Psychology for Screenwriters

by William Indick

  3. Analyze the hero’s character development in films such as Spider-man (2002), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), and The Fisher King (19 91), in terms of Adler’s model of life styles.

  ADLER’S LIFE STYLES AT A GLANCE

  LIFE STYLES

  CHARACTER TRAITS

  EXAMPLES

  Ruling Type

  Needs to feel dominant or

  superior over others

  Crassus in Spartacus

  Gallio in the 1st act of The Robe

  Getting Type

  Takes from or depends on others

  Batiatus in Spartacus

  Avoiding

  Escapes or avoids

  Spartacus before his rebellion

  Type

  responsibilities and duties

  Peter in the 1st act of Spider-man

  Socially

  Useful Type

  Engages in socially useful

  activities

  Spartacus after his rebellion

  Gallio in the 3rd act of The Robe

  PART SIX

  Rollo May

  Chapter Fifteen

  EXISTENTIAL CONFLICT

  Rollo May was a psychoanalyst with a strong background in theology and existential philosophy. May saw a link between psychoanalysis and existentialism, realizing that neurotic anxiety is often directly related to what existentialists called “angst,” or existential despair. He became the leader of a new movement in existential psychoanalysis by redefining anxiety as an existential malady that transcends the purely personal. Anxiety as an existential conflict refers to the agitating feeling that one is out of place in the world. It is the conflict between the basic belief that there should be some purpose or meaning in the universe, and the realization that one has no sense of purpose or meaning in one’s own life.

  THE BALLGAME METAPHOR

  The conflict of existential meaning is often analogized to the conflict of the spectator versus the conflict of the player. In a baseball game, there are moments of great anxiety – such as the 9th inning of a tie game. The player’s anxiety is great, but he can do something about it – hit the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball, etc. The spectator’s anxiety is great, but he really can’t do anything about it except clap or yell, actions that have essentially no impact on the game. Hence, the spectator’s anxiety is even greater than the player’s anxiety, because the spectator’s neurotic energy cannot be channeled into any meaningful action. Rollo May pointed out that existential conflict is similar to the spectator’s anxiety. When we feel that life is passing us by, that things are happening around us but we have no control over them, we feel anxious. The problem, according to May, is that we are viewing our own lives as spectators rather than as players. Instead of taking an active stance in our own existence, we stand aside passively as other forces determine our identities, our destinies, and our purposes in life.

  Though existential conflict in real life is incredibly sophisticated and complex, existential conflict in film is quite simple. The hero is confused, anxious, depressed, or agitated because he feels that his life is useless, pointless, meaningless, or absurd. But by finding a specific purpose or objective to chase after (an external goal), the hero defines and creates meaning in his own existence. His negative anxiety is turned into positive energy that fuels his journey. The hero starts out as a spectator, but finishes not only as a player, but as the champion in the ballgame of his own life.

  SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

  May’s solution for the modern problem of anxiety is self-consciousness, the process of becoming aware of one’s own predicament, and taking steps to overcome it. The existential neurotic must change his perspective on life from the spectator role to that of the player role. Once his perspective is changed, his feelings about himself will change, his behaviors will change, and his life will change. He will overcome the absence of meaning in his life by defining meaning in a personally resonant way, and then creating meaningful goals that provide purpose in his formerly purposeless life. For May, this process is achieved primarily though self-analysis, introspection, and insight. In film, self-consciousness is typically depicted as an interacting combination of external forces and internal character development.

  STAGES OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

  In his classic book, Man’s Search for Himself (1953), May delineated four stages of self consciousness:

  1. Innocence – “… before consciousness of self is born.”

  2. Rebellion – “… trying to become free to establish some inner strength…”

  3. Ordinary Consciousness of Self – “… a healthy state of personality.”

  4. Creative Consciousness of Self – “ecstasy… “to stand outside one’s self”…”

  May’s last stage is not a state of being, but a transitory moment of transcendence, in which a person goes beyond a purely subjective view of himself, and sees himself from an objective perspective, as an external, omniscient observer looking at his own life and providing new insights and meaning to his own existence.

  STAGES OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS IN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

  Though May proposed his model in relation to the different stages of life, the model also can be related to the stages of character development in film.

  1. Innocence – the hero is uninvolved, ignorant, or indifferent to any problem within himself or out in the world.

  2. Rebellion – A problem from the external world triggers a realization of existential conflict, which leads to introspection and soul searching.

  3. Ordinary Self-Consciousness – The hero dedicates himself to a meaningful, significant external goal, and goes on a journey to accomplish this goal.

  4. Creative Self-Consciousness – The hero’s journey climaxes with an internal realization – an “epiphany” – about himself.

  In the film version of the stages, there is a constant interchange of conscious energy from internal conflict to external goals. In the 1st stage, conscious energy is dormant. In the 2nd stage, an external problem initiates an internal conflict. In the 3rd stage, the internal conflict is externalized into a specific goal. In the 4th stage, proximity to, or achievement of, the external goal results in an internal flow of conscious energy, in which the hero realizes the vital essence of his own character. May referred to this climactic transcendent experience with the classical psychological term, “ecstasy.” For our purposes, the classical dramatic term of “epiphany” is more appropriate. By the final stage of epiphany, the hero has accomplished his external goal – but more importantly – he also has discovered his true identity and special purpose in the universe.

  STAGE ONE: INNOCENCE

  In the first stage of the hero’s development, he is innocently uninvolved with conflict on either the internal or external level. The hero’s lack of involvement, however, does not mean that he is unaware of the existence of conflict. In Star Wars, Luke starts out as an innocent boy on a secluded desert planet. Though he is aware of the external conflict in the galaxy between the evil Empire and the rebels, he is not involved in it. And though he is vaguely aware of the deep-seated feelings of restlessness and impatience heating up inside of him, his internal conflict has not yet reached its boiling point. In your script, the first stage of your hero’s character is the setup for everything to come. Though your hero is not an adventurer yet, he should be ready for his adventure – whether he knows it or not. At this stage, your protagonist is a hero in waiting – an emergent hero – who only needs an external trigger to set off the heroic nature inside of him.

  STAGE TWO: REBELLION

  In the 2nd stage, something arises from the external world to pull the hero out of his state of existential dormancy. The external goal is a signal to the hero that he isn’t living up to his potential – that he has a purpose in the world, but he isn’t achieving it. The hero experiences in full the anxiety of the spectator, who is distressed by the conflict on the field but feels that he cannot do anything about it. The internal conflic
t for the hero at this stage is to rebel against the forces that are keeping him dormant, and to become actively engaged as a player in the field of external combat.

  DEATH OF THE INNOCENT

  Often times, the end of the innocence stage is predicated by the death of an innocent figure in the hero’s life. In Star Wars, Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed by imperial storm troopers. These innocent bystanders become victims in the external conflict between the Empire and the rebellion. Luke has no choice now – he must become an active player in the fight. His aunt and uncle were the last things holding him back. In Luke’s story, the death of these two innocents represents the death of his own innocence. The same plot device was used in Braveheart, Gladiator, and dozens of other films as a means of stirring the hero into action, while also cutting his emotional ties to his initial world of innocence.

  FORCES OF VENGEANCE

  The death of the innocent also provides a vital element of character motivation for the hero. As psychological motives go, revenge may be the strongest. All a film needs is one scene in the 1st act in which a character suffers a terrible injustice, and the audience will identify and stay with its tortured, vengeance driven hero for the rest of the film. The audience will wait for hours for the final act of vengeance, because revenge is a dish best served cold. For many heroes, such as Wyatt Earp, revenge is a driving force, but not the only motivation. Earp accepts the post as marshal of Tombstone to avenge the death of his brother. But once he becomes marshal, he starts to care about bringing order to the lawless town. For other heroes, vengeance remains the primary motive. In Death Wish (1974) the hero’s (Charles Bronson) wife is murdered and his daughter raped by a band of thugs. His psychological need for vengeance is so desperate that it drives him on a rampage of murderous vigilantism that persists not only throughout the 2nd and 3rd act, but through four more sequels, as well.

  THE DAEMONIC

  A desire for vengeance gives the hero an initial mission and purpose. Though this purpose is dark and selfish, it is an extremely vital motivation, especially in the early stages of the hero’s story. The problem arises when the vengeance motive becomes the hero’s singular obsession. May referred to any unhealthy obsession as a possession by the “daemonic” – the “daemon” being an inner demon that devours the soul of the one it possesses. In The Searchers (1956), Ethan (John Wayne) is motivated at first by a desire to rescue his nieces from the wild Commanches who raided his family’s house. Gradually, his motivation to rescue his niece is replaced by a daemonic possession – the need to avenge himself against the Commanches and the dark desire to kill his niece, because after years among the Commanche, she has become one of them.

  Daemonic Possession: Ethan (John Wayne) and his niece (Natalie Wood) in The Searchers (1956).

  If the hero’s rebellion is instigated by a dark motif such as revenge, rage, destruction, or hatred, he must at one point overcome his daemonic possession and become dedicated to a “prosocial” or non-egoistic cause. Though Luke is initially motivated by a desire to avenge the deaths of his aunt and uncle, he soon dedicates himself to the cause of rescuing the maiden in distress (Princess Leia), and eventually allies himself with the broader cause of defeating the Empire. And though Ethan is motivated by a desire to kill his niece (Natalie Wood), he overcomes his dark possession in a moment of epiphany.

  STAGE THREE: ORDINARY SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

  At the third stage of development (usually the 2nd act of the script), the hero, as Joseph Campbell would say, is in “full career of his adventure.” He is no longer burdened by reluctance. The hero is fully active in the field of battle and completely dedicated to the task at hand. Existential conflict is no longer an issue for the hero, because he defines the purpose of his existence as the achievement of the goal he is pursuing. This stage of development typically culminates with a catharsis, the release of emotional tension and anxiety that occurs when the external goal is achieved.

  Catharsis is even more dramatic when it co-occurs with the death of the villain who killed the innocent soul in the 1st act. At the moment of catharsis, the hero earns his vengeance and achieves the goal that he’s been chasing throughout his journey. But while the external conflict is resolved, the internal conflict still needs to be dealt with. In a sense, the internal conflict reemerges as a direct result of the catharsis and resolution of the external conflict. Once the hero has achieved his goal, the question becomes: “What is my purpose in life now?” How can the hero define meaning in his life, now that the goal which has defined meaning for him up until this point no longer exists?

  STAGE FOUR: CREATIVE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

  The common theme of identity loss in films, especially in the ubiquitous amnesia plot, represents the hero’s search for his true identity. The heroes in The Bourne Identity (2002), Spellbound (1945) Memento (2000), and Angel Heart (1987) are all searching for their true identities. Their moments of epiphany occur when they realize whom they truly are. In essence, all heroes’ internal journeys are exactly the same – they are searching for their true identities. Luke’s journey begins with the external goals of avenging his aunt and uncle and saving Princess Leia. But after Luke rescues the princess, he experiences a personal epiphany related to his true identity. Luke realizes that he is destined to become a great Jedi knight like his father. Though his initial goals are completed, Luke rededicates himself to the broader goals of the rebellion – engraining his character with significance and meaning that will last the rest of his life.

  CONFLICT RESOLUTION AS DENOUEMENT

  Rededication to new goals and the hero’s realization of a true sense of identity are crucial factors in the hero’s development. These issues must be addressed as part of the film’s denouement – the “untying” of all the plot lines at the end of the script. If all of the different plot lines in the script are not resolved, then emotional tension will still exist at the end of the film, and the audience will experience an underlying sense of unease or dissatisfaction. The plot lines involving the hero are the most important. Though the story essentially ends with the resolution, the characters presumably live on after the film is over. Therefore, the function of the resolution is to wrap up the story, while the function of the denouement is to wrap up the problem of character development. This is achieved by showing the audience how the character has changed and how his life will be different from that point on.

  While the resolution of the plot answers the question, “What happened?” – the denouement answers the question, “What happens next?” Unless your hero dies in the end (in classic mythological fashion), the denouement in your script should address the hero’s new sense of identity and his new commitment or rededication to heroic, meaningful causes.

  Often times, the inertia toward resolution is so great by the end of the film that complete denouements can be accomplished in a cursory fashion. The denouement is frequently just a final scene, a character, or voice over that relates information, something to the effect of: “so the bad guy died, the town was saved, and the hero and maiden lived happily ever after…” The fact that audiences are willing to accept almost any ending to a film is not an excuse for laziness. As much thought and care should be put into your denouement as was put into your 1st act.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN SUMMARY POINTS

  According to Rollo May, the only cure to “existential anxiety” is an awakening to one’s own will, desire, and determination… which he called “self-consciousness.”

  The first stage of self-consciousness is “Innocence.” In film, this stage is represented by the protagonist who is uninterested or uninvolved in any meaningful cause.

  At this stage, the protagonist is an “emergent hero.” He is psychologically ready to experience life on a more meaningful level, he just needs a push in the right direction.

  The second stage of self-consciousness is “Rebellion,” in which the protagonist realizes his own existential conflict and is motivated to do something about it.


  The stage of rebellion is typically triggered by an external goal or problem.

  Often times, the death of an innocent, such as a loved one, is the trigger that sets the hero off.

  Heroes are often driven by vengeance motives. This destructive motivation is a dark obsession, similar to what May called “Daemonic possession.” Typically, the hero must exorcise himself of his daemonic possession before resolving his story.

  The third stage of self-consciousness is “Ordinary Self-Consciousness”— the hero is dedicated to his cause and actively pursuing it.

  The third stage often will culminate with a “catharsis,” an emotional release of anxiety and neurotic energy that occurs when the cause is achieved, the villain is destroyed, or the hero in some way accomplishes his goal.

  The fourth stage of self-consciousness is a moment of clarity, or “epiphany” that May called “Creative Self-Consciousness.” The hero understands himself and his identity, not just in reference to the cause he dedicated himself to, but as a function of some deeper understanding of his own character.

  Ideally, the resolution of the plot leads to a “denouement,” in which all of the tension within the story and the hero’s character is resolved. While the resolution of the plot answers the question, “What happened?” – the denouement answers the question, “What happens next?”