Lessons from the Incredibly Obvious File #4
Or: Don't Draw Attention to the Stupid Stuff
There's a tradition in screenwriting of pointing out the script's own story or logic problems. I've heard this called both "shining a light on" the problem, or "hanging a lantern" on it. Basically, you've got a minor logic hole that isn't worth writing around, so you have a character in the story acknowledge the issue. The idea is, by acknowledging the issue, you defuse the audience's questions about it.
Say, for instance, a character in a horror pic noting that it would have been smarter to run out of the house, than into the basement. We then think-- okay, they know that was stupid. But too late now.
What you don't want to do? Shine a light on something that will actually make us ask more questions.
There's a scene in The Island in which Ewan McGregor has just started to question the rules of his post-plague institution. This particular institution is supposed to keep plague survivors safe... but is in fact a world in which human beings are essentially prisoners, manipulated into hoping they'll win a ticket to a Utopian island. All the prisoners are dressed in crisp sci-fi white.
In conversation with the director of the institute, an increasingly rebellious Ewan says: "And... Let's talk about all the white. Why is everyone wearing white all the time? It's impossible to keep clean." The conversation moves into a new direction from there, with that question never answered.
Well maybe it's just me, but when the character asks that question and is given no answer-- I start to wonder too! Hey, yeah, that must be so much effort in terms of laundry. And wouldn't it be easier to control all these guys if they wore colour-coded uniforms? Based on, say, gender, or age, or dietary needs, or whatever? Surely dressing them all exactly alike is more work than it's worth.
But the movie can't answer the question, because the only possible answer to the question "Why is everyone wearing white all the time?" is "Because we are in a science fiction movie."
If you're following convention for the sake of convention... or you're trying to get away with something... don't frickin' hang a lantern there, okay?
There's a tradition in screenwriting of pointing out the script's own story or logic problems. I've heard this called both "shining a light on" the problem, or "hanging a lantern" on it. Basically, you've got a minor logic hole that isn't worth writing around, so you have a character in the story acknowledge the issue. The idea is, by acknowledging the issue, you defuse the audience's questions about it.
Say, for instance, a character in a horror pic noting that it would have been smarter to run out of the house, than into the basement. We then think-- okay, they know that was stupid. But too late now.
What you don't want to do? Shine a light on something that will actually make us ask more questions.
There's a scene in The Island in which Ewan McGregor has just started to question the rules of his post-plague institution. This particular institution is supposed to keep plague survivors safe... but is in fact a world in which human beings are essentially prisoners, manipulated into hoping they'll win a ticket to a Utopian island. All the prisoners are dressed in crisp sci-fi white.
In conversation with the director of the institute, an increasingly rebellious Ewan says: "And... Let's talk about all the white. Why is everyone wearing white all the time? It's impossible to keep clean." The conversation moves into a new direction from there, with that question never answered.
Well maybe it's just me, but when the character asks that question and is given no answer-- I start to wonder too! Hey, yeah, that must be so much effort in terms of laundry. And wouldn't it be easier to control all these guys if they wore colour-coded uniforms? Based on, say, gender, or age, or dietary needs, or whatever? Surely dressing them all exactly alike is more work than it's worth.
But the movie can't answer the question, because the only possible answer to the question "Why is everyone wearing white all the time?" is "Because we are in a science fiction movie."
If you're following convention for the sake of convention... or you're trying to get away with something... don't frickin' hang a lantern there, okay?
Labels: convention, meta, sci-fi
posted by Jennica at 3:04 p.m.
4 Comments:
I have a script where the explanation is given in the character's voiceover at the end, making it a tongue in cheek sort of thing...
My favorite example of this was in Office Space, when Michael Bolton points out that the complex bank hacking virus they're concocting is "Just like Superman III". Lanterns work great in comedy or even drama, when a laugh can diffuse any nagging problems with logic.
Sci-fi, action and horror are so dependent on hardware that you really have to know the physics of whatever you're writing about, like elevators or bullet trajectories or genetics. Lanterns may only illuminate the inherent silliness of your story in these genres.
Unless, Jennica, you can employ your cinematic acumen to mention a lantern in those genres you thought worked.
Sci-Fi or fantasy are a bit tough to create realistic logic problems around. Since both involve a world where humans can be expected to react as we would, but the world they inhabit is topsy turvy. From what I remember of "the island" part of what makes the experience frustrating for McGregors character (Or Neo's, or the guy in THX-1138, or the protagonist in 1984) is that not only do people not answer him (or are mentally incapable of answering him), but they also don't question these ideas. Most future movies might choose 'all white' to illustrate a clean, sterile, precise society. The may choose white specifically because it takes more effort to maintain (and shows 'dirt'). Expecting that aesthetic mirrored in the behavior of their citizens.
MQ, that actually sounds like it could work...
Joe, I agree there are an awful lot of things you can't, and shouldn't, cheat. I consider lanterns strictly for the small stuff-- just a little nod to the audience that they should continue to suspend their disbelief.
And I wish I could think of a great example of a successful one. I will absolutely remain on the lookout and update if I see one.
Clayton, I like your answer... you always have something interesting to bring to the sci-fi round table. But in this case, the person being asked this particular question was a member of the authority. So you may very well be right-- dressing everyone in white works for the "machine". But when you have the character ask the question of a person who knows the "answer" but isn't going to reveal it... it just draws attention to itself. I have no problem at all with Ewan asking big questions of others who are in the dark, and who are incapable of answering... but the movie poses a very practical and reasonable question about this society that it then doesn't answer. That's my beef.
Post a Comment
<< Home