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A second way that moral argument comes out in dialogue is in a conflict between the hero and the opponent. This can happen anywhere over the course of the story but is most likely during a battle scene. A classic example of a moral argument in a battle scene occurs between Fast Eddie and his ex-manager, Bert, in The Hustler. In It's a Wonderful Life, a great moral argument between hero and opponent occurs much earlier in the story when George stops Potter from getting rid of his father's Building and Loan. The great advantage of an early moral argument between hero and opponent is that it gives the audience a clue about what values are really at stake, and that allows the drama to build.
A third place to use moral dialogue, and a mark of really good writing, is a scene in which the main opponent gives a moral justification for his actions, even though he is wrong. Why is moral dialogue from the opponent so crucial to making your overall moral argument?
A purely evil opponent is someone who is inherently bad and therefore mechanical and uninteresting. In most real conflict, there is no clear good and evil, right and wrong. In a good story, both hero and opponent believe that they are right, and both have reasons for believing so. They are also both wrong, though in different ways.
By giving your opponent a strong (though wrong) justification, you avoid the simplistic good-hero-versus-evil-opponent pattern and give
depth to the opponent. And because the hero is only as good as the person he lights, you give depth to your hero as well.
You can see an excellent example of the opponent's moral argument in The Verdict, where opposing attorney Concannon explains to the woman he hired to spy on Frank, "We're paid to win." In the battle scene in A Few Good Men, Colonel Jessup justifies ordering the killing of a Marine by saying that he is the last bastion against the barbarians coming over the gate. In Shadow of a Doubt, brilliantly written by Thornton Wilder, Uncle Char-lie, a serial killer, makes a chilling justification for killing widows by referring to them as fat animals "drinking the money, eating the money. . . . And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?"
The key to good moral dialogue by the opponent is not to set him up as a straw man, an opponent who appears formidable but is really hollow. Never give your opponent an obviously weak argument. Give him the best, most compelling argument you can. Make sure he is right about some things. But also make sure there is a fatal flaw in his logic.
Outlining the Moral Argument—Writing Exercise 4
■ Designing Principle Start by turning the designing principle of your story into a theme line. The theme line is your view about right and wrong action, in this story, stated in one sentence. As you look again at the designing principle, focus on its key actions and their moral effects.
■ Theme Line Techniques Look for any techniques, like symbols, that can condense your moral statement to one line or can encapsulate the unique structure you will give to your story.
■ Moral Choice Write down the key choice the hero must make near the end of the story.
■ Moral Problem After reviewing your work on premise, state in one line the central moral problem your hero will confront throughout the story.
■ Characters as Variations on a Theme Starting with the hero and the main opponent, describe how each major character approaches the central moral problem of the story in a different way.
■ Values in Conflict List the key values of each of the major
characters, and explain how those values will come into conflict as each character tries to reach the goal.
moral argument
Detail the moral argument you will make through the structure of the
story, using the following sequence.
■ Hero's Beliefs and Values Restate your hero's essential beliefs and values.
■ Moral Weakness What is your hero's main weakness when it comes to acting toward others?
■ Moral Need What must your hero learn by the end of the story about the right way to act and live in the world?
■ First Immoral Action Describe the first action your hero takes that hurts someone else in the story. Make sure it is an outgrowth of your hero's great moral weakness.
■ Desire Restate your hero's specific goal.
■ Drive List the actions your hero will take to win that goal.
■ Immoral Actions In what way, if any, are these actions immoral? Criticism: For any immoral action, describe the criticism, if any, that
the hero receives. Justification: How does the hero justify each immoral action?
■ Attack by Ally Explain in detail the main moral attack that the ally makes against the hero. Again, write down how the hero justifies himself.
■ Obsessive Drive Describe when and how your hero becomes obsessed with winning. Put another way, is there a moment when your hero decides to do almost anything to win?
■ Immoral Actions While obsessed with winning, what immoral steps does your hero take?
Criticism: Describe the criticism, if any, that the hero faces for these actions.
Justification: Explain how the hero justifies his methods.
■ Battle During the final battle, how do you express which values, the hero's or the opponent's, are superior in this fight?
■ Final Action Against Opponent Does your hero take a final action against the opponent, whether moral or immoral, before or during the battle?
■ Moral Self-Revelation What, if anything, does your hero learn morally at the end of the story? Be sure that this insight is about how to act properly toward others. ■ Moral Decision Does the hero make a decision between two
courses of action near the end of the story? ■ Thematic Revelation Can you think of a story event in which you express your vision of how human beings should act in some other way than through the self-revelation of your hero?
Let's take a look at the film Casablanca to see how moral argument works.
Casablanca
(play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, 1942)
■ Designing Principle A former freedom fighter drops out of society over a lost love but is then inspired to get back into the fight when his love returns.
■ Theme Line Even a great love between two people may have to be sacrificed in the fight against oppression.
■ Moral Choice Rick must choose between being with the woman he loves and fighting worldwide dictatorship.
■ Moral Problem How do you balance your personal desires against sacrifices for the larger good of society?
■ Characters as Variations on a Theme
Rick: For most of the story, Rick cares only about himself and
nothing about the troubles of the world. Ilsa: Ilsa tries to do the right thing, but ultimately love is too strong for her.
Laszlo: Laszlo will sacrifice anything, including his love, to lead the
fight against fascism. Renault: Renault is a complete opportunist, concerned only with his own pleasure and money.
■ Values in Conflict
Rick: Self, honesty, his friends.
Ilsa: Loyalty to her husband, love for Rick, fighting Nazi takeover. Laszlo: Fighting Nazi takeover, love for Ilsa, love for mankind. Renault Women, money, power.
moral argument
■ Rick's Beliefs and Values Self, honesty, his friends. ■ Moral Weaknesses Cynical, selfish, cruel.
■ Moral Need To stop looking out for himself at the expense of others. To return to society and become a leader in the fight against fascism.
■ First Immoral Action Rick accepts the letters of transit from Ugarte, even though he suspects they came from the murdered couriers.
■ Second Immoral Action Rick refuses to help Ugarte escape from the police.
Criticism: A man tells Rick that he hopes someone else is around if
the Germans come for him. Justification: Rick tells the man that he sticks his neck out for nobody. ■ Desire Rick wants Ilsa. ■ Drive Rick attacks
Ilsa many times while also trying to lure her back. He also takes a number of steps to preserve the letters of transit, either to sell them or to use them for himself. ■ Immoral Action When Ilsa returns after the club closes, Rick refuses to listen to her and calls her a tramp. Criticism: Ilsa voices no criticism, but she does give Rick a stricken
look as she leaves. Justification: Rick offers no justification for his abuse. ■ Attack by Ally Rick's first opponent, Ilsa, makes the main moral attack against him and his methods over the course of the story. However, his friend, the bartender Sam, does urge him to quit dwelling on his lost love. Rick's classic response: "If she can stand it, I can. Play it [our song]."
■ Immoral Action In the marketplace, Rick propositions Ilsa and tells her she'll lie to Laszlo and come to him.
Criticism: Ilsa accuses Rick of not being the man she knew in Paris
and tells Rick she was married to Laszlo before she met him. Justification: Rick offers no justification for what he said except that
he was drunk the night before. ■ Obsessive Drive Rick is initially driven to hurt Ilsa because of the pain she caused him. It is not until later in the story that he becomes obsessively driven to help her and Laszlo escape. ■ Immoral Action Rick rejects Laszlo's offers for the letters and tells him to ask Ilsa why. Criticism: None.
Justification: Rick wants to hurt Ilsa.
■ Immoral Action Rick turns down Ilsa's request for the letters. Criticism: Ilsa says this cause is more important than personal feelings and it is Rick's fight too. If Rick doesn't give her the letters, Victor Laszlo will die in Casablanca.
Justification: Kick says he only looks out for himself now.
■ Immoral Action Rick tells Ilsa he will help Laszlo escape, alone. This final lie to Ilsa—that the two of them will leave together—is actually the start of a noble action, saving Laszlo and Ilsa. Criticism: Renault says he would do the same thing in Rick's place.
Considering Renault's character, this is not a compliment. Justification: Rick offers no justification. He must fool Renault into thinking he plans to leave with Ilsa.
■ Battle Rick has Renault call ahead to the airport, but Renault actually calls Major Strasser. At the airport, Rick holds a gun on Renault and tells Ilsa she must leave with Laszlo. Rick tells Laszlo that Ilsa has been faithful. Laszlo and Ilsa get on the plane. Strasser arrives and tries to stop the plane, but Rick shoots him.
■ Final Action Against Opponent Rick takes no final immoral action. Although he shoots Strasser, within the world situation, he is justified in the killing.
■ Moral Self-Revelation Rick realizes that his love for Ilsa is not as important as helping Laszlo fight Nazi domination.
■ Moral Decision Rick gives Laszlo the letters, makes Ilsa leave with him, and tells Laszlo that Ilsa loves him. He then goes off to join the Free French.
■ Thematic Revelation Renault's surprise flip at the end, where he decides to join Rick in the fight (a classic double reversal), produces the thematic revelation: in the battle against fascism, everyone must play a part.
ULYSSES and the Harry Potter novels exemplify one of the keys to great storytelling. On the surface, they couldn't be more different. Ulysses is a complex, adult, extremely challenging story, often considered the greatest novel of the twentieth cen-tury. The Harry Potter books are fun fantasy stories for children. Yet both writers know that creating a unique world for the story—and organically connecting it to the characters—is as essential to great storytelling as character, plot, theme, and dialogue.
The statement "Film is a visual medium" is extremely misleading. While it is true that movies let us see a story on a screen and witness incredible visual effects not possible in any other medium, the "visual" that really affects the audience is the world of the story: a complex and detailed web in which each element has story meaning and is in some way a physical expression of the character web and especially of the hero. This key principle is true not only in film but in every story medium.
Notice that in this area, storytelling expresses real life by being the reverse of real life. In real life, we are born into a world that already exists, and we must adapt to it. But in good stories, the characters come first, and the writer designs the world to be an infinitely detailed manifestation of those characters.
T.S. Eliot called this the "objective correlative." Whatever fancy name you want to give it, the world of your story is where you begin to add the rich texture that is one of the marks of great storytelling. A great story is like a tapestry in which many lines have been woven and coordinated to produce a powerful effect. The world of the story provides many of these threads. Certainly, you can tell a story without adding the texture of the story world. But it's a big loss.
Notice that the physical story world acts as a "condenser-expander" for the storyteller. You have very little time to create a massive amount of material: characters, plot, symbols, moral argument, and dialogue. So you need techniques that can allow you to condense meaning into the limited space and time you have. The more meaning you condense in the story, the more the story expands in the minds of the audience, with the story elements mentally ricocheting against one another in almost infinite ways.
Gaston Bachelard, in his classic book The Poetics of Space, explains "the drama that attaches to the dwellings of men."1 Meaning is embedded in all kinds of forms and spaces, from shells to drawers to houses. His main point is crucial for the storyteller: "Two kinds of space, intimate space and exterior space, keep encouraging each other ... in their growth."2 Notice that Bachelard is talking about organic storytelling: when you create the right world for your story, you plant certain seeds in the hearts and minds of your audience that grow and move them deeply.
To sum up this part of the writing process: you start with a simple story line (the seven steps) and a set of characters. You then create the exterior forms and spaces that express these story elements, and these forms and spaces have the desired effect in the hearts and minds of your audience.
The meaning we take from physical forms and spaces seems to be deeper than culture and learning; it seems to be part of the human psyche. This is why it has profound effects on the audience. So the elements of the story world become another set of tools and techniques you can use to tell your story.
The process of translating the story line into a physical story world, which then elicits certain emotions in the audience, is a difficult one. That's because you are really speaking two languages—one of words, the other of images—and matching them exactly over the course of the story.
How are you going to apply these techniques to your story? The se-quence lor creating your story world goes like this (the first three steps have to do with creating the story space, the last two with the work! over rime):
1. We'll begin once again with the designing principle, since this is what holds everything together. The designing principle will tell you how to define the overall arena in which your story will occur.
2. Then we'll divide the arena into visual oppositions, based on how your characters oppose one another.
3. Then we'll detail the world using three of the four major building blocks—natural settings, artificial spaces, and technology—that make up the story world, with an emphasis on what these spaces and forms inherently or typically mean to an audience.
4. Next, we'll connect the story world to your hero's overall development and apply the fourth major building block of the story world, time.
5. Finally, we'll track the detailed development of the story world through the story structure by creating a visual seven steps.
FINDING THE STORY WORLD IN THE DESIGNING PRINCIPLE
Since the world is part of an organic story, you should start by going back to the nucleus of the story, which is the designing principle. Just as premise, characters, and theme take their shape from the designing principle, so does the story world.
For many reasons, finding the world in the designing principle is more di
fficult than finding the premise, characters, and theme. As I mentioned before, story and "visuals" are really two different languages. But languages can be learned. The deeper problem is that the designing principle and the story world work in opposite ways.
The designing principle typically describes linear story movement, like a single main character who develops. The story world is everything surrounding the characters all at once. In other words, it represents simultaneous elements and actions.
To connect them, you take the rough sequence of the story line, found
in the designing principle, and expand it three-dimensionally to make the story world. Again, start simply. Look at the designing principle, and see if you can come up with a single visual idea that expresses the line of the story.
For practice, let's return one more time to the designing principles of the stories we discussed in Chapter 2 on premise, this time to describe the story world in one line.
Moses, in the Book of Exodus
■ Designing Principle A man who does not know who he is struggles to lead his people to freedom and receives the new moral laws that will define him and his people.
■ Theme Line A man who takes responsibility for his people is rewarded by a vision of how to live by the word of God.
■ Story World A journey from an enslaving city through a wilderness to a mountaintop.
Ulysses
■ Designing Principle In a modern odyssey through the city, over the course of a single day, one man finds a father and the other man finds a son.
■ Theme Line The true hero is the man who endures the slings
and arrows of everyday life and shows compassion to another person in need.
■ Story World A city over the course of twenty-four hours, with each of its parts being a modern version of a mythical obstacle.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
■ Designing Principle A group of friends experiences four Utopias (weddings) and a moment in hell (funeral) as they all look for their right partner in marriage.