While comedies typically use the humor loophole to take the low road in violating taboos, some comedies take the high road. Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964) addressed the very touchy topics of Cold War, excessive military power, and nuclear annihilation in a way that no other film could, because of the superb humor and satire he wove into it. Similarly, Kubrick’s Lolita, though controversial, was a popular success, because it addressed the sensitive issue of pedophilia in a humorous style. But whether you as a screenwriter choose to take the low road or the high road, the key to good comedy is not just breaking social taboos. You can get cheap laughs through gratuitous nudity, racist and chauvinist gibes, gross-outs, and offensive sight gags, but the best humor will always be character driven – arising from the psychological complexity of the characters themselves, rather than the randomly humorous incidents that transpire around them.
CHAPTER FOUR SUMMARY POINTS
The ego defense mechanisms are behaviors that defend the ego by releasing some of the pressure from blocked libido energy.
Movie characters displaying defense mechanisms are intriguing because they are usually completely oblivious to their defensive behaviors.
Repression of desire, passion, or emotion is a universal defense mechanism.
Repressed energy is typically discharged in a dramatic scene of catharsis or emotional release.
Denial can be used as either a character strength (constancy), or character weakness (obliviousness).
In horror, thriller, or suspense movies, there is often a denying authority figure who denies the existence of danger. The hero must overcome this figure in order to defeat or conquer the danger.
Identification also can be used as either a character strength or character weakness. If the hero identifies with a positive mentor figure, then he is on the right road for character development. If the hero is identifying with a negative mentor figure, then he must first overcome this negative identification before he can start developing in the right direction.
Sublimation is the process of channeling libido energy into productive or artistic activities. In films, sublimation is often portrayed through passionate labor and the ubiquitous “power of love” theme – in which a hero overcomes great obstacles in order to defend or rescue his true love.
Regression scenes in movies are typically facilitated by a substance such as alcohol, marijuana, a magic elixir, or a “fountain of youth.”
The most common type of regressive hero is the middle-aged character who seduces a young lover.
Reaction formation is when a character exposes his own deepest desire by reacting strongly against it. For example, gay bashing may be indicative of latent homo-erotic desires, which are so disturbing to the individual, that he reacts against them through homophobia.
Displacement is the redirection of a libido drive onto a safe substitute outlet.
Rationalization is when a character intellectualizes his issues by discussing them coldly and objectively, rather than dealing with his issues on an emotional level.
Projection is a central theme in movies dealing with family relationships. Parents often “project” their own dreams and goals onto their children, and are hurt and upset when their children express the desire to follow their own dreams.
Isolation is a defense used by the “loner” character, who is typically isolating himself from others because of a traumatic or ignominious past.
A Freudian slip is when a repressed feeling slips out unconsciously during speech. The slip is often used in film to reveal hidden information to the hero – typically when he needs it the most.
Jokes allow for the expression of taboo subject material in a socially appropriate manner. The reaction to jokes – laughter – is an intense emotional release that is also socially appropriate.
Even the most serious films can benefit from moments of “comic relief,” a scene in which tension is released through laughter.
Gross out and politically incorrect humor in comedies take advantage of the joke loophole in society to express extremely taboo subject matter in order to elicit lowbrow laughs.
CHAPTER FOUR EXERCISES
1. Using your knowledge of film, identify three movie characters who display the defense mechanism of regression.
2. Identify three movie characters who display the defense mechanism of denial.
3. Identify three movie characters who display the defense mechanism of displacement.
4. Identify three movie characters who display the defense mechanism of rationalization.
5. Identify three movie characters who display the defense mechanism of isolation.
6. Analyze the defense mechanisms displayed by characters in movies such as Ordinary People, The Big Chill, and American Beauty.
ADDRESSING THE EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS IN YOUR SCRIPT
1. Both repression and denial are marked by a character’s general obliviousness to his own desires, fears, and neuroses. Consider how you can use the attribute of obliviousness as either a character strength or character weakness in your hero.
2. Identification typically offers character motivation through an external mentor figure, while sublimation typically offers character motivation through internal conflict of libido drives. How can you create psychological depth in your characters’ motivations by juxtaposing the contrary forces of identification and sublimation within your hero?
3. Slips are most realistic when they express emotion rather than just information. If you are using a Freudian slip in your script, think of how you can write the slip as a form of emotional release, instead of the tired old “Oops, I can’t believe I just told you my big, bad secret!” set up.
4. Comic relief is an essential part of any movie. Do you have at least one instance in your script that is designed to elicit a laugh?
THE EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS AT A GLANCE
DEFENSE
MECHANISMS
FUNCTION
CHARACTERISTICS
EXAMPLES
Repression
Holding in an impulse and not
allowing it to become conscious
Obliviousness
Frustration
Restraint
Remains of the
Day
Gosford Park
Denial
Refusing to acknowledge an
impulse or troublesome
information
Obliviousness
Obstinacy
Tenacity
Lost Weekend
Jaws
Little Princess
Identification
Modeling one’s beliefs and
behaviors after someone else
Conformity
Inspiring Mentors
Zelig
Star Wars
Sublimation
Channeling impulses into
productive or artistic activities
Passionate Labor
Power of Love
Frida
Superman
Regression
Releasing impulses by engaging
in immature behavior
Substance Use
Young Lovers
The Big Chill
Manhattan
Reaction
Formation
Acting in opposition toward a
troublesome impulse
Homophobia
Fickle Women
American Beauty
The Quiet Man
Displacement
Releasing an impulse onto a
substitute outlet
Venting Rage
Falling Down
Rationalization
Dealing with emotions on an
intellectual level
Intellectualizing
Woody Allen
movies
Projection
Attributing impulses and desires
to somebody else
Paranoia
Parents living
> vicariously through
their children
Treasure of the
Sierra Madre
Of Human Hearts
Gypsy
Isolation
Running away and hiding from
troublesome issues
Tragic Pasts
Loner Heroes
Finding Forrester
Shane
Freudian Slips
Releasing an issue by mistake
through an inappropriate remark
Villains giving
away their plans
The Bad and the
Beautiful
Jokes
Expressing taboos through
humor, and gaining emotional
release through laughter
Comic Relief
Gross-out Humor
Social Satire
There’s Something
About Mary
Dr. Strangelove
Chapter Five
DREAMWORK
Freud’s “dreamwork” is the psychoanalytic process of recalling and interpreting dreams. The basic theory behind dreamwork is deceptively simple. First, the patient recalls the manifest content – the dream itself, as accurately as the patient can recall it. Then, the analyst and patient deconstruct the dream and analyze each element… every place, event, person, and object. The analyst draws out the patient’s personal associations with all of these elements, in the belief that a simple figure, object, or event may symbolize a much more significant issue in the patient’s unconscious. By analyzing these associations and interpreting the psychological symbolism behind them, the analyst and patient reveal the latent content – the hidden meaning of the dream. According to Freud, dreamwork is a “royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious,” because it provides direct access to the inner workings of the unconscious mind.
WISH FULFILLMENT
In Freudian analysis, the primary root of the dream is always some form of wish fulfillment. The purpose of dreamwork is to reveal the latent content of the dream and uncover the hidden wish to conscious perception, culminating in an epiphany or realization in the patients about their unconscious neuroses. Just as epiphany or self-realization is the stepping stone to the patients’ development in analysis, epiphany is also a crucial step in the character’s development in a film. Before the protagonist can accomplish his goal and become a full-fledged hero, he must know himself, and develop as a person. The dual elements of wish fulfillment and epiphany in dreamwork are represented in films by the very popular plot in which the hero suddenly gets everything he wants. In Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Deeds (Gary Cooper) is a simple country-bumpkin whose material wishes are fulfilled when he inherits a fortune. Through a process of trials and tribulations, Deeds realizes that money will not make him happy, and that his true wishes are not for material possessions, but for the spiritual riches of love and inner peace.
Audiences enjoy this very common plot device on two levels. In the 1st act, they find vicarious pleasure in the notion of suddenly becoming rich and famous. Winning the lottery It Could Happen to You (1994), a sudden inheritance Brewster’s Millions (1985), and identity switching Dave (1993) are all common ways in which the unconscious wish for money, power, or fame are suddenly fulfilled, only to reveal to the hero and his audience that these superficialities are existentially worthless. The only things that are truly worth living for are the things that cannot be bought or owned – love and a personal sense of integrity.
When writing the wish fulfillment plot, try to indulge the audience on both levels. Film audiences experience wish fulfillment when they become engrossed in a movie and experience it in much the same way that they experience their own fantasies and dreams. Audiences want to see their hero enjoy sudden success, because they enjoy it vicariously through him, so have some fun with the plot. If your 1st act is the setup, then the first half of the 2nd act should be filled with as much indulgence as possible. The audience intuitively knows that conflict will eventually rise in the 2nd act, and that the 3rd act will be devoted to fixing all the problems caused by the changes made in the 1st act – so the first half of your 2nd act should be full of fun and pleasure. Let your heroes gorge on expensive foods, buy fancy clothes, visit exotic locations, bask in the attention of gorgeous admirers, indulge every whim and fantasy, and otherwise fulfill their (and the audiences’) deepest wishes.
Don’t hurry the conflict, let it come naturally. But when the conflict does come, it should relate to something personal within the character. Often times, external factors such as greedy lawyers or ruthless rivals make the hero feel disenchanted with his new identity. These obstacles fulfill the function of creating conflict in the plot, but they do nothing to advance character development in the hero. When weaving together this form of plot, the central question you must answer is: “What is it about the hero himself that conflicts with his newfound status or wealth?” External obstacles are fine and usually necessary, but don’t abandon the psychological depth of inner conflict for the easy accessibility of bad guys and foils.
INCUBUS & SUGGUBUS
Sexual figures in films often take on the form of dark seducers and seductresses. They have preternatural power over the characters they seduce. These figures embody the qualities of the mythical incubus and succubus – sexual demons who invade the dreams of innocent people and ravish them while they sleep. Angela (Mena Suvari), the sexy teen in American Beauty, is a reappearing succubus in Lester’s (Kevin Spacey) fantasies, driving him on his lustful quest to recapture his youth. The Devil is a very literal incubus in Rosemary’s Baby, as Rosemary is asleep whenever she encounters him, and he appears like a ravishing demon. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies is a violent incubus whose sadistic slayings are sexually charged, as well. The incubus and succubus represent the most primal impulses, sex and aggression, and their function in their characters’ dreams are typically one-dimensional. Nevertheless, these figures can provide very interesting insights into a character’s psyche.
In The Natural, Roy (Robert Redford) is haunted by the memory of the mysterious woman from his past (Barbara Hershey), who seduced him and then destroyed his career. Though she is dead, she haunts his dreams. The appearance of the succubus in Roy’s dreams cues him in to the danger in his real life – that his new girlfriend (Kim Basinger) is a menacing succubus who also will ruin his career. When Roy finally dumps the new seductress, he tells her: “I’ve seen you before!”— referring to the real dark seductress from his distant past, and the menacing succubus that has been haunting his dreams.
Writing the incubus or succubus figure can be a liberating experience, because these characters are fantasy rather than reality. They can do anything, appear anywhere, and represent anything. They’re also brimming with sexual and aggressive power. The dream demons are excellent symbols of internal fears and desires. However, you should not feel limited to writing dream figures who only want to kill or copulate. The incubus and succubus can represent any troubling conflict, including but not limited to: guilt, fear, shame, loneliness, anxiety, and doubt.
ANXIETY DREAMS
Anxiety is a particularly frequent subject of dreams, both in real life and in films. The anxiety dream sequence is typically portrayed as a state of paranoia, in which everyone and everything is menacing and destructive, and the dreamer is confronted by his deepest fear. In Tim Burton’ Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Pee Wee (Paul Reubens) is plagued by terrible nightmares in which his lost bicycle is destroyed. The dreams cue the audience in to the emotional intensity behind Pee Wee’s anxiety over his beloved bike. The over-the-top imagery of dream sequences adds a bit of whimsy and fantasy to movies that dwell in the dull world of reality. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure didn’t really need more whimsy, but the celebrated dream sequence in the early film noir, Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), is a fantastic anxiety dream that takes the audience out of the ordinary world for awhile and allows the imagin
ation of the filmmakers to run wild. Stranger on the Third Floor is an example of a mediocre film with a marvelous dream sequence – but sometimes that’s all it takes to make a movie stand out in the audience’s memory.
THE DREAM WITHIN A DREAM
Experiencing a film is, in many ways, like experiencing a dream. The dark, quiet, cavernous theater parallels the sleeping mind. The screen of symbolic images is the show that the unconscious presents for its captive audience. Many films exploit that quality by creating a surreal atmosphere that mirrors the whimsical or uncanny world of dreams. If film is a metaphorical dream, then dream sequences within films are dreams within a dream. There are certain visual elements often used within dream sequences to give the audience a sense of unreality. Fog, smoke, soft focus, eerie music, expressionistic or surrealistic set designs, odd camera angles, distorted sound, slow motion, dim lighting, and irregular costuming all impart a visual sense of the dream world.
Psychology for Screenwriters Page 9