Honouring the Horrific
I was having a conversation recently with a friend about hard-to-watch moments in the movies. I'm not talking about peek-through-your-fingers gore shots in horror movies... that's safe in the realm of the fantastical, even when the horror is a somewhat realistic one. I'm talking about scenes -- often inciting incidents -- in films that otherwise appear to be straight-up dramas. They're the ones that pull the rug out from under you.
The movie we were discussing was Nurse Betty -- a fairly good-natured, quirky dramedy about a waitress who, for a while, gets involved with a soap opera actor she believes to be the character he plays on TV.
Fun premise, right? Only problem is laying the groundwork for a character who might possibly think an actor is their character.
Nurse Betty's inciting incident is Betty's witnessing of her husband's scalping. It's horrible... but it has to be horrible, because the whole rest of the story relies on the character's temporary (and somewhat understandable) mental break. Betty's brain can't deal -- so it protects her.
Another example, that I've mentioned in a comment on a previous post, is the curbing scene in American History X. Another unwatchably horrible inciting incident. And yet... if a movie like this is going to attempt a dramatic redemption by a neo-Nazi, the neo-Nazi protagonist has got to start out really, really low. I still don't love the movie; I still love that the movie sets out to redeem a character who, first thing, commits an unforgiveable act. That's a movie that loves a challenge.
So it seems to me that there are sometimes some very good reasons for including horrific acts in your non-horror scripts. You may have your own favourites -- I'd love to hear 'em.
The movie we were discussing was Nurse Betty -- a fairly good-natured, quirky dramedy about a waitress who, for a while, gets involved with a soap opera actor she believes to be the character he plays on TV.
Fun premise, right? Only problem is laying the groundwork for a character who might possibly think an actor is their character.
Nurse Betty's inciting incident is Betty's witnessing of her husband's scalping. It's horrible... but it has to be horrible, because the whole rest of the story relies on the character's temporary (and somewhat understandable) mental break. Betty's brain can't deal -- so it protects her.
Another example, that I've mentioned in a comment on a previous post, is the curbing scene in American History X. Another unwatchably horrible inciting incident. And yet... if a movie like this is going to attempt a dramatic redemption by a neo-Nazi, the neo-Nazi protagonist has got to start out really, really low. I still don't love the movie; I still love that the movie sets out to redeem a character who, first thing, commits an unforgiveable act. That's a movie that loves a challenge.
So it seems to me that there are sometimes some very good reasons for including horrific acts in your non-horror scripts. You may have your own favourites -- I'd love to hear 'em.
Labels: drama, inciting incident
posted by Jennica at 7:51 p.m.
7 Comments:
The scalping in Nurse Betty was hard to watch, but even harder for me was the guy-on-guy sodomy in Pulp Fiction. (Though not an inciting incident.) When I watch Pulp Fiction, I skip over that part. Oddly, rape scenes where it's a guy and girl don't freak me out as much. (Thinking of Thelma and Louise, and the Accused.)
Christina.... what about the rape scene in A Clockwork Orange? "Singin' in the Rain" and all that = terrifying.
I know there are great examples of horrorific incidents in non-horrific movies.... and I'm racking my brain! I'm still thinking, though....
The murder in "In the Bedroom" (although the act itself is off screen) I found traumatic and hard to watch -- something about that camera angle that reveals the dead lover (Nick Stahl) was brutal.
I don't know if this can be regarded as the inciting incident -- it comes pretty far along into the story. Thoughts?
Oh yes, Pulp Fiction... wow, Christina, that opens such a can of gender worms, eh? Why would we as women find male rape somehow more horrifying? (I think I do, too...)
Clockwork Orange-- another great, hideous example.
Monikerr, I think one could argue that that murder is, in fact, the late inciting incident of that story... when I think of how that movie works, that murder has to happen for the 'real' story to begin... that's a good example because the reveal of dead-Nick-Stahl is shocking to us, which allows us to get in the heads of those affected in the aftermath... ?
I know you haven't watched it yet, so I won't give away the moments, but there are a few in Eastern Promises that had me looking at the floor.
Maybe the scene in Garp involving the car crash...
{cringe}
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