Coming Full Circle
-Or-
Dammit, Syd Field Was Right
In which we sort of continue the biopic discussion from the last post & comments.
I've been endlessly incorporating notes into my wedding comedy, in which the protagonist does some not-very-nice things. She has motivation to do 'em. Frankly, I'd piled on the motivation. But something was missing. Something fundamental about her character was going unexplained. It was on maybe draft 9 that I took to heart the question: "What made her this way?"
I had to go back. Way back. I figured out her "circle of being"-- the movie-language moment in time that effectively makes a person who they are in the present, and that will be directly addressed by the climax of the movie and how the character changes. Think of it as an origin myth for non-superheroes. I'm not done rewriting, but finding that moment for this character went a looooong way.
So I've been thinking about these circles. Here are a couple of examples of The Good and The Bad.
Circle of Being - The Good. One word: Rosebud.
Okay, that's too easy.
How about this: The love affair with Ilsa in Paris.
Whoops-- damn, too obvious too. But it works, huh? What makes Rick so darn cranky and reluctant to get emotionally involved? Hello! Maybe standing on that train platform with nothing but a broken heart?
Anyway. To the real example. I hope my memory isn't too sketchy here, but I'm thinking of Gattaca. Gattaca follows a lower-caste drone type guy who aspires to be an astronaut. His genes prevent him reaching this dream-- in this world, based on his genetic makeup, he's considered unfit. Unhealthy. But once, as a teenager, this kid beat his genetically-superior brother in a swimming race. That moment provides all the support our hero needs to pursue his dream, which he knows is possible. The movie also happens to elegantly thread flashbacks to this origin story through the present action. We get to see the beginning and completion of the circle at more or less the same time. It's pretty powerful.
Circle of Being - The Bad: Just to pick on The Aviator yet again... I think we're meant to believe that Howard Hughes's neuroses (yes, including the jars of urine!) stem from a moment in his childhood in which his mother washes him down-- creepily-- during a quarantine.
I'm sorry, but this is a terrible circle of being. Is the movie suggesting this one moment made Hughes? The big dreams as well as the mental illness? This is where circles of being break down and become fodder for mockery. It's ludricous. It feels like an "insert trauma here" moment. It's where movie language loses its power.
So, yeah. If you're going to come full circle, do it good and not bad.
Dammit, Syd Field Was Right
In which we sort of continue the biopic discussion from the last post & comments.
I've been endlessly incorporating notes into my wedding comedy, in which the protagonist does some not-very-nice things. She has motivation to do 'em. Frankly, I'd piled on the motivation. But something was missing. Something fundamental about her character was going unexplained. It was on maybe draft 9 that I took to heart the question: "What made her this way?"
I had to go back. Way back. I figured out her "circle of being"-- the movie-language moment in time that effectively makes a person who they are in the present, and that will be directly addressed by the climax of the movie and how the character changes. Think of it as an origin myth for non-superheroes. I'm not done rewriting, but finding that moment for this character went a looooong way.
So I've been thinking about these circles. Here are a couple of examples of The Good and The Bad.
Circle of Being - The Good. One word: Rosebud.
Okay, that's too easy.
How about this: The love affair with Ilsa in Paris.
Whoops-- damn, too obvious too. But it works, huh? What makes Rick so darn cranky and reluctant to get emotionally involved? Hello! Maybe standing on that train platform with nothing but a broken heart?
Anyway. To the real example. I hope my memory isn't too sketchy here, but I'm thinking of Gattaca. Gattaca follows a lower-caste drone type guy who aspires to be an astronaut. His genes prevent him reaching this dream-- in this world, based on his genetic makeup, he's considered unfit. Unhealthy. But once, as a teenager, this kid beat his genetically-superior brother in a swimming race. That moment provides all the support our hero needs to pursue his dream, which he knows is possible. The movie also happens to elegantly thread flashbacks to this origin story through the present action. We get to see the beginning and completion of the circle at more or less the same time. It's pretty powerful.
Circle of Being - The Bad: Just to pick on The Aviator yet again... I think we're meant to believe that Howard Hughes's neuroses (yes, including the jars of urine!) stem from a moment in his childhood in which his mother washes him down-- creepily-- during a quarantine.
I'm sorry, but this is a terrible circle of being. Is the movie suggesting this one moment made Hughes? The big dreams as well as the mental illness? This is where circles of being break down and become fodder for mockery. It's ludricous. It feels like an "insert trauma here" moment. It's where movie language loses its power.
So, yeah. If you're going to come full circle, do it good and not bad.
posted by Jennica at 7:45 p.m.
2 Comments:
of course, the idea that anyone is really defined by one moment is a film conceit. i didn't like gattaca and thought that swim moment was hackneyed. but i hated all the flashbacks.
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