Archive for the ‘screenplay theme’ tag

“Theme? We Don’t Need No Stinking Theme…” (or Why Even Mel Brooks’ Films Have Themes)

A film takes viewers on a journey through a story and into the world of ideas, connecting us on a deeper level to our own lives.  Regardless of genre, a great movie “speaks” to us and creates an emotional impact through plot, character and conflict that revolves around the exploration of a theme.

Almost all films have a theme – some simple (Star Wars), some complex (Schindler’s List), and some just ‘tacked-on’ (Transformers) with little to no role in serving the story.  Even Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, which is a concept or premise-driven film (the concept being a parody of Westerns), incorporates somewhat of a theme (the issue of tolerance).

Theme answers the question, “What is this story really about?” (or, in other words, “What’s the purpose of this story?”)

Little Miss Sunshine:  What it means to be a winner or loser in life.
American Beauty: What it means to live a full and authentic life.
The Cider House Rules: Finding one’s place in the world.

As writers, the more we can understand about our own lives, the better we can create stories that resonate.  A great script begins with a writer who is clear about the theme he wants to explore and finds ways to express those ideas in the story through scenes, characters, dialogue, conflict, and images.

Hope is the theme of the film The Shawshank Redemption.  Writer Frank Darabont deftly weaves this theme throughout the script with scenes that reflect hope: the building of the prison library, Andy Dufresne locking himself in the warden’s office and playing operatic music over the loud speaker for the prisoners to hear, and Andy arranging for a group of prisoners to enjoy cold beers while working on the rooftop.  Darabont also expresses the theme through images and dialogue, such as in the final scene of the film:

RED (V.O.)
I hope I can make it across the border.
I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.
I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.
(beat)
I hope.

At the other end of the theme idea spectrum is the film Unforgiven, which focuses on the hopelessness of the human condition, exploring the issue of violence.  Screenwriter David Webb Peoples chooses elements that best serve the theme, revealing why people may desire violence (as retribution for a horrendous crime against a powerless victim who is denied justice), but ultimately illustrating that violence only begets more violence and makes matters worse: Davey and Quick Mike’s murders do not provide any satisfaction for Deliliah or change the fact that she is maimed, Sheriff Little Bill uses violence to keep the peace in the town (and is eventually killed), the Schofield Kid romanticizes the notion of violence but becomes physically ill when he witnesses the real thing.  Every character in the film, save for the Schofield Kid, is worse off at the end of the story then when it began.  At the beginning of the film the protagonist William Munny is a reformed and redeemed gunslinger (who can no longer even shoot straight), a tea-totaler, and a responsible father.  By the end of the story, Munny is a falling-down drunk alcoholic and mass murderer who shoots with deadly accuracy; no longer redeemed, he is far from being ‘forgiven’.

Understanding The Narrative Throughline

What’s driving your screenplay?  And why do you need to know?

Understanding what drives your script helps you determine the essential foundation of your story (or throughline) and allows you to strengthen the script by incorporating elements (scenes, sequences, and characters) that “serve” your story.

There are three-types of screenplays:
1. Character-Driven
2. Theme-Driven
3. Plot-Driven (also called Premise-Driven)

CHARACTER-DRIVEN
Character-Driven screenplays are essentially about the transformation of a character or a group of characters.  The natural throughline (or organizing principle) is the character arc of one or more of your characters.  Juno is a character-driven film.  There’s a theme and a premise, but the engine of the movie is Juno’s realization (transformation) that she’s not as mature as she thought, adults aren’t necessarily any more mature than teenagers, her parents are pretty wise and cool after all and, she’s actually in love with her best friend, her baby’s daddy, Paulie Bleeker.  If your script is character-driven your protagonist needs to have a compelling transformation.

PLOT-DRIVEN
Most action-adventure films are all about the premise.  Sometimes they have a vague underlining theme but few action protagonists experience any type of character transformation (James Bond is the same guy at the start of every film and the end of every film, from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace). If your script is plot-driven, you’ll need to have an exceptional premise – think Aliens, Ocean’s Eleven, Terminator, Jurassic Park, and Die Hard. An amusement park with dinosaurs– that start killing the tourists!  The most incredible Las Vegas casino heist ever – with escalating obstacles, complications, and life or death stakes!  Who needs character arcs?

THEME-DRIVEN
Theme-driven films are the hardest to pull-off successfully without sounding like you’re giving a lecture.  In a theme-driven film, the premise and characters are secondary to the message the screenwriter wants to convey.  If your script is primarily thematic, you must select elements that best illustrate your message but that also work on their own terms.  One such film that pulls this off brilliantly is the Oscar-winning western, Unforgiven.  The film Unforgiven has wonderful characters and a compelling plot, but every element in the script serves its central theme, which is:  violence doesn’t solve anything and actually makes things worse.  All of the elements in the film are carefully chosen to illustrate that point – the sheriff whose methods of “keeping the peace” are often more vicious than the crimes he prevents, the “eye-for-an-eye” vengeance that leads to suffering rather than justice, and the horror of wanna-be gunslinger when he’s faced with the reality of actually killing a man.

THE KID
That was… the first one.

MUNNY
First one what?

THE KID
First one I ever killed.

MUNNY
Yeah?

================

THE KID
(breaking down, crying)
Oh Ch-ch-christ… it don’t… it don’t seem… real… How he’s… DEAD… how he ain’t gonna breathe no more… n-n-never.  Or the other one neither… On account of… of just… pullin’ a trigger.

MUNNY
It’s a hell of a thing, ain’t it, killin’ a man.  You take everythin’ he’s got… an’ everythin’ he’s ever gonna have…

THE KID
(trying to pull him-self together)
Well, I gu-guess they had it… comin’.

MUNNY
We all got it comin’, Kid.