Why This is Good

It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. And if you’re like me, you’re trying to put your finger on exactly why it wasn’t good. Bruce Willis is always a treat in any movie, the premise was intriguing and offered limitless possibilities for satire and social commentary. It had the potential to satisfy our seemingly insatiable appetite for doomsday future dramas in which the machines we built to help us end up being our downfall (I don’t know about you but movies and TV have convinced me that the future ultimately leads to computers killing or enslaving us all-Terminator, The Matrix, Battlestar Gallactica, I Robot, Blade Runner). And it wasn’t a bad movie, it just wasn’t very good.

What was good:

The makeup. There was something creepy about how perfectly smooth the surrogate skin was. All of the surrogates look like they’ve got Oprah’s best makeup and lighting crew following them wherever they go. Plus all of the actors-including the myriad of gorgeous extras-walked, talked and looked just a little off, their eyes seemed a little dead, their faces apathetic, unmoving, their motions as smooth and mechanical as their skin. It was also fun to see juxtaposition of the perfect surrogate and the “operators” all of whom were dull, flabby, pale, blotchy-skinned greasy-haired older shadows of their idealized surrogate selves. I don’t know how the makeup artists were able to make the actors look more made up and perfect than they normally do in regular movies, but they did a great job.

The special effects. There were some great moments of faces being torn off to reveal the robots beneath. The movie was glossy, fun, and the effects were flawless. Coordinating as many extras as they did to all simultaneously fall down dead on the street must have been difficult, and I’m also impressed that the casting directors were able to round up so many ridiculously good looking people to work as extras to populate the surrogate world of physical perfection. Why aren’t all of them already actors and/or models?

Bruce Willis. You gotta hand it to the guy, he is good at playing the wounded, good guy out for truth and justice. He has so much charisma that you can’t help but watch him in any scene, and he was the only one who was more attractive than his surrogate counterpart.

What wasn’t good:

The death of the son. While I’m a firm believer in a character having a wound or past trauma, in this case, it felt very contrived and phony, as if the writer imposed this past upon the story. It didn’t fit his character  but seemed like it was tacked on, so that he could share common ground with his nemesis, whose son is also killed. The fact that his son died seemed to have little to do with the story, the theme, or the way in which Bruce ultimately overcame the bad guy in the end. In order for a wound to work to build a character arc and allow the theme to be fully realized, it needs to be something intrinsic to what the character needs to do in order to save the day in the end. Clarice had to overcome her self-doubt and fear that she wouldn’t be able to save the senator’s daughter, just like she wasn’t able to save the lambs. Shrek had to learn to be open to love and let people into his heart after being rejected so many times in his past. But having a dead son had nothing to do with Bruce Willis saving the world.

The nemesis. James Cromwell plays Canter,  the inventor of the surrogate technology. His original intentions to help the paralyzed has gone horribly, superficially wrong, and now he feels the only solution is to kill everyone. His dastardly plans are not based in any logic, and wouldn’t benefit him at all, or provide him with the satisfaction of revenge. Since the simple solution Bruce offers in the end is much more logical, practical, and less evil, it begs the question as to why Canter didn’t do the same thing.

The car chases. Too many, too cheesy and too overdone. Car chases have their place in action and caper movies, but there are so many more exciting, interesting things the writers could have done with this weird future world-like the chase through the freight-car jungle of the Dread Reservation, it’s disappointing that they fell back on such an overused convention.

The premise. The idea is fascinating, and makes you think about our current society and how close we’re getting to this type of reality. With the abundance of plastic surgery, the obsession with youth and beauty, and the increasingly isolated, computer based lives we are leading, the idea that someday no one would leave their house doesn’t sound too far off. But they didn’t use this premise to explore these parallels, nor did it even seem that bad. Crime and disease have gone down 99% in the surrogate-based future, everyone is happy, safe and perfect. What difference does it make if you aren’t real if everyone around you isn’t either? Other than the feeling that it just isn’t right, the story does not explore the dark side of what this lifestyle does to a person, or what it means to be human and live an authentic life. It’s such a great premise, it could have been done very well, but it just fell short of making you think about and dread the possibilities it explored.

After going over the ways to make a character likable, I want to point out that your characters can and should be flawed. Every hero in a film needs to have experienced some trauma in their past that has caused them to react to the world in an unhealthy way. The experience that they will go through during their story-whether it is meeting the love of their life, accomplishing a career or personal goal, or changing the world-will heal this wound, teach them that they have to live life in a healthy way again in order to be fulfilled by accomplishing their goals.

We know from Storytelling 101 that a well-written script involves a protagonist with a goal who tries to accomplish this goal but faces opposition, which he or she eventually overcomes. Opposition comes in two forms-external and internal. The hero cannot accomplish their goal because the antagonist, circumstances, or forces of nature are preventing them from getting what they want. For example, in Shrek, Shrek cannot be with Fiona because she is betrothed to Lord Farquaad. This is the external opposition. But Shrek is also wrestling with his own internal obstacle. He lacks the confidence he needs to admit his feelings, and he has been hurt and rejected in his past for looking different, so much so that he has shut down and decided it’s better to be alone than to open up and face possible rejection. He is forced to overcome both obstacles before he can accomplish his goal, and finally be himself and live a full life.

In crafting your characters, delve into their past and determine what happened to them that made them the flawed, incomplete person they are today? This is usually something that happened in their childhood and deeply affected them. Write out that scene, in prose form, so you can fully explore their life before you put them into your screenplay. This event will most likely not be a part of your script, but it can and may come out in dialogue. Whatever it was, it has created in them a fear of doing the one thing that they will be forced to do in the climax of your story. Overcoming this fear is the only way they can accomplish their goal and achieve true happiness and an authentic life.

Creating sympathy for your hero is an essential part of successful screenwriting. This is something many writers overlook in their quest to create a great flawed hero who can go through an arc. But in order for the audience to enjoy the movie, they need to empathize with the character-relate to them, understand them and care about watching them take the two hour journey that will be the movie.

The same things that make you like or dislike a person in real life will make your audience like or dislike your hero. There are some specific devices you can utilize to make your audience empathize with your hero. It’s important that you employ one of these techniques within the first ten pages, or your reader will lose interest in your hero, and therefore your film. And luckily, some of these can still work if your hero has to start out flawed in order for your story to work.

Undeserved Misfortune-the key here is undeserved. Something bad that isn’t their fault. If they are running late for work because they stopped to help a little old lady with a flat tire, and they get fired. If it is their fault, it’s not undeserved misfortune. If they are running late for work because they stopped to get a coffee because they had a horrible hangover from partying too hard the night before and they get fired. That is their fault and therefore not sympathetic. In Fight Club, Edward Norton’s apartment explodes. In no way is this his fault, so we feel sorry for him.

They are in jeopardy-we care about people we are worried about, and will want to continue watching to make sure they are going to be okay. Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire, Harry Potter in all of his movies, Frodo and the other hobbits in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We know something bad is going to happen to them, so we are compelled to not only care about them, but to watch and see if they will be okay.

Liked by others-showing that people are liked by others by showing them around their friends, often at a birthday part, especially a surprise party, or showing that they are popular at work or school. Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List is shown at a party, schmoozing up a storm, he’s the toast of the town. Because others like him, we feel we can like him too. He must be a good guy.

Kind to animals- Obscure but true. Characters who are kind to animals are perceived as heroic, likeable characters. If they are kind to other less fortunate creatures that also will make them likeable. A lot of movies show the hero giving money to a charity, a homeless person, or volunteering. We all know that is the right thing to do and therefore we instantly like those we see doing this and will want to keep watching them.

Good at what they do- Most people wish they had more power, and therefore admire people with power. James Bond movies use this exclusively to make you like James Bond. He has tons of power and he is good at what he does. Often times this is one of the first things you see in the beginning of a movie, the hero at work, making deals, helping people, making money, finding the bad guy, etc. Show that they are good at what they do and they have power, and we will like them. This is a great technique to use when your character is kind of a jerk and is going to learn something during the course of the film.

In As Good as it Gets, Jack Nicholson’s character Melvin is almost entirely unlikeable, save for the fact that he is good at what he does.

In Collateral, Jamie Foxx wasn’t just a cab driver, but he was the best cab driver ever. He was meticulous about keeping the cab clean, and he knew the best routes and had a very good sense of how long it took to get everywhere. We respected him also because he embodied the next trait.

They have grand aspirations-He was a cab driver, but he dreamed of owning his own business. In Jerry Maguire, Jerry noticed the problems in the world and dreamed of bringing some integrity back to his corrupt business. We like this.

See the problems in the world/want to fix it- your hero will be likeable if he sees the problems in the world and wants to fix them. In Jerry Maguire, Jerry embodies three of these qualities-he is good at what he does, he sees problems and wants to fix them, and he has a big dream. As discussed in yesterday’s post, Baby in Dirty Dancing can’t wait to join the Peace Corps and make the world a better place. She goes out of her way to help Penny and help others.

Funny-Everyone would like to be funny, and everyone likes to be around funny people. Giving your hero a sense of humor makes them seem down to earth, easy to get along with, and just downright entertaining and fun to be around and watch. Juno, in Juno was instantly likeable because of her wit and humor. Even if it’s not a comedy, they can have a strong sense of wit and irony that makes them appear funny, and smarter than the average idiot, it makes them special. We like that.

Unselfish- Referring back to the undeserved misfortune example. Our hero that helped the old lady with the flat tire even though he knew it was going to make him late and get fired was acting unselfishly. Showing your character is unselfish is a great way to make the audience like them. Will Smith’s character in Seven Pounds gives up time, money, and his own organs in order to help others.