The Woman in the Story

by Helen Jacey

  A certain genre can also hugely increase the M-Factor of your heroine and her story. What Lies Beneath could have been a sad drama about a woman coping with the empty-nest syndrome. When her only daughter goes to college she at least has the prospect of spending more time with her husband. Then she finds out not only has he had an affair, but he’s murdered his young mistress. What Lies Beneath could also have been a taut woman-in-jeopardy thriller, but by making it supernatural, the story was elevated. Julie and Julia is a biopic about the French cookery chef Julia, but it’s got a strong comedic tone, bringing to life the characters in a lively and engaging way. It is definitely nontraditional biopic fare!

  GENRE AND YOUR STORY

  First, ask yourself which genres you like writing and which you like watching. Are they the same? Then ask yourself why you avoid certain genres. You might be a brilliant dramatic writer, but drama could bore you. Then you might be put off that drama is often seen as the least commercial of genres and can be difficult to finance. If you talk yourself out of certain genres remember that the pendulum does always swing. A good screenplay takes a year to write (at least) then several more to make, unless you’re working in TV, but the point is what’s working for audiences today might be old news in several years time.

  If you want your story to reach a target audience through online distribution, then the commercial arguments about what genres work might feel less relevant to you. If your audience is local, and you might have state subsidies, then you also might have more freedom. If you want a Hollywood studio to buy your film, it makes sense to find out what they are anticipating as future genres.

  THE PRIMAL ARGUMENT

  Some film theorists believe the appeal of certain genres is because they reflect patterns of survival that have evolved over thousands of years. They are compelling to the mainstream audience because we have primal drives about sex, birth, survival, and death, and we like to relate to these in a story. I think that if you’re writing a heroine’s story, primal is not all it seems.

  In a traditionally masculine-orientated story with a hero, Getting the Girl is a stock phrase. We see it all the time. Actually, Getting the Good Girl is usually more to the point, after the male hero has literally or metaphorically killed off the seductive bad girl. He wants to protect and save the victim, the good girl. Victim saving is central to the traditional notion of heroic. The primal argument would say that men’s stories symbolize the male need to create, protect, and defend the tribe. You need a good wife and mother of your children to help you do that, not an ego-centric seductress.

  In a heroine’s story, Getting the Guy is normally a result of the heroine realizing what she’s doing wrong. She’s making the wrong choices because of unresolved internal issues. Yes, this might lead her to Mr. Right. The primal argument would say, well, she needs Mr. Right to look after her and the children. But what about heroines who work? What about finding out after marriage that Mr. Right wasn’t all he pretended? What if she divorces and takes a string of boyfriends? What if she is the seductress (remember Scarlett?). And worse, what if she is infertile? There’s no primal reason for a woman to even exist after her children are grown up, so why do women live longer? Primal doesn’t explain the rise of the bromance or bromedy in which men show love, affection, and loyalty to each other with lots of layers of union filling the story. It doesn’t explain why genres evolve, and how these genres can even produce commercially successful films that show heroines and heroes doing it a different way. Primal seems to me to be a good excuse to give a biological explanation for the way things have been, but it’s a little outdated for heroines’ stories.

  Let’s take Erin Brockovich. It was a very successful film. No man saves single-mom Erin, and the only decent guy, George, is dumped by her when he grumbles about being taken for granted and stuck at home taking care of her kids. Let’s call her family Tribe 1. Erin is not interested in creating a tribe with George, and vice versa. Her eventual boss at the legal firm, which we can call Tribe 2, gives her a chance after huge efforts on her side. Erin wants to heal and get compensation for a sick and violated community. Let’s call it Tribe 3. Yes, death is threatening Tribe 3 in the form of water pollution and she, heroically, is saving them. But they are only under threat because corporate greed, in the form of Tribe 4, is more powerful. Anyway, the only reason in the first place why Erin is saving them is because her own family, Tribe 1, is under threat and because society, Tribe 5, has decreed Erin to be uneducated, unsuitable trailer trash with absolutely no status. As a poor, uneducated single mom, Tribe 5 isn’t protecting her, it’s starving her. The even further irony is that by taking on Tribes 2, 3, 4, and 5, Erin neglects Tribe 1, her primal tribe if there is one.

  You can see what I’m getting at, can’t you? Is Erin Brockovich a successful film on primal grounds because it reflects the basic need for survival in the form of hungry children and sick people, or was it successful because it made us think about the kind of lengths a single mom with no privileges has to go to, and why? The primal argument doesn’t really explain stories that are more about why. More and more frequently, audiences turn to heroines’ stories not for primal reasons but to think about why the world is so messed up. Don’t we want to see heroines’ showing that the world doesn’t have to be like this?

  The primal approach to screenwriting can often result in formulaic use of genre and stories that are designed primarily with commercial viability in mind. They don’t challenge or question the status quo. So let’s take a look at some of the more popular genres for heroines’ stories, and why certain genres are better at helping your heroine be memorable.

  GENRE BENDING: EVOLUTIONS IN GENRES

  As the zeitgeist changes and affects women’s lives, then so do genres and their conventions. Let’s look at some of the most common genres for heroines and some of their most common conventions. Remember, genre conventions aren’t carved in stone and frequently change as a genre evolves. The list of character conventions given under each genre are commonly found in film, but treat them as a way of triggering your imagination and breaking the mold, as much as sticking to the tried and tested.

  Drama

  Romance and “The Dramance”

  Romantic and “Dramantic” Comedy

  Comedy

  Thriller

  Supernatural Thriller

  Biopic

  Musical

  Science-Fiction

  DRAMA

  Drama can be an obvious choice if your story is about a woman coming to terms with her identity or dealing with very contemporary issues that affect her life. Frozen River and Precious, both recent films that were critically acclaimed and tough viewing, follow underprivileged heroines whose lives are blighted by extreme poverty Precious is interesting because the narrative creatively weaves in musical and comedic elements to subvert the traditional drama genre, without diminishing the seriousness of its themes. These elements even serve to intensify the more harrowing story moments. But you wouldn’t call the movie a comedy or even a dramedy Legal drama series The Good Wife fuses the elements of the heroine’s personal family crisis with the legal processes of clients seeking justice.

  Subject matter for dramas is wide and diverse and often responds to contemporary social issues. I suspect we could see more dramas about poverty over the next decade, in which the individual cost of corporate risk and greed is exposed. Different cultures will deal with the economic crisis differently. Some cultures might produce dramas that dwell on the pain, but others might prefer to celebrate how an individual or group survive the difficult times and fight back

  Drama is the genre that has always produced lots of heroines’ stories, but recently, they have been getting more Feel Good Femininity reflecting women’s needs for harmony and joy. If you can escape the script editor’s sword cutting out all layers of union from your drama (due to an outdated belief that Conflict and stakes must rule) then you might actually make your drama more compelling. Some dramas are just t
oo tense or gloomy to watch. Remember that the layers of union are so much more than light relief, or they contrast to make the tension worse.

  Heroine Character Conventions of Drama

  Heroines in dramas can be very isolated and Outsiders. If she’s one of a group, the group can also be isolated somehow

  The heroine can have a strong transformational arc, in which she changes for the better or worse. She might experience a new internal perspective on the world that she can’t share with anyone else.

  One particular layer of Conflict is dominant in her story: it could be Internal, Significant Other, Family, or Culture Conflict.

  Her personal transformation or change of circumstances is largely a result of her efforts in overcoming obstacles. If she relies on anyone, it’s because she has sought out their help as part of her personal resurrection. Maria Full of Grace and Precious are examples this trend in self-reliance. However, Frozen River shows the reciprocity between women to help them deal with their problems.

  Your heroine feeling good is no bad thing!

  ROMANCE AND THE DRAMANCE

  The rise of the heroine-led romance has also led to changes in the way love is treated in stories. From epic romances, to quirky indie love stories, there has been a big shift from characters searching for love and finding it at the end of the story, to stories that follow what happens in love after the happy ending. Romance stories now question love so much that they can seem like dramas. In the same way, dramas can focus on the trials and tribulations of a love relationship. Let’s take a look at character conventions of the traditional romance:

  Heroine Character Conventions of the Romance

  The heroine wants to find love with another character who is given equal screen time. Both characters have either considerable internal or external obstacles to overcome to end up together.

  The heroine achieves a sad or happy ending in which she is either with her loved one or separated from him or her forever.

  Old-style romance is feeling out of date. The emphasis on happily ever after could be a hangover of a masculine “hero’s journey” orientation to the telling of love stories.

  If a story is about a woman’s experience of love after the happy ending, or her experiences of dealing with her own internal problems, which are getting in the way of love, calling it a drama feels outmoded and too generalized. Calling it a melodrama is even worse! It sounds like you’ve written it for Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, actresses from the 1940s. (On a personal note, I’d like to see the terms melodrama and chick flick both get slung out and fast). Heroines’ experiences of love relationships after the happy ending are still about love and intimate relationship, after all.

  It seems to me a new genre has evolved out of all these heroines’ stories that deal with love and personal identity, both within and outside of relationships. I’ve come up with my own name for this new heroine-influenced genre — the dramance. It’s a hybrid name that pays homage to both genres and symbolizes their union. You might not like it, and you might disagree. You might prefer to stick to melodrama but if we can have “bromance,” I’m sticking with “dramance” — at least to get the point across that women’s dramas frequently have a central intimate relationship at their heart, yet they aren’t quite ‘love stories.’

  Let’s think about an epic romance, Cold Mountain. On one level, the story conforms to the traditional romantic notion of lovers being kept apart by obstacles and Conflicts, with a tragic ending robbing them of a life together. But most of Ida’s story is really about her own evolution as a woman. Ida meets Inman, lets him kiss her, and before you know it, he’s been conscripted. She had time to realize she fancies him but not to get to know him. All she has is his pledge that he will come back, leaving her with a fantasy and a promise. These are really important to her sense of hope, but what she really needs is someone there for her, to provide support and help her after she loses her father, money, and servants. This comes in the form of redneck Ruby, who enters Ida’s life, and the two women develop a strong relationship. Through Ruby, Ida gains a friend and generally develops as a person. Her story is full of idealized, loving feelings for Inman, and a growing real love of Ruby, but it is only Inman who follows the solitary hero’s path back to Ida.

  Something similar happens with The Hours. The three heroines all have very important intimate relationships with men, and all these relationships are the source of huge internal Conflict in the women. Virginia Woolf kills herself partly because she cannot bear to put Leonard, her husband, through another of her bouts of madness. Laura, the depressed housewife in 1950s L.A., cannot endure her life with her husband, although guilt has kept her in the marriage. Clarissa, in 1990s Manhattan, is emotionally bound up with her dying friend. By caring for him, she feels less empty inside.

  In both these movies, only the heroines’ experiences are followed, but their intimate relationships are the most powerful source of Conflict. This is beyond drama, because loving relationships are central. I think they are dramances! Another big feature of the dramance is the importance of the layers of union in the story. Iris and Away from Her, both stories about dementia, use layers of union, sometimes in flashback, to celebrate the women’s capacity for life and love before their terrible plight. Although both aren’t strictly heroine’s stories because the men characters’ POV is dominant, the women characters’ processes of losing their minds are sensitively chronicled. The Notebook, another narrative that explores female dementia, has a romance storyline set in the past and a dramance storyline set in the present.

  Heroine Character Conventions of the Dramance

  The heroine’s sense of identity is deeply affected by her relationship. She needs to resolve her problems for the sake of her identity and/or the relationship.

  If she doesn’t have an intimate relationship, she needs to work on her issues to be able to love.

  She might resolve these issues by the end of her story, but whether she commits to a relationship or not isn’t an important feature of the story’s ending. If she is in a relationship, the question whether her relationship will end or resolves itself is open as well. In a nutshell, endings can be open.

  ROMANTIC AND DRAMANTIC COMEDY

  The same fusion between romantic comedies and “dramantic” comedies can also be seen when a heroine leads the story. Romantic comedies with heroines explore all the Conflicts that get in the way of the heroine and her potential lover being together. In romantic comedies, the heroine spends most of her time enduring Conflict-ridden dynamics with her potential loved one who also occupies a great deal of, if not equal amounts, of screen time. At the end of the narrative, as surely as night turns to day, the heroine gets her happy ending with her ideal man. Examples include the dating game (Bridget Jones’s Diary), weddings (The Wedding Planner, 27 Dresses), one-night stands (What Happens in Vegas), and marriages of convenience (The Proposal).

  Heroine Character Conventions in Romantic Comedy

  The character has major baggage getting in the way of loving a man (or woman) that is clearly her soul mate. The heroine cannot recognize this until she’s dealt with her baggage by spending as much time as possible fighting with, and resisting, the potential lover! He might even share the same levels of resistance to her. Think of When Sally Met Harry.

  The heroine is driven by unresolved Internal Conflict. However, Significant Other Conflict is a dominant layer in the story

  The heroine is blind to her faults or baggage, particularly as her potential lover points them out. She only begins to recognize them as her feelings toward him change, and she is motivated to change his perception.

  By the end of her story, the heroine achieves both Internal and Significant Other Union.

  The heroine attending a wedding, her own or someone else’s, is a frequent event at the end of the story. Some kind of symbolic union usually takes place, even if it is a verbal promise of a future together.

  The dramantic comedy has some important differe
nces to the romantic comedy. The most obvious is that the heroine’s story does not resolve her need to get together with her loved one. The heroine’s story takes priority, as we watch her sort out her own problems. It’s rare to have the potential loved one have any of his or her own scenes without the heroine also there. In a nutshell, the dramance and the dramantic comedy tell her story, even if love is part of it.

  Julie and Julia is a great example of a dramantic comedy. Both heroines have hugely important relationships with their partners, and the women’s quests wouldn’t even exist without the men in their lives. The Holiday, The Break-up, He’s Just Not That Into You, and Sex and the City: The Movie are also dramantic comedies. Carrie and Big have found love at the beginning but lose it with a monumental Test of Trust. The rest of the narrative follows Carrie dealing with her wounds and making changes to her life. She needs to grow as a person, on her own and with the support of her female friends, in order to function in a couple (which, by the end of the narrative, she can). This is no romantic comedy, neither is it a straight comedy. It’s a dramantic comedy!

  Heroine Character Conventions in Dramantic Comedy

  The heroine has an intimate relationship that sustains her or sabotages her sense of self. If she’s getting to know a man, she’s got major work to do on her emotional baggage.

  Internal Conflict is a dominant layer of Conflict.

  The heroine’s love interest doesn’t have his or her own story line. He or she isn’t in scenes without the heroine, except rarely.