The Megahit Movies
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Forrest Gump: Forrest loves Jenny, even though for most of the film, she will not accept his love.
The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy’s feelings of insecurity create her motivation to find a place where there are no problems. Once she discovers that Oz is filled with dangers, she is motivated to return to the safety of her home.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Harry wants to learn the secret of his life.
Spider-Man: Peter Parker wants the love of MJ.
Bruce Almighty: Bruce first wants to be the famous TV Anchorman, then he wants to have the power of God.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret: Harry wants to be with his friends back in Hogwarts.
Matrix Reloaded: Neo wants to keep Trinity alive. He needs her love.
Shrek: Shrek wants to be left alone in his swamp home. Finding Nemo: Marlin wants to keep Nemo safe, then find him and bring him home. Nemo wants to have the respect of his peers and to overcome his bad fin.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Captain Jack Sparrow wants his ship, the Black Pearl. Will Turner wants to save Liz’s life. Liz wants to marry Will Turner.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Frodo wants to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, but in the final scene, he wants to keep the Ring for himself.
DECISIONS: HARD CHOICES “A decision, whether individual or group, involves a choice between two or more options or acts, each of which will produce one of several outcomes.”
—Michael Resnik, Choices
The protagonist is the character who makes most of the major decisions, and who must respond to the decisions and actions of the antagonist. To achieve their goals, characters must make decisions. They must devise strategies and plans of action. They must make choices between alternative tactics. When faced with obstacles, they must decide how best to overcome them. They also must decide whether they will cast aside their basic code of ethics to achieve these goals. Whether “the end will always justify the means.”
Self-conflict is generated by characters making difficult decisions while pursuing their primary objectives. Often, they reject objects or people they value in order to reach their goals. These difficult decisions captivate members of the audience, who vicariously place themselves in the same situation. Characters who make the tough decisions, who choose to “do the right thing” under difficult circumstances, gain the audience’s empathy. The writer should focus on the “hard choices” a character makes.
The audience doesn’t want just to hear about these decisions. They want to watch the characters go through the decision making process. They also want to see the characters in torment as they make difficult choices. Viewing a human being going through the process of trying to make an emotionally stressful decision is always more dramatic than watching just the result of that decision. If the audience does not see this transformation, they will lose emotional involvement and empathy for the character. The character will no longer be “human” for them.
A decision made by one character sets in motion a decision by his adversary. For example, the protagonist must decide how to obtain his primary objective before the antagonist gets it. These chains of decisions, one resulting from the other, generate the conflicts that propels the story forward to its climax.
The audience is more concerned with the results of a character’s decisions than the accidents that happen to him. If there is an accident, the audience is primarily interested in how the character responds to this accident, not whether this accident will resolve his conflict for him.
The most difficult choices are the emotional ones: those that involve a choice between the primary objective and the character’s close relationships with lovers, a spouse, parents, children, siblings, or friends. The members of the audience can easily relate to these conflicts for they also often have to make these types of choices.
The scenes that have the most emotional impact are those in which the protagonist chooses his primary objective over a relationship in order to guarantee the survival of the community. This is a self-sacrificing “moral choice” in which he chooses to act for the benefit of the community rather than achieve his own selfish objective.
Once a character chooses his primary objective, he can alter his choice of subgoals, plans, procedures, tactics, and methods, but he cannot change his commitment to this primary objective. If he abandons his primary objective, the story is over. It ends with the character’s failure to achieve his primary goal. This is different from the situation in which the protagonist must achieve important subgoals that change in order to accomplish his primary objective. For once the protagonist makes the decision to pursue a primary objective, the story ends when he either achieves this objective or fails. Below are listed some of the important decisions made by the characters in the megahit movies.
Titanic
Rose leaves the lifeboat and returns to the Titanic to be with Jack. Star Wars
Luke decides to go with Ben to Alderan in order to fight with the rebels. Han Solo decides not to stay and fight with the rebels.
The Phantom Menace
The Jedi Qui-Gon decides to gamble with Watto for the supplies he needs and for Anakin’s freedom. Queen Amidala decides to get down on her knees and beg the Gungan King, Boss Nass, to help fight the invasion.
E.T.
Elliott decides to help E.T get back home to his planet.
The Lion King
Simba decides to return to the Pride Lands and fight Scar. Batman
Bruce Wayne decides to accept the Joker’s challenge to meet him in a one-on-one fight during the Gotham City celebration.
Return of the Jedi
Luke decides to return to study with Yoda after freeing his friends from Jabba the Hut. Luke decides not to join the dark side of the force.
Independence Day
Captain Steve Hiller decides to end his July 4th holiday with Jasmine and return to El Toro. He also decides to “borrow” the helicopter in order to search for her. President Tom Whitmore decides to launch a nuclear attack against the alien spaceships. David Levinson decides to fly with Steve Hillier to give the alien mother ship a computer virus. Russell Casse sacrifices himself by flying his fighter into the alien’s prime weapon.
Jurassic Park
Dr. Grant decides to light a flare to distract the dinosaur that is trying to break into the tourist car to eat John’s two grandchildren. He places himself in jeopardy to save the life of the children.
Home Alone
Kevin decides to protect his home from the burglars. Kevin’s mother decides to leave Paris and return home to Kevin.
Forrest Gump
Forrest doesn’t have difficulty making decisions, but instead does pretty much whatever people ask him to do, like joining the football team and the army. Like the feather, he goes with the flow.
Jaws
The mayor decides not to close the beach for the July 4th holiday. Capt. Brody decides to hire Quint to kill the shark. Capt. Brody forces the mayor to decide to sign the voucher to hire Quint.
Men In Black
J decides to join the MIB. K decides to quit the MIB and return to the woman he loves.
Empire Strikes Back
Luke decides to leave the retreating rebel ships and search for Yoda so that he can be trained to become a Jedi Knight. Luke decides to leave Yoda in order to save his friends, Han and Princess Leia. Luke decides to fall into the abyss of the spaceship instead of joining the dark side of the force and his father, Darth Vader.
Sixth Sense
Cole Sears decides to tell Dr. Malcolm his secret: he sees dead people. The Wizard of Oz
Dorothy decides to run away from home, to journey to the Wizard of Oz, and to get the broomstick from the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wicked Witch decides to take the ruby slippers from Dorothy. The Scarecrow decides to go with Dorothy to Oz in order to obtain brains. The Tin Man decides to go to Oz in order to obtain a heart. The Lion decides to go to Oz in order to obtain courage. Dorothy decides that she
wants to return home to Kansas.
The Grinch
The Grinch decides to accept the invitation of Cindy Lou Who to become the Who’s Cheermeister of the Whobilation.
Shrek
Shrek decides to stop Fiona from marrying Lord Farquaard.
Spider-Man
Peter decides not to tell MJ that he loves her.
Finding Nemo
Nemo decides to swim up the funnel in order to clog the fish tank.
Monsters Inc
Sulley decides to take Boo back home.
Bruce Almighty
Bruce decides to ask God to find someone who will make Grace happy.
Matrix Trilogy
Neo decides to save Trinity instead of Zion.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Elizabeth decides to marry Norrington to get him to save Will.
Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry decides to fight Prof. Quirell/Voldemort for the Sorcerer’s Stone. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Frodo decides not to destroy the Ring. Aragorn decides to lead the remaining soldiers of Gondor against Mordor so that Frodo will have a chance to destroy the Ring.
RELATIONSHIPS: LOVERS & FRIENDS “Characters rarely exist alone—they exist in relationships...the dynamic between the characters can be as important as any individual character quality.”
—Linda Seger, Creating Unforgettable Characters
“...people’s self-esteem and their self-concept changed in sheer reaction to the kinds of people they found themselves among, and changed even more in response to the positive or negative remarks that people made to them.” —Jerome Bruner, Acts of Meaning
The most difficult choices that the protagonist must make are the emotional ones, those that involve a choice between his primary objective and his primary relationships: lover, spouse, mother, father, daughter or son, sister or brother, and friends. Decisions that the character makes which place any of these relationships in jeopardy or danger produce scenes that generate the most tension and are the most emotionally riveting for the audience.
The audience should clearly understand the protagonist’s feelings about these relationships. Does he love the other characters, hate them, or is he indifferent? The protagonist gains the most audience empathy when he is forced to place another character that he loves in jeopardy in order to achieve a “higher good.” He suffers a personal sacrifice for the good of the community.
These are also the decisions and choices that generate the most emotional conflicts in scenes. Characters are made known to us through conflict, and every action and every situation reveal something about their beliefs and personality. Characters are revealed by showing them relating to others who are in conflict with them over their objectives.
There are as many ways for one character to love as there are different types of people in the world. One conception of love is the active concern for the life and growth of the other that we love. When the satisfaction and security of another person becomes as important to us as our own, then love exists.
Loyalty to friends who are on the quest with the protagonist is a common theme in these popular films. Friends function as a surrogate family that helps the protagonist to achieve his goals when the “natural family” fails. Most of the protagonists in these popular films are either abandoned by their families (E.T., the Grinch, and Kevin in Home Alone), or separated from their families (Harry Potter in Sorcerer’s Stone, Peter Parker
in Spider-Man, Bruce Wayne in Batman, Luke and Princess Leia in Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace, and Nemo in Finding Nemo).
A character is revealed not only through how he resolves the conflicts with his friends and relatives, but also how he relates to other characters that oppose his attempts to achieve his objectives. These other characters can be classified in terms of those that help him obtain his objective, and those that oppose him. The writer must clearly show the audience how the main character emotionally interacts with these characters. What does he want from them and what do they want from him? How do they resolve their conflicts? What methods and codes of behavior do they use when dealing with each other?
A standard trait that the antagonist has is the tendency to betray his companions when it suits him and to ruthlessly destroy his supporters if they fail him. The antagonist is also usually consumed with hatred for the protagonist.
The issue of trust and betrayal is central to many of the popular films. A character that betrays another earns the enmity of the audience and is felt to be deserving of destruction. The audience will feel no remorse for any character that is killed if he is shown to have betrayed the trust and caused harm to the protagonist for whom the audience has empathy.
Titanic
Rose is in conflict with her mother and the aristocratic society into which she will marry. She has an appreciation for art and would like to be a free spirit. Jack is an artistic free spirit who leads a “rootless life” as characterized by Rose’s mother.
Star Wars
Luke is an orphan and lives with his aunt and uncle who are killed by the Imperial Storm Troopers. Luke develops loyalty to his friends in the rebellion. Darth Vader has no friends among the Imperial soldiers, with whom he is ruthless whenever the situation demands. Obie Won Kenobe sacrifices his life for Luke and the Rebel cause. Princess Leia appears willing to sacrifice the rebellion to save the lives of the innocent people of Alderan. But she gives the Commander of the Death Star old information that would not threaten the rebellion. Initially, she exhibits an intense dislike for Han Solo. Han seems to care for no one but himself, yet he returns to help his friend Luke in the final battle sequence.
The Phantom Menace
Anakin Skywalker has a good relationship with his mother, who is very supportive.
E.T.
Elliott is loyal and committed to E.T., who is abandoned by the alien spaceship. E.T. then makes friends with the children. Elliott was abandoned by his father. Michael and his friends are loyal to Elliott once they have sworn that Elliott “has the power.”
Jurassic Park
Dr. John Hammond loves his two grandchildren who also love him. Ellie Sattler loves Dr. Alan Grant, and he loves her.
The Lion King
Scar schemes with Jackals to get control of the Pride Lands. Simba has as friends Timon and Pumba, when he lives a carefree life in the jungle. Rafiki, the wise baboon, functions as his spiritual guide.
Return of the Jedi
Luke Skywalker discovers that his love interest, Princess Leia, is really his sister, and that they are both the children of Darth Vader. Luke has to fight Darth Vader to defeat the Empire.
Independence Day
Captain Steve Hiller has a relationship with his girlfriend Jasmine and her little son. He also has a good friendship with the other pilot who is killed in the first battle with the aliens. David Levinson has a relationship with his father and his ex-wife. President Whitmore has a good relationship with his wife and child. Russell Casse has a combative relationship with his children.
Batman
Bruce Wayne is a rich orphan who lives alone in a mansion. His only friend is the family butler. The Joker disfigures his girlfriend Alicia. The Joker shoots his loyal henchman Bob because Bob didn’t tell him that Batman had a plane.
Home Alone
Kevin’s family is angry with him for making a mess while they are eating. His siblings have contempt for Kevin. Kevin is loved by his mother. Kevin befriends the old man who lives next door, even though his brother says he is a murderer. The old man later saves Kevin from the burglars.
Forrest Gump
Forrest has a strong supportive relationship with his mother. His father had abandoned the family. His best friend since childhood is Jenny.
Jaws
Capt. Brody has a good supportive relationship with his wife and son. He becomes very upset when his son is almost killed by the shark.
Men In Black
Both J and K must s
ever all emotional relations from people not officially connected to MIB, yet, K misses the woman he left behind.
Sixth Sense
Dr. Malcolm was happily married to his wife in the beginning of the movie, but then they grew “distant” and could not communicate with one another (because he was killed in the opening scene and became a ghost that she could not see). Cole Sears is picked on by the other children and has a terrible secret that he cannot share with his mother and other people: he sees dead people.
Empire Strikes Back
Luke discovers that Darth Vader is his father. He screams with anguish and despair and allows himself to fall into the deep shaft of the spaceship.
The Grinch
The Grinch is abandoned at birth and found on the doorstep of the sisters, Clarinella and Rose Whobiddie. He is humiliated at the school party and then isolates himself in a cave above Whoville. He hates all the Whos and only relates to his dog.
The Wizard of Oz
Dorothy loves her aunt and uncle but runs away when they allow Elmira Gulch to take possession of Toto. She tries to return to her Aunt Em when she believes her aunt is sick. Dorothy also cares for the needs of her companions while on the journey to Oz. The Wicked Witch’s only companions are the winged monkeys. She is ruthless and terrorizes any creature that gets in her way. She hates Dorothy. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion are all loyal to Dorothy, and they are committed to rescuing her from the Wicked Witch.
Shrek
Shrek lives alone and likes it that way. Donkey wants to be Shrek’s friend.
Spider-Man
Peter is an orphan living with his aunt and uncle. Peter does not like his uncle trying to act like his father.
Finding Nemo
Nemo’s mother and siblings are eaten by a Barracuda. Marlin is over-protective of Nemo.
Monsters,Inc.
Sulley has Mike as his best friend. Bruce Almighty
Bruce has his girlfriend Grace who loves him, but Bruce is obsessed with success.
Matrix Trilogy
Neo is loyal to Morpheus and Trinity. Pirates of the Caribbean
Captain Jack Sparrow betrays everyone when it is to his advantage, yet he joins forces with Will and Liz to defeat Barbossa.