| [BACK]
My POV
Brian A. Wilson
VILLAINS
In addition to ending lives, devastating property and shoving the world to the brink of WWIII, the trade center bombing has had one other lasting effect: it rewrote the book on Hollywood villains.
"Villains drive the story" has long been a mantra of screenwriting instructors. Real life has driven home that lesson, hasn't it? Who are the villains, what they want and what they'll do to get it defines and drives the hero's journey.
We see this concept unfolding before our eyes. A well-financed, clever and ruthless villain has pulled off his plan with about a 90% success rate. Now, we wait as the hero-define it as the president, the military, the country, the world-settles upon a course of action.
Will the hero be smarter than the enemy? More well-equipped? Will he find a fresh way to defeat the enemy, or merely rely on brute strength?
The terrorist attacks have raised the bar for what your villains must be and do in a script. One-dimensional malcontents with a bomb in a suitcase and a limited vocabulary ain't gonna cut it any more. The public has seen what real, powerful villains can do, heard how they act, seen what they look like.
Those of us crafting stories for the screen have to jack up our characterizations.
Post-trade-center, I suspect it'll be more acceptable to make screen villains smarter, more organized, more eloquent, more charismatic. Their causes will probably be broader than "one last heist." Their supporters won't be mindless drones with AK-47s and one gold tooth; more likely, they'll be trained, intelligent, devoted fanatics ready, willing and able to die for the cause they believe in.
And your hero better damn well be ready to do the same.
My guess is that this disaster may reinstate the country's previously-flagging interest in big action pics. Why? Certainly not because we don't see enough explosions in our living rooms. Rather, it's for the same reason wall paintings drew a crowd to the caveman's campfire: We want to know what it all means. We want help understanding our world. We want to know how to live our lives better.
Screenplays both reflect and define our lives. As I said last week, the world needs our words to cope with what has happened. Bear that in mind as you craft your stories, and as you define your villains.
Keep writing.
BW
LA
bigtex@loop.com
|
