The Low Point of Connection | Film In Dialogue | Mad Potato Studios

[00:00:01]7:00 Jared.

[00:00:02]>> Okay, let's do this thing.

[00:00:04]>> What's happening?

[00:00:05]>> It's a fiveman competition. Come on.

[00:00:07]>> The next point I want to talk about is really a more of a narrative point and it relates to how these scripts are written and how specifically writers of these films and scripts want you as an audience member to experience these films. What I'm talking about is a low point in the films, low point in all of these scripts. And the key rule in film writing or any writing really is that for the ending to feel sort of triumphant, to feel like something has been achieved, you must push your protagonist uh your character to their natural low point. And how do we do this? Specifically in the structure of stories that we're talking about and these four films, we have to get our characters out of their comfort zone. We get them vulnerable and exposed and then we reject their vulnerable real self.

[00:01:03]This is clear for me especially as a writer in all four films. The way that I've written Dog Lovers, it was intended the same way as well. So, if we look at Eagle versus Shark, this moment specifically happens for Lily when she becomes incredibly vulnerable with Jared to the point where she travels to an unknown town to his hometown that she's never been before. And she tells her brother that it's safe for him to leave uh her alone with Jared and his family.

[00:01:34]And of course, at this point, as a writer, you must bring her to her low point. And what do we do? We get Jared to break up with Lily. And this really sets up the very ending of the film when she is finally going to be rewarded for actually putting her in this position.

[00:01:49]But being in that moment herself, she must feel like being vulnerable didn't work for her. In fact, staying in her comfort lane and pretending pretending to be normal was the right thing to do.

[00:02:03]And the fact that she put herself out there was the wrong thing to do. And so the film asks her and the following characters is is she going to risk it again and are things going to change?

[00:02:16]>> Too complex.

[00:02:21]>> In the same way in Lars and the real girl, Lars sees his relationship with Bianca. I remind you, a girl that he's constructed himself and bought on the internet deteriorate. He starts having fights with her. He starts arguing with her. He has an emotional break breakdown and rupture all because she's spending time with other people. Um, she's supposed to be his property. And this rupture of course happens because he is able to be vulnerable with her and able to open up with the doctor and other people around him. And unbeknownst to him, this psychological shift starts happening through Bianca as an inanimate object to the point where she finally passes away at the end of the film, allowing Lars to take the plunge once again and attempt at being vulnerable with somebody else.

[00:03:15]In Punge Drunk Love, we have the same sort of setup. We see Barry go on a date with Lena to a restaurant where he musters up the courage to tell Lena about his pudding scheme, expecting her to be impressed or something else in that vein, but she just calls it crazy.

[00:03:34]And he has a he has a bit of a mental breakdown because of this. He goes to the bathroom and starts mashing things up, eventually being asked by the restaurant staff to leave. And again, the same question is asked here, too, whether he's willing to put himself out there again after this incident or not.

[00:03:51]At the end of this date that they go on to, he shuffles away awkwardly away from her. But she does extend uh another hello at him, giving him a call just before he manages to leave her building to say that she wants to give him a kiss. And he runs like hell to look for her. And finally, after a confusing meander through her confusing apartment block, she finds her and they're reunited again, showing him that in fact being vulnerable may pay off in the end after all. Sorry.

[00:04:26]In the dog lovers, the same thing happens. And in this film specifically, the vulnerability is visualized to the point where Mr. Reed is not only emotionally vulnerable, but he's in fact almost naked. He's undressed on somebody else's bed. And the worst thing that can happen at this moment is the person freaking out at this fact. And of course, as a writer and as somebody who expects the audience to behave in a certain way, what do I do? I write a scene where the person coming in reacts terribly at this exposure, at this indecent exposure of Mr. thrusting him really to a low point of the situation and and seeing how he can act in this situation, whether he can salvage what's left, whether Miranda is going to throw him away, call the police, what's going to happen. It's a lot more interesting having these sort of moments, and then seeing how these protagonists can dig themselves out of them and reach the senate of these films, of these stories.