There was a lot of grumbling about the speedy hanging of Saddam Hussein before more of his victims’ relatives had their say and before all those individuals, businesses, and governments complicit in his actions could be exposed.
B. IN MEDIA
The 1961 Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nuremburg is a moving courtroom drama about Nazi war criminals.
The movies Red Dust and In My Country center around South Africa’s TRC.
We could use more stories in support of this concept.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Centers of Motivation – Aspirational Solar Plexus: concern for the greater good, & Throat: law and justice.
Show the contrast between how a person was treated before and after the recognition of the trial: from beaten-down to upright, from furtive to firm, from mute to speaking out.
The scariest thing about these situations is how far the Dark Side reaches. Exposing good guys who let the bad guys get away with it can create dramatic surprises.
Courtroom dramas must be tightly written and very well executed. Hopefully we’ll see more good ones as we get more fallout from the Cold War and current events. The new International Criminal Court can only try crimes committed after 2002, but it would be a good setting for an international suspense film.
Not everyone agrees in forgive and forget. Some say you needn’t forgive others for doing evil, but you don’t want to stay stuck in your own hatred. Others say they can forgive, but they’ll never forget. These inner conflicts offer good dramatic challenges.
THE PRIMROSE PATH
Though more common in the past, a Don Juan or a Temptress might be tamed via seduction into marital bliss, as the promise of true love lures them from pirate ship to pipe-and-slippers or cooking-and-cradles. Often seen as taming our wilder nature, marriage and parenthood supposedly make the self-centered individual a better cog in society’s machine.
Part of this is simple physics: you can’t penetrate something without being simultaneously surrounded by it. While seducers are usually the stronger personality in a couple, the mere fact of them engaging in “normal” situations, often under societal pressure, can alter the dynamics and defuse this sometimes harmful, seductive Dweller.
A. IN ACTION
Science now proves a common observation: females choose to sex-mate with rugged alpha males and to home-make with softer, nurturing males. Yet more American women live alone now than ever before (51%), many by choice. Most divorces are instigated by women. More people are cohabitating, and more children are born out of wedlock every year.
Though marriage is apparently losing its allure, a huge industry revolves around advising women how to find their soul mate, get them to commit, and once committed, how to plan the perfect wedding.
Jokes abound about the wife as ball-and-chain, yet studies show married men are healthier and happier than single men. It’s the opposite for women.
B. IN MEDIA
Fairy tales and romances typically end at the wedding: the chase is over, the lovers are united, the tension is released — no more drama. Think how the sexual tension in these TV series fizzled once the couples finally got together: Maddie and David in Moonlighting, Niles and Daphne in Frasier, and Mulder and Scully in The X Files.
Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s and the 2003 paean to them, Down With Love, humorously follow this Primrose Path pattern as the flawed Don Juan is trapped and transformed into perfect hubby material.
Domestication failed with Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind and Alexandria Ripley’s sequel novel, Scarlett. Classics Hedda Gabler, Madame Bovary, A Doll’s House, and Anna Karenina also deal with dissatisfaction in domesticity.
Often it’s the man who rescues the woman into the protection of domesticity with varying degrees of success, like in the movies Pretty Woman, where businessman Richard Gere rescues prostitute Julia Roberts, and Blue Sky, where military man Tommy Lee Jones saves his wild troubled wife, Jessica Lange.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Sacral (sex-fear-money) moving to Lower Solar Plexus (pair bonding)or Aspirational Solar Plexus (family inclusiveness). See the chapters “Peter Pans, Papas, and Pygmalions” and “Marilyns, Moms, and Muses” in Inner Drives.
Select a couple of selfish behaviors that pair-bonding will transform: me-actions to we-actions; sexual promiscuity to exclusivity; bachelor housekeeping to Martha Stewart housekeeping.
Show a woman torn between alpha and beta males and how she chooses one or juggles both.
On the negative side, show how bonding can devolve into bondage, usually emotional, sometimes actual.
Explore situations were marriages are arranged but fail to transform the individual, such as in Deepa Mehta’s films Water and Fire.
Contrary to most evidence, the myth still exists that true love and marriage are the end-all, be-all goal. Explore the positive and negatives of this.
THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS
The tools of conversion are emotional and appeal to that spark of the Light said to be within all creatures, just waiting to be ignited by recognition and redemption.
The early 2000s saw an increase in spiritually slanted stories, from the Christian-based Left Behind series to the New Age What The Bleep Do We Know? and many in between. A common flaw in “spiritual” stories is that they are spineless, illogical, or trite. A writer’s belief in the omniscience and omnipotence of any deity or system can make it difficult to create realistic opposition and hence, dramatic conflict.
Since you can’t reason with or appeal to the Dark Forces such as gravity or time, conversion only works for Dwellers on the Threshold and the Dark Brotherhood.
A. IN ACTION
Some religions are based on their founder’s conversion from a regular, or sometimes debauched, life to one of austerities and holiness: Buddha, Mohammed, Mormon’s Joseph Smith, and most charismatic sects.
Twelve-step programs offer support for conversions from self-destructive Dweller behavior. There’s a joke that even compulsive talkers have a group, On-and-on Anon.
Conversions, particularly religious ones, use emotional appeals and dissuade logical thinking. People are told to think less and feel more.
Though seeing the light and changing the heart can defuse the Dark Side and bring about many positive changes, there’s a Dark Side to conversions too — those forced under torture like the Spanish Inquisition, and deadly cults like those of Charles Manson, Jim Jones, and Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo.
B. IN MEDIA
In the Bible’s New Testament, the Jew Saul was headed to Damascus to persecute Christians when he was blinded by a bright light and heard the voice of Jesus. Converting to Christianity, he became the influential Saint Paul.
Arthurian legends about the Holy Grail are said to symbolize our heart’s search for spiritual truth and nourishment. The very search ennobles one, and sight of the Grail brings transformation.
Stories where characters either undergo a change of heart or have already done so and now have their faith tested are A History of Violence, Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. Jeff Bridges finds self forgiveness in The Fisher King. Through the five years of the Babylon 5 series, G’Kar goes from a hostile freed-slave warrior-ambassador to a revered spiritual leader teaching peace. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series has some forced conversions for vampires Spike and Angel. But they don’t hold, and that’s good drama.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – regardless of where they begin, the end result is Aspirational Solar Plexus, sometimes Heart.
If you are a true believer, keep in mind that many others are not or that they truly believe something quite different from you. To reach others with your message, however powerful it is to you, your story must still fulfill the classic requirements of effective storytelling, including a worthy opponent, appropriate danger, and satisfactory realistic resolution (not
a deus ex machina).
Archetypes and universal truths of most spiritual systems are similar in concept but different in execution. Approach with the familiar (the Golden Rule), and then offer the unique (Buddhism’s Eightfold Path).
Conversions are like revolutions — everything contains its opposite. Show how a character’s excesses in one area (sex, drinking, violence) convert into denial (chastity, abstinence, pacifism).
The epiphany of conversion is often a turning point in stories, when a character suddenly sees the light and begins helping those she spurned or took advantage of before. Show the reasons why she didn’t help before, and give a solid emotional reason for her conversion. Somebody usually then says, “I was wrong about you,” as she pitches in to save the day.
Spiritual conversions draw one upward in aspiration and outward in service. Show a self sacrifice for the greater good, either with reluctance or rapture.
A conversion initially brings dramatic change, but that wears off pretty quickly. Show the dangers of doubt, temptation, and reversion.
GET A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE
Some people claim to know the precise nature of good and evil. Others who have dared to look with open mind and heart claim it is an unfathomable mystery. Much of the mystery is a matter of perspective and scale.
The little swat on the bottom hurts the toddler’s feelings, if not her diaper-padded bottom, but it keeps her away from the dangers of the open street and open flame. Grueling drills and debasements explode the ego and exhaust the body of the new soldier, but instill lifesaving skills. One broken heart pours forth poetry to comfort and inspire myriad other yearning hearts. A conquered people assimilates the invaders and a stronger, more vibrant culture results.
Without getting sappy about making lemonade out of lemons, a determination to find positive value in any situation goes a long way to defusing the power of a negative situation. Also, life is constant change, so what was good one day is bad the next, and vice versa. Perspective determines motivation and justification for actions. Shift perspective and you may well shift actions.
A. IN ACTION
Historical research and archaeological discoveries shift perspective on Judaism and Christianity. The apocryphal books of the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the new Judas Gospel reveal dramatically different versions of the holy canons. Holy Blood Holy Grail, Woman with the Alabaster Jar, and The Da Vinci Code popularized different perspectives on Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and official Christianity.
The earth used to be flat and the center of the universe. Bleeding and maggots were once in favor but were later seen as barbaric medical practices; they’re both now back “in.” Slavery and child labor were once business-as-usual in Western countries; they still are in many other parts of the world. Germany, Japan, and Italy were the Axis of Evil in World War II.
B. IN MEDIA
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy zany, arrogant Zaphod Beeblebrox is put into an Infinite Perspective Device and forced to eat Fairy Cake that holographically illustrates one’s infinitesimal insignificance in the universe. Most people go mad, but Zaphod, the center of his universe, is unfazed.
A defeated fighter in the TV series Babylon 5 wryly observes that if life were fair, then every bad thing that happened to him would be his fault, so he finds solace in the general hostility of an indifferent universe.
The Tarot card of The Wheel of Fortune (Key 10) shows the ups and downs of Fate. Frank Sinatra’s song “That’s Life” puts it in lyrics.
The endings of both Men in Black movies show nested universes, with our own just a tiny marble in some other’s game. Monty Python’s “Galaxy Song” is a clever rendition of this concept and you can view the visuals on the Internet.
Tom Cruise’s selfish character in Rainman changes when his perspective about his brother shifts. Children who increase their self esteem also shift their levels of accomplishment, as in Stand and Deliver and Freedom Writers.
As we become more aware of the consequences of our indulgences, virtues morph to vices. Cigarette smoking was sexy when Marlene Dietrich or Cary Grant did it, but by 1999 cigarette industries were the bad guys in The Insider. Drinking was sophisticated in The Thin Man series and stupid fun in Animal House. The 1981 comedy hit Arthur showed indulgence of the happy drunk, but in 1995 Leaving Las Vegas showed a tragic drunk sliding down to death.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Ajna: a sense of time, proportion, balance, and integration.
For Dweller problems, often just learning that other people have similar problems can offer relief from feeling like you’re being selectively punished. Group therapy sessions aim for this.
Showing how trivial or common they truly are can often deflate the self-important antagonist.
Taking a character through shifts from 1) a tribal (instinctual, restrictive) perspective to 2) individual (selfish) perspective to 3) a global (inclusive, generous) perspective can provide dramatic character arcs.
Telling stories from an atypical perspective can shake up consensus reality, as did Little Big Man about cowboys and Indians, My Life as a Dog about a child’s experiences, and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West about the Oz story. Make your characters eat the Fairy Cake and see reality from a totally different perspective.
CONCLUSION
From these ways to battle the badness, and more that may come to your mind, you can select an appropriate approach for your protagonist-versus-antagonist conflict.
Since your story will contain at least two levels of the Dark Side, you can have at least two approaches, one for the personal Dweller and one for the Dark Forces, or the Dark Brotherhood. In longer forms such as novels or TV series you can go through more approaches; in features you’ll do best to concentrate on just a few, using variations within them and/or ratcheting up the intensity of an approach.
Sometimes the good does not win, but confronting the Dark Side can make your heroes stronger. The cynic snipes, “Stronger for what?” The fan delights in the prospect of a sequel.
VI
WORKING WITH
THE DARK SIDE
Previous sections have explored content; now let’s look at how you can present that content in effective ways. Here you’ll find categories for opponents, the progression from annoyance to annihilation, and some thoughts about future challenges. As storytellers, it’s your privilege, honor, and duty to help us all imagine what we may face in the future and to help prepare us for it.
13.
STORY TOOLS
Selecting your hero’s worthy opponent
The sliding scale
The Dark Side of our future
SELECTING THE
WORTHY OPPONENT
A conflict between Bambi and Godzilla would not last very long, and there’s no doubt about the outcome. To engage our attention you need to give your protagonist a worthy opponent. Most stories are better for a buildup in conflict, a progression of challenges, and a correspondence of inner and outer resistance.
Select your conflicts from these categories and intertwine two or three of them for more depth and meaning:
Self – the Dwellers on the Threshold. Building skills, overcoming phobias, strengthening weaknesses. Karate Kid, Rocky, Shine, The Piano, The Man Who Would Be King, Leaving Las Vegas, The Unforgiven, Adaptation, Sideways.
Lovers & rivals – Conflict is ready-made in this category. Screwball comedies pit lovers against each other. Adam’s Rib, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, When Harry Met Sally. Romantic comedies and dramas often revolve around love triangles: Camelot, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Body Heat, Indecent Proposal, Basic Instinct, No Way Out, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Graduate, Death Becomes Her, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Wedding Crashers.
Other individuals – they’re out to get your heroine or are just plain obstructive or evil. The Odd Couple, High Noon, Grumpy Old Men, The Player, Heathers, The Big Lebowski, Cape Fear,
Patriot Games, Face/Off, The Italian Job.
Family – they hold him back, make unreasonable demands, are unavailable or abusive, emotionally or physically. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Ordinary People, Muriel’s Wedding, Once Were Warriors, Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Finding Nemo, The Lion King, Postcards from the Edge, The Incredibles.
Profession – challenges her, makes demands that compromise her integrity, put her in danger. Wall Street, Under Fire, Working Girl, Nine to Five, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Rocky, Office Space, Training Day, The Constant Gardener, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, World Trade Center.
Society – restricts or represses personal expression, unfairly punishes individuality. A Clockwork Orange, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Bride and Prejudice, Evita, My Beautiful Laundrette, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, In and Out.
Politics & Bureaucracies – rage against the machine. Metropolis, Three Days of the Condor, All the President’s Men, Being There, Dave, The West Wing, The Manchurian Candidate, Brazil, 1984, Brave New World, Becket, The Lion in Winter, and most spy stories.
Religion – crisis of faith, repression, persecution, religious wars. Queen Margot, Witness, The Last Temptation of Christ, Dangerous Beauty, Luther, The Mission, The Scarlet Letter, Agnes of God, Water, Earth, Kingdom of God, The Da Vinci Code.
Environment – the Dark Forces. The Grapes of Wrath, Jaws, Waterworld, Twister, Outbreak, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Right Stuff, The Perfect Storm, Backdraft, The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon.
Power of the Dark Side Page 20
