Movies and Character Development

In the Christian Writer's Guild Apprentice Course, What's My Story, I spent 18 months working through different types of writing: articles, press releases, devotions, newsletters, non-fiction, fiction, and screenplays. My passion is fiction, but I learned a lot from each of the exercises. I even discovered an enjoyment for writing articles.

However, the hardest segment for me personally was the screenplay segment. I'd never heard of how to write a screenplay. I had no desire to write a screenplay and even less to figure out how to do it for my lessons, but I persevered and worked on my assignments. My mentor warned me that learning the process of writing a screenplay would ruin movie viewing for me forever as I would pick a movie apart and try to figure out why the writer included a certain movement or background or what they should have done instead. I learned much from that segment and one of the areas I learned the most in was the character development over the three Acts.

In learning how to develop characters in three acts in one hundred pages, I better understand how to develop characters in fiction. One of my all time favorite movies is Secondhand Lions. I love this movie. The characters are real. I know someone like each character in the movie. But best of all, for me, is the development not only of the tale, but of the characters. Each main character moves from one place to another. They grow. They change. They draw me in so I want to grow and change, and they clearly illustrate the message of the movie.

In Act I, Garth and Hub are feeling old, tired, and useless. Garth not so much as Hub, but both feel they have outlived their time and are merely wiling away the hours until death comes knocking.

In Act I, Walter, a scared, cynical young man gets dumped on Garth and Hub without a word. He's quiet, jumpy, and unsure of the world.

In Act II, Garth and Hub still feel old, but they've taken a liking to the boy and are working on being useful. They spend their money on items sold by traveling salesmen, garden, and generally try to keep themselves busy.

In Act II, Walter moves from being a scaredy cat to working hard alongside his uncles and believing in the stories Garth tells him about their youth in the French Foriegn Legion. Walter's chracter grows the most, but it is fun to see how his character feeds off of the characters of his uncles.

In Act III, Garth and Hub realize how much they love the boy and want to buy him back from his mother. Hub has promised to stick around long enough to give Walter the "What Every Boy Needs to Know to be a Man Speech." He's found a purpose. He's no longer useless.

In Act III, Walter stands up to his mom. He confronts her on her lies and asks her to do what's best for Walter, let him stay with his uncles. Upon his return to his uncles, he tells them what for: they'll have responsibilities like the PTA, Little League, and they need to eat more vegetables.

The growth of the main characters is accentuated by the static-ness of the sub characters. Walter's mom is a liar and remains a liar throughout the movie. The other relatives are gold-diggers and remain such throughout the movie. And the traveling salesman are true to traveling salesmen everywhere throughout the course of the movie.

So if you are looking for a fresh way to study character development, pull out your favorite films and see how your friends on the silverscreen change from beginning to end. This does not work with every movie, but some of my favorites are Secondhand Lions, Juno, Unbreakable, The Patriot, Remember the Titans, and Steele Magnolias. While watching the movie ask yourself the following questions:

1) How does this character change?
2) What motivates change in this character--external or internal motivation?
3) Which character changes the most in the movie and why?
4) How do the supporting actors accentuate the change in the main character(s)?
5) How was the change expressed: verbally, physically, emotionally, or other?

So grab a great movie and learn.

Just another thought from the tub,

Lori