Chick 1 says:

OK, so it’s really Troperiffic Wednesday; I’m a bit late.  But this week’s trope is one of my favorites.  It’s called The Noodle Incident and we all have a few in our past.  Ready to remember yours?

(If you don’t know what a trope is you can find out here.)

The Noodle Incident refers to an occurance in a character’s past or a shared occurence in multiple characters’ past that remains unknown to the audience.  It can be silly, shameful, illegal, outrageous, traumatic, ridiculous, or a combination of any of the above.  It’s named after the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon pictured here.  (Just what did Calvin do?)

The premise of The Noodle Incident is that when we meet people we size them up as one type or another but no one is so easily defined and we all have parts of our lives that would surprise other people.  This trope is a great way to add depth to a character or a relationship without spending too much valuable storytelling time.  Instead of confining the characters to stereotypes, flavor can be added to their personality by implying an out-of-character act or decision or a history can be established for a relationship through a shared secret.  Noodle Incidents can also be used to explain what kind of universe the story is happening in, like the examples from Harry Potter below.

Spotting Noodle Incidents in movies and TV shows is a blast. The show Friends used The Noodle Incident to great advantage.  Phoebe’s past was riddled with them (He stabbed me first!) as was Joey and Chandler’s relationship and Monica’s Pictionary outburst qualifies as one. 

In the first Pirates of the Caribbean just before Captain Jack Sparrow is about to be executed, the official reads the list of offenses and when he gets to “impersonating a cleric of the Church of England” Sparrow giggles as he remembers, making that a Noodle Incident.  An argument could be made that the entire list is nothing but Noodle Incidents.

Ocean’s Eleven has its share, including the thing with the guy in the place.

Iron Man:  Just what exactly has Pepper caught Tony doing before?

The Avengers: “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

Doctor Who is another show that’s packed with Noodle Incidents but after almost 50 years on the air that’s not surprising.  River and her diary are full of them; “Jim the Fish, have we done Jim the Fish yet?”  And it took us two seaons to find out  just what The Doctor did that made Queen Elizabeth I so angry.

Harry Potter has plenty to choose from like Aberforth Dumbledore and whatever happened with that goat.  Arthur Weasley supplied a steady stream when dealing with muggles, including fire-breathing chickens and exploding toilets.

 Here’s one from the BBC’s Sherlock.

You never get an explanation for that moment.  So what Noodle Incidents are in your favorite stories? Now that you know what they are, you’ll see them everywhere.

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I thought for our second beat sheet we’d look at a story as far from Hot Fuzz as possible.  So I chose Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 version starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen and directed by Joe Wright.  How will a movie that’s based on a 200-year-old novel line up against our list of beats?

I admit it was more difficult to pick out the beats in this than Hot Fuzz and sometimes I’m not completely sure they were there at all.  Tell me what you think of the scenes I’ve picked out.

Opening Image – A visual that represents the struggle & tone of the story. A snapshot of the main character’s problem, before the adventure begins.

-          Elizabeth Bennett wandering through the grounds reading, content with herself and her life.

Set-up – Expand on the “before” snapshot. Present the main character’s world as it is, and what is missing in their life.

-          We meet Elizabeth’s family; her older, beautiful and sensible sister, her equally sensible but henpecked father and her very silly mother and three younger sisters.  Marriage is on their minds!

Theme Stated (happens during the Set-up) – What your story is about; the message, the truth. Usually, it is spoken to the main character or in their presence, but they don’t understand the truth…not until they have some personal experience and context to support it.

-       In one sense, Jane Austen stated the theme of this story when she penned one of the most famous opening lines in English literature: ”It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”  But this line doesn’t occur in the movie and it’s not exactly the theme we follow here.

The theme is stated clearly by Jane to Lizzie at the common ball.  After Lizzie pronounces all men “humorless poppycocks”, Jane warns her that one of those men will one day win her heart and then she’d better watch her prejudice.  And who should walk in the moment these words are out of Jane’s mouth?

Catalyst – The moment where life as it is changes. It is the telegram, the act of catching your loved-one cheating, allowing a monster onboard the ship, meeting the true love of your life, etc. The “before” world is no more, change is underway.

-          Elizabeth meets Mr. Darcy.  She is not impressed.

Debate – But change is scary and for a moment, or a brief number of moments, the main character doubts the journey they must take. Can I face this challenge? Do I have what it takes? Should I go at all? It is the last chance for the hero to chicken out.

-         Conversations with sister Jane and friend Charlotte help Elizabeth brush off Mr. Darcy’s insults, happy to be rid of him.

Break Into Two (Choosing Act Two) – The main character makes a choice and the journey begins. We leave the “Thesis” world and enter the upside-down, opposite world of Act Two.

-        Here it is actually Lizzie’s choice to not go on the journey prescribed for her that propels her character arc.  It is often a complaint of both female characters or poorly written stories that the hero or heroine is simply carried along by events instead of making their own destiny.  But Lizzie’s refusal to go along with the demands of her mother and society are what make her so strong.  She turns down not one but two marriage proposals.  She wants to make up her own mind.  And as with most well drawn characters, her strength is also her weakness.  She must overcome her own prejudice.

B Story – This is when there’s a discussion about the Theme – the nugget of truth. Usually, this discussion is between the main character and the love interest. So, the B Story is usually called the “love story”.

-        As the love story IS the story, I believe that once again the B story is where the hero receives nurture and care.  Here it is with her sister Jane.  They are sometimes the only sane members of their family and have an easy understanding of each other and the most reasonable discussions about love happen between these two sisters.

The Promise of the Premise – This is the fun part of the story. This is when Craig Thompson’s relationship with Raina blooms, when Indiana Jones tries to beat the Nazis to the Lost Ark, when the detective finds the most clues and dodges the most bullets. This is when the main character explores the new world and the audience is entertained by the premise they have been promised.

-         Due to Mrs. Bennett’s scheming, Jane and later Elizabeth spend a few days in Mr. Bingley’s home, which means more time with Mr. Darcy.  The handsome Mr. Wickham and the annoying Mr. Collins are both introduced.  Eligible men everywhere and a ball!

Midpoint – Dependent upon the story, this moment is when everything is “great” or everything is “awful”. The main character either gets everything they think they want (“great”) or doesn’t get what they think they want at all (“awful”). But not everything we think we want is what we actually need in the end.

-         Lizzie has rejected Mr. Collins and infuriated her mother, her sister Jane has been spurned by Mr. Bingley, her good friend Charlotte has married the ridiculous Mr. Collins and moved away, and now the disgusting Mr. Darcy has declared his love.  Lizzie is miserable.  And after reading Darcy’s letter defending himself, she begins to doubt her opinion of him.

Bad Guys Close In – Doubt, jealousy, fear, foes both physical and emotional regroup to defeat the main character’s goal, and the main character’s “great”/“awful” situation disintegrates.

-         This section begins with Lydia’s invitation to Brighton.  Lizzie has a foreboding about the whole thing and begs her father not to let her go.  Even worse, Jane lies to Lizzie about her heartbreak while Lizzie lies to Jane about Darcy & Mr. Bingley.  Things are starting to disinigrate.

All is Lost – The opposite moment from the Midpoint: “awful”/“great”. The moment that the main character realizes they’ve lost everything they gained, or everything they now have has no meaning. The initial goal now looks even more impossible than before. And here, something or someone dies. It can be physical or emotional, but the death of something old makes way for something new to be born.

-         Sure enough, Lydia runs off with Mr. Wickham. The family and especially the girls’ chances of good marriages are ruined (the death).  Just as Lizzie and Mr. Darcy were beginning to connect, Darcy runs off to allow Lizzie to deal with the crisis.

Dark Night of the Soul – The main character hits bottom, and wallows in hopelessness. The Why hast thou forsaken me, Lord? moment. Mourning the loss of what has “died” – the dream, the goal, the mentor character, the love of your life, etc. But, you must fall completely before you can pick yourself back up and try again.

-         I suppose the section where the family is waiting to hear of Lydia’s fate might cover this beat, although it is Mrs. Bennet who wallows in hopelessness (and hysterics) more than anyone.

Break Into Three (Choosing Act Three) – Thanks to a fresh idea, new inspiration, or last-minute Thematic advice from the B Story (usually the love interest), the main character chooses to try again.

-         A midnight visit from Darcy’s rude and formidable aunt is enough to touch on Lizzie’s stubborness and  inspire her to admit her feelings to herself.  When Lady de Bourgh demands that Lizzie promise to never become engaged to Darcy, she refuses.

Let's pause to honor the glory that is this moment.

Finale – This time around, the main character incorporates the Theme – the nugget of truth that now makes sense to them – into their fight for the goal because they have experience from the A Story and context from the B Story. Act Three is about Synthesis!

-         Lizzie wanders in the meadow at dawn and sees Darcy.  There is no pretense now.  She knows that she has misjudged him and that she loves him.

Final Image – opposite of Opening Image, proving, visually, that a change has occurred within the character.

-         Oh the debate over this one.  Filmmakers added a scene that was not in the book of Darcy and Lizzie flirting as man and wife at the end.  It was shown only in America.  For our purposes here, I’ll stick with the lovely scene between Lizzie and her father, as she confesses both her love and her misguided prejudice and very tenderly says goodbye to her family life as she has known it.

THE END

Chick 1 says:

Welcome to Troperiffic Tuesday!  This week we delve into the world of audio and look at a scream that has been the last sound uttered by nazis and stormtroopers, cowboys and orcs.  This week’s trope is the Wilhelm Scream.

(If you don’t know what a trope is you can check out the first article in this series, Manic Pixie Dream Girl.)

The Wilhelm Scream is a stock sound effect that has become unbelievably popular in movies of the last few decades to the point where it has become a Hollywood in-joke.  It was originally created for a 1951 Gary Cooper movie called Distant Drums.   In the movie, a man is attacked by an alligator.  The team doing the foley (creating sound effects) had an actor do a series of screams to use during the attack.  The screams were used in a variety of movies in the 50s including a western called The Charge at Feather River.  It was used when a character, who for some reason is called Wilhelm, is shot in the leg with an arrow.  The name stuck.

It became popular when sound designer Ben Burtt was working on a little indie pic called Star Wars and used it as the sound effect for a stormtrooper being shot and falling into a chasm (See the No OSHA Compliance trope).  It happens right before the brother/sister kiss and the swing across said chasm.

It was soon in all of the films of those two upstart filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.  It spread like wildfire and it’s been a staple of films ever since.  The video below is just a small sampling of the many uses of this scream.

“I always hear ‘punch me in the face’ when you’re talking but it’s usually subtext.”

Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch)/Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman)

Sherlock (2010)

Chick 1 says:

When the Avengers was announced way back in 2008, I wasn’t really sold on the concept.  I just didn’t think that it would be possible to successfully combine the different universes in which each of these heroes live.  There was no way that the world that Jon Favreau so lovingly created around Tony Stark contained a Norse God, maybe a hulk, definitely not a 1940s style do-gooder super soldier.  No.  And as each individual movie (Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man 2) came out with varying success, I became even less convinced.

I am very happy to be very wrong.

In the early minutes of the movie my brain was already near exploding from all the cute boys, and they hadn’t even gotten to Downey yet.  This movie is packed with eye candy!  And, yes, for you gentlemen the lovely Scarlett Johannson is in the mix with wardrobe that obligingly hugs every curve.

Despite the fact that these actors are easy on the eyes, there’s not a slacker in the bunch.  Our central cast is strong and even the layers outside of the six avengers aren’t hurting for talent.  Special callouts go to Scarlett Johannson who I found flat in Iron Man 2.  That may have been due to her character but here she gets a chance to show off her skills.  In fact she gets one of the best introduction scenes of all the Avengers.  Also doing a great turn is newcomer Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, a role which is quickly becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts post of Marvel Studios.  I loved his portrayal of the timid Banner; maybe he can break the curse.  Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, and Chris Hemsworth all handle their roles deftly too, although I did find the pace slowed down a bit whenever Thor (Hemsworth) had a scene with Loki (his brother and the villain of the piece). But Thor was my least favorite of all the singles so far.

But the centerpiece of all of this is Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man.  It’s obvious the powers that be at Marvel have made Downey their king and they could not have put their crown on a more deserving head.  While Iron Man 2 was fun, it was far from the quality of the first one and even RDJ couldn’t save some of those scenes.  But Tony Stark is back in top form here; besides looking incredible with a little gray in his hair, he is also the king of the one liners.  And he gets some opportunities to remind us why he’s been nominated for an Oscar more than once.

One thing I did not expect from The Avengers was laughter.  This is a really funny movie.  Downey and his one liners are responsible for a lot of this but the script and the whole cast get some credit as well as director Joss Whedon but I’ll talk about him later.  The cast, including Clark Gregg as Agent Coulsen and Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Fury, have great chemistry although I sometimes feel like Jackson can’t quite handle the more serious material.  I know that’s sacrilege for some folks but when he’s not yelling at people it’s like an athlete who got a part in movie because he’s popular.

Of course there’s action aplenty.  At one point during the second act, when all six heroes are fighting six different battles, I really wasnt’ sure all six of them would come out of it.  And that’s another thing the filmmakers have managed to do, balance all of these heroes (and their egos).  They all get development, conflict, and their moment to shine.  Renner gets the hero treatment the least but he’s also the least known and they may be setting him of for more projects.

Finally, I have to look at the man in charge.  Although I’m quite the geek, I’ve really never stumbled into Joss Whedon territory.  But when he was announced as the director, the internet was abuzz with happy fanboys.  And after The Avengers, I am officially won over.  Balancing a LOT of moving pieces, Whedon has given us a popcorn movie that is loads of fun and keeps the storylines for all these different franchises intact. 

Bottomline: A great opener for the Summer Movie Season.  And don’t forget to stay for not one but two scenes after the credits.

Bonus Joss Whedon Section: If you’ve never seen Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, you must!  It was written and directed by Whedon during the writer’s strike a few years ago.  And produced entirely for internet distribution to avoid issues with the strike.  It’s over 40 minutes long but pretty funny.  Enjoy.

Because most spaceships have rickety walkways over their nuclear core.

Welcome back to Trope of the Week or as it shall henceforth be called, Troperiffic Tuesday! 

Ever seen a movie where the cap is knocked off a pipe joint with very little effort and blinding hot steam comes spraying out?  Or someone has to cross a narrow walkway high above some flesh-grinding machinery with no guardrails?  Or a character falls into an easily accessible vat of acid?  Then you, my friend, are familiar with this week’s trope, No OSHA Compliance.  As always, SPOILERS FOLLOW.

OSHA, in case you don’t know, stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  It’s run by the US Department of Labor and handles all regulations and enforcement concerning workplace safety.  Most first world countries have some form of this organization looking out for workers.  But in movies, they sometimes seem rather…incompetent or even nonexistent.

In dramas, this trope can be played straight; like a story dealing with unsafe working conditions in coal mines or maybe an evil corporation that doesn’t care about the lives of its lowly workers.  The most frequent use of this trope is to up the tension in a story by making the setting more dangerous.  It’s common in action movies with settings like a “steam and flame factory”.  (Thank you, Roger Ebert)  But the mother of all regulation violaters is the scifi genre.

In a movie like the most recent Star Trek, there is at least some sort of logic.  It makes sense that the Federation which probably evolved from today’s nations still has safety standards.  So the Enterprise has guardrails on engineering walkways and even a handy emergency release switch on the clear water pipes that opens a hatch before the water gets to the big sharp whirring fan.  Ya know, just in case, your future engineer gets beamed aboard the ship while it’s moving at warp speed using the formula that future engineer hasn’t developed yet but you got from Spock who came back from the future and accidentally beamed him inside the pipe.  (Those OSHA guys really plan ahead.)  In contrast, the Romulan ship has these massively high walkways with no railings which also makes sense because the Romulan culture is much more brutal and they probably think workplace safety is for pussy earthlings.

Star Wars, however, leaves logic in a galaxy far, far away.  Take the Death Star.  They have narrow walkways over death-inducing plummets and not a guardrail in sight.  Heck, the entire planet of Corusant is almost nothing but floating platforms.  They dress their stormtroopers in armor that limits their vision and in no way protects them from laser fire.  If, for some reason, you need to turn off the tractor beam, you have to scoot out on this little ledge; not a very practical way to deal with tractor beam emergencies.  And why are there bottomless chasms everywhere, even in the emperor’s throne room?  At least the emperor gets a guardrail but it didn’t really help him in the end, did it?

Galaxy Quest, the movie that calls out pretty much every scifi trope in existence, conveniently demonstrates this concept with the “choppy crushy things” that serve no other purpose but to make the scene more dangerous.

So for your viewing pleasure, I present the choppy crushy things: (Sorry for the video quality; twas the best I could find.)

And now, the Star Wars safety issues from a janitor’s perspective:

Gandalf (Ian McKellan)

The Return of the King (2003)

Chick 1 says:

Exciting!  Another new series: Trope of the Week.

What is a trope?  A trope is a device, motif, recurring theme, or even a cliche used in storytelling.  It can be a character type, a specific line or style of dialogue, a plot device, even a type of location or set.

A trope itself is neither good nor bad.  In fact, used appropriately it can be an effective tool.  In storytelling, whether in literature or film or other media, a lot of information needs to be communicated to the audience without bogging down the pace with lots of backstory or exposition.  A trope can be a kind of shorthand that the creator and audience have agreed on and recognize so the audience knows what to expect and can concentrate on more important parts of the plot.

When overused it can make the storytelling lazy or one dimensional.  It then becomes a cliche and distracts from the story.

One of my favorite trope sources is the website tvtropes.org.  It is a massive user-run collection of all tropes film, tv, literary, anime, video game, ad nauseum.  I’m a bit of an addict.

This week’s trope is currently a popular one; the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.  The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is, obviously, a female character type.  She is pretty, spontaneous, non-conformist, and above all else, quirky.  Cute and quirky are pretty much the two key ingredients for Manic Pixie Dream Girl.  She is not usually the protaganist but is often used to rescue the male protaganist from his dull emotionless existence.  She is full of the wonder of life and marvels at the delight that each moment holds.

The phrase was first used to describe Kirsten Dunst’s character in 2005′s Elizabethtown but the archetype has been around a lot longer than that, going all the way to Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby and back.   Other Manic Pixie Dream Girls include Barbara Streisand in What’s Up Doc?, Sarah Jessica Parker in L.A. Story, Charlize Theron in Sweet November (with a twist of tragedy) and Natalie Portman in Garden State.

But the current reigning monarch of all Manic Pixie Dream Girls is Zooey Deschanel.  Almost every role she plays, from (500) Days of Summer to Yes Man is some form of this type.  Her new TV show New Girl (quite funny by the way) is almost entirely based on her embodiment of this archetype.  On the flipside, a writer on this trope’s page points out that in Elf her character is pretty jaded and that Will Ferrell is actually the Manic Pixie Dream Guy.

Edit:(4/29/12) OK, this is what happens when I’m excited and I want to post an article.  I post and then think about it and have more to say or correct.  In regards to Zooey, she actually started out as the snarky best friend in movies like Abandon or Failure to Launch.  In fact, her character was one of the few bright points in Failure.  She only moved to Manic Pixie Dream Girl after movies mentioned above.

What Manic Pixie Dream Girls have you picked up on?

And now for your viewing pleasure, a couple of videos.  First up, Zooey makes fun of her own reputation on SNL

And even better, the need to care for all these Manic Pixie Dream Girls roaming the streets has finally led to a home being set up for them.  Enjoy.

Chick 1 says:

Welcome to a new series of posts, Beat Sheets.  A beat sheet is a story structure tool used by many screenwriters, listing out certain events or moments called beats that usually occur in every story.  These beats drive the plot.  The particular beat sheet we’ll be using here was developed by Blake Snyder in his screenwriting book, Save The Cat.  It is very popular among writers in Hollywood today. 

In this series, I’ll follow the plot of different movies and list each point where I think an important beat occurs.  Snyder’s theory is that every great or even good movie, every story has all of these beats in some form.   For the first few posts I’ll list Snyder’s explanation of each beat.  Tell me if you think I’m right.  Or if you think a certain beat doesn’t exist in the movie at all.

For this first one, let’s take a look at Hot Fuzz, the second collaboration by Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright following Shaun of the Dead.  Like Shaun of the Dead, it’s a funny, sharp story.  The writing and editing are tight, tight, tight.  No line or prop is thrown away from Aaron A. Aaronson to “Swan!”.  Almost everything comes back into the plot.  So let’s dive in.  Obviously SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Opening Image – A visual that represents the struggle & tone of the story. A snapshot of the main character’s problem, before the adventure begins.

-          Nick Angel charging toward the camera, determined to follow each rule to the letter without a thought for anything else.

Set-up – Expand on the “before” snapshot. Present the main character’s world as it is, and what is missing in their life.

-           Opening narration – Angel is such an intense, uptight officer that he doesn’t have any friends, even his girlfriend dumps him for not being able to “switch off”.  His drive is shown by the rundown of his police record.

Theme Stated (happens during the Set-up) – What your story is about; the message, the truth. Usually, it is spoken to the main character or in their presence, but they don’t understand the truth…not until they have some personal experience and context to support it.

-          Stated by Nick to Danny before they watch movies – needing to learn to  switch off.  Nick is so obsessed with his job he doesn’t know how to relate to others.  This does not happen during the set-up, however there is a deleted scene when Nick’s girlfriend break’s up with him during the set-up.  I believe it’s stated during that scene.

Catalyst – The moment where life as it is changes. It is the telegram, the act of catching your loved-one cheating, allowing a monster on board the ship, meeting the true love of your life, etc. The “before” world is no more, change is underway.

-          Nick’s forced transfer from his job as one of London’s most successful cops, to a boring country position.

Debate – But change is scary and for a moment, or a brief number of moments, the main character doubts the journey they must take. Can I face this challenge? Do I have what it takes? Should I go at all? It is the last chance for the hero to chicken out.

-          Nick tries this unsuccessfully with his bosses.

Break Into Two (Choosing Act Two) – The main character makes a choice and the journey begins. We leave the “Thesis” world and enter the upside-down, opposite world of Act Two.

-          Nick’s journey to Sanford, not just his physical journey but his first evening in the town.  He tries to handle things as he always has; it doesn’t work.  He’s not in Kansas anymore.

B Story – This is when there’s a discussion about the Theme – the nugget of truth. Usually, this discussion is between the main character and the love interest. So, the B Story is usually called the “love story”.

-          Nick and Danny are the B Story. The “romance” does not have to be literal but it is where the hero receives nuture and care.  Danny idolizes Nick & is shaken out of his stupor by Nick’s heroism.  Nick needs Danny’s affection more than he realizes and is finally able to loosen up thanks to Danny’s example.

The Promise of the Premise – This is the fun part of the story. This is when Craig Thompson’s relationship with Raina blooms, when Indiana Jones tries to beat the Nazis to the Lost Ark, when the detective finds the most clues and dodges the most bullets. This is when the main character explores the new world and the audience is entertained by the premise they have been promised.

-          From the moment Nick begins to meet the citizens of Sandford, they seem quiet country folk but there is also something sinister in each meeting.  Then comes the first murder.  There really is something evil lurking beneath the quaint exterior.

Midpoint – Dependent upon the story, this moment is when everything is “great” or everything is “awful”. The main character either gets everything they think they want (“great”) or doesn’t get what they think they want at all (“awful”). But not everything we think we want is what we actually need in the end.

-          After the fair and Tom Messenger’s murder,  Nick’s midpoint is “awful”.  He is miserable in his new job and town.  He KNOWS something is going on but no one believes him.  He is a laughing stock to his co-workers and even fights with his one new friend.

Bad Guys Close In – Doubt, jealousy, fear, foes both physical and emotional regroup to defeat the main character’s goal, and the main character’s “great”/“awful” situation disintegrates.

-          Nick keeps getting closer to the murderer, even actually witnessing a murder himself and gets Danny back on the case.   But they can’t quite figure it out.

All is Lost – The opposite moment from the Midpoint: “awful”/“great”. The moment that the main character realizes they’ve lost everything they gained, or everything they now have has no meaning. The initial goal now looks even more impossible than before. And here, something or someone dies. It can be physical or emotional, but the death of something old makes way for something new to be born.

-          Nick uncovers the truth.  He was right; there are multiple murderers.  But now he will likely be killed because almost the entire town is in on it.  When Danny joins in the group and “stabs” Nick, Nick is convinced that Danny is in on it. His one real friend (and therefore, his one true accomplishment) is a part of it all. Nick (and his friendship with Danny) both appear to die here.

Dark Night of the Soul – The main character hits bottom, and wallows in hopelessness. The Why hast thou forsaken me, Lord? moment. Mourning the loss of what has “died” – the dream, the goal, the mentor character, the love of your life, etc. But, you must fall completely before you can pick yourself back up and try again.

-          Although the “stabbing” was a rouse to save Nick, he can’t convince Danny to join him.  He is completely alone in his fight.

Break Into Three (Choosing Act Three) – Thanks to a fresh idea, new inspiration, or last-minute Thematic advice from the B Story (usually the love interest), the main character chooses to try again.

-          On his lonely drive back to London, Nick stops at a convenience store and sees the cop movies that Danny introduced him to.  He realizes he has to finish the job and rides into town, armed to the teeth, and on a white horse no less.  Even the guns across his back look like angel wings.  Nick Angel, get it?

Finale – This time around, the main character incorporates the Theme – the nugget of truth that now makes sense to them – into their fight for the goal because they have experience from the A Story and context from the B Story. Act Three is about Synthesis!

-          Near the start of the fight Danny joins Nick.  Soon they are able to convince the rest of the police force to join them and Nick leads the take down of the murderers not on his own but as part of a team.

Final Image – opposite of Opening Image, proving, visually, that a change has occurred within the character.

-         Nick and Danny are patrolling the town, Nick fine with checking out some “hippies”.  A true partnership thrives; Nick has adjusted to quiet village life and Danny gets to be a “real” cop.

Friedrich Bhaer (Gabriel Bryne)

Little Women (1994)