, he pursues his daughter's friend, Angela. In Three Kings, Archie Gates and crew want to find a way out of having to go back to their day jobs when they leave the Middle East after the Gulf War. The film gives them an external goal: stealing the Kuwaiti gold. Later, they want justice for the Iraqi rebels. The film gives them an external goal: getting the rebels to a safe refugee camp across the border in Iran. In Traffic, the film gives the Michael Douglas character a specific goal, to work as drug czar to attack the importing and distribution of drugs in the U.S. Later, the film ups the stakes, making the fight more personal, as the Douglas character's new goal (but still related to the first goal) is to fight the war on drugs within his own family. In Purple Rose of Cairo, Celia's initial goal is to escape the bleakness of her life in the Depression through romantic films. Later, when Tom Baxter comes off the screen and begins to woo her, she wants to escape the bleakness of her life through a relationship with a fictional character. Still later, when Gil Shepherd comes to town, her goal changes yet again--to escape her difficult life through a relationship with a Hollywood actor. In Star Wars, Luke desires adventure-he doesn't want to be stuck on the planet that is the farthest for a hypothetical center of the galaxy. His external goal: 1. To get to the Academy. 2. To rescue the mysterious princess from the hologram. 3. To defeat the Empire's Death Star and save the rebel alliance.
One interesting note about character goals: in the best films, the character goal changes; it matures, or it intensifies
. If we think about the fact that the hero's journey is in many ways a search for identity, a quest to discover one's uniqueness, one's place as an individual, we can also see that the journey is one toward maturity. In the classic hero's journey, the hero begins unformed. Often, he or she is in many ways a child, and we know him or her more often by their relationship to another-to a father or mother, or to some other dominant figure (think about Thelma and Louise and Thelma's relationship to her husband; think about how the characters in Three Kings have to separate from their identity as part of the Army; think about how Lester struggles with trying to wrest his sense of self from the trappings of middle class life in American Beauty). As the character progresses on his or her journey, as he or she moves farther away from his or her limited sense of self at the beginning of the journey, he or she becomes less naïve, and so it is only fitting that his or her goal matures as well.
But the goal does not change, it only becomes a more mature and more selfless manifestation of the original goal.
For example, in Star Wars, Luke originally seeks adventure; his final goal, in which he will undergo an adventure, becomes selfless because he is acting aside from his own interest. In Three Kings, the group seeks to do something that will help them rise above their mundane existence outside the war. Initially, their goal is selfish-the Kuwaiti gold-later, their more mature goal is altruistic-to save the refugees. The new goal is still, however, an expression of their initial internal goal. In The Patriot, Martin wants to preserve his family, but the drama demands the he go to heroic lengths to achieve that. In Gladiator, Maximus wants to return to his family, but the drama demands that he go to heroic lengths to achieve that, and the manner in which he returns to his family changes also. Even in slighter films, we see something akin to this notion of maturing goals. For example, take something like Major League or The Replacements other similar sports movies. Often they begin with an individual who is out for his own gain; later, something happens that forces a group of selfish individuals to work for the good of a team.
The goal cannot be easy to attain-there must be opposition, because opposition creates conflict and conflict makes drama and reveals character.
Recalling that the dramatic journey is one that will change the hero, it becomes clear that the journey must be challenging, because it's only when we're tested that we can make some kind of fundamental change. It's only when the soldiers in The Three Kings leave behind the partying American troops and set out across the desert, where they have to face the Iraqi troops, that they can grow. It's only when Jerry Maguire loses all of his clients except the very difficult Rod Tidwell that he can grow. In The Matrix, It's only when Neo faces the agents who exist outside the matrix can he find his place as The One. In Sling Blade, Carl has to leave the safety of the asylum behind before he can develop a sense of moral maturity. In any film, the opposition must seem, at first, more powerful than the protagonist. Lester must descend into the depths-giving up his job, lusting futilely after his daughter's friend, before he can come to recognize the joy in his life. Partly, all of this just makes good dramatic sense-it is more interesting watching an underdog than it is watching a machine who appears invincible. But it is only through facing the formidable that a protagonist can find the path to transcend the limits of his or her self at the beginning of the journey. One of the fastest ways to a dull film is to provide the protagonist with an easy opponent. There has to be doubt about the outcome.. One of the things that films generally do to demonstrate how formidable the opposition is, is to allow the protagonist to suffer defeat early on. Carl has to go back to the asylum, he has to fail to stand up to Doyle. In Die Hard, McClane has to be unable to prevent Takagi's and then Ellis's death. In Die Hard II, he has to be unable to prevent the terrorists from causing the British Air flight to crash. In Three Kings, the soldiers have to lose in their earlier encounter with the Iraqi troops. Even in slight sports films, like Major League, the "good" team has to lose before it can win.
Better films generally feature two and three levels of opposition.
It's best to complicate your protagonist's task, make him or her fight battles on more than one front. In romance films, or in films in which romance plays a role, the hero often not only has to win the woman's affections, but there is also another lover in the picture. Think about the obstacles that William faces in Notting Hill. Not only must he overcome Anna Scott's own possible objections to a relationship, not only must he overcome her celebrity, but he later has to face an additional obstacle in the person of Anna' boyfriend (Jeff King). In While You Were Sleeping, this functions on a couple of levels. Lucy has to face the prospect that Peter has a girlfriend, and Jack has to face the fact that Lucy seems enamoured of his brother. While we certainly would not call American Beauty a love film, think about the layers of opposition that Lester faces: his own wife's coldness toward him plus her infatuation with Buddy King. In his pursuit of Angela, he faces not only the prospect of winning her over, but also the social stigma attached to lusting after your teen-aged daughter's girlfriend. In action films, this multi-layered opposition generally lies in the arena of the by-the-book superior officer. In Ii>Die Hard, McClane faces not only the terrorists, but Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson. In Die Hard II, he faces the terrorists as well as Carmine Lorenzo.
Your character must be motivated.
Above, we talked a bit about character goal, but goal differs from
motivation.Goal is what your character wants; motivation is why your character
wants it and, as the book says, the more personal the reason, the better. For
example, in The Three Kings, the soldiers want money because they want
a better life. Later on, when they shift their goal to include rescuing the Iraqi rebels, the
film makes it clear that the motivation is personal because the Iraqi soldiers
capture one of their own members. But the film also does something that good
films generally do, and that is, they make the character motivation our
motivation; or rather, they allow the characters to act out of a desire that we
have. This is when films are most affecting, when characters give action to our
wants and desires. The film shows us the soldiers taking out the gold in the Iraqi
compound, while the Iraqi soldiers do nothing except keep the rebels at bay.
Finally, the Iraqi soldiers murder one of the rebels, a mother of young children
aside from killing one of the children, perhaps the most heinous act they could
commit. The film shows us the murder, shows us the children's grief, shows us
the Iraqi soldiers keeping the children away from their mother's body. This
shocking event clearly moves us to want the American soldiers to act against the
Iraqi soldiers. Then the film does something that most good films also do (and which
we'll explore more in a couple of weeks when we discuss more fully how
Films manipulate our emotional responses) and the film has the heros act counter
to our desires, which only strengthens our wish for the American soldiers to act
counter to their original plan of non-involvement. Later, when the soldiers
reconsider and do act to save the Iraqi refugees, we can accept this shift in their
motives because the film has manipulated us to want them to shift their motives;
we will accept any motive or action by a character if it is an expression of our
own motives or desires. Generally, films use this technique in places where
characters need to make reversals of their decisions.
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