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DO WE CARE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTERS?

By David S. Freeman


In American cinema (as opposed to many European films), it's important
that the audience emotionally identify with one or more of the lead
characters. Are there exceptions? Not frequently, but if you look,
you'll find a few. (THE ICE STORM and ELECTION are some recent
examples)

However, these are the rare exceptions. In most American films, we
strongly empathize with at least one character. This quality of drawing
our empathy is called "Rooting Interest" -- that which makes us root for
a character.

It's easy to have your hero be likable when he or she is a noble,
heroic, attractive do-gooder like Harrison Ford in RAIDERS OF THE LOST
ARK.

However, what do you do when your hero is an arrogant and cynical
loner like Bill Murray in GROUNDHOG DAY? Or an amoral henchman like
John Travolta in PULP FICTION? Or a man whose cerebral cortex never
really finds the starting line like Tom Hanks in FORREST GUMP? Or an
ex-gunslinger like Clint Eastwood in UNFORGIVEN? Or a sleazy lawyer
like Denzel Washington in PHILADELPHIA? Or the best that trailer trash
has to offer like Mercedes Ruehl in THE FISHER KING?

What are you going to do to make audiences emotionally identify with
your lead character when he or she doesn't fit the mold of a
stereotypical hero/heroine?

I've given some thought to this problem. The solution: "Rooting
Interest Techniques."

There are about 40 techniques to make your reader or your audience
identify with a character. There's no limit as to how many you can use
on one character.

Let's take the films mentioned above. In GROUNDHOG DAY, Bill Murray is
witty and clever. This is one of the Rooting Interest Techniques which
initially drew audiences to Eddie Murphy's character in BEVERLY HILLS
COP.

How about John Travolta in PULP FICTION? Weirdly enough, he's got some
of the qualities of an "Everyman" -- someone who's got problems with
which we can identify. In this case, he's in love with a woman (Uma
Thurman) whom he has no hope of attaining. And holding one's pain inside
(as Humphrey Bogart does in CASABLANCA) also draws us into Travolta's
character.

What about Clint Eastwood in UNFORGIVEN? For one, he's got shame.
That is another Rooting Interest Technique. Isn't the shame an effort
by Eastwood to assert some sort of goodness in the face of his past
evils? He has also got undeserved misfortune...i.e. we learn in the
opening of the film that his wife has died.

Let's move on to Denzel Washington in PHILADELPHIA. Ethics go out the
window whenever a potential lawsuit walks in the door.

However, he's very thoughtful (as is Gabriel Byrne in LITTLE WOMEN).
And he's loving toward his family (in this case, his wife and his
upcoming child.) These are both Rooting Interest Techniques.

And FORREST GUMP? Why do audiences identify with him? A dozen Rooting
Interest techniques are employed in his character. A few of them are:

1) He's loving toward his family (in this case, his mother.)

2) He has undeserved misfortune -- he's born with bad legs.

3) He's ethical -- he keeps a commitment to his dead friend (Mykelti Williamson)
to start a shrimp business...and gives away half the
profits to his friend's family.

4) He goes his own way in the world, following no one. If he wants to
go running for a few years, he does. (Humphrey Bogart benefits from
this technique in CASABLANCA. So does Jim Carrey in ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE.)

What does this mean for you, the writer? This means that, with Rooting
Interest Techniques, you aren't restricted to writing cliche,
sterling-white heroes and heroines. You can make them unique, colorful,
and even give them some negative characteristics...but still have us
empathize with them.

As we've seen, the Rooting Interest Techniques work just as well in
comedies as in dramas.

The point is to employ these techniques artfully; don't hit us over the
head with them. It's almost like you're "slipping them in" unnoticed
amidst everything else which is going on.

While there's not room in this article to go over all 40 Rooting
Interest Techniques, at least we've touched upon seven of them. I hope
they help you in your writing. And when you watch films, try and
observe what a character says or does that brings you in emotionally.

Screenwriter and Producer David S. Freeman is currently producing an
independent film (with a feeling similar to "A SIMPLE PLAN"). He just
finished writing a movie for Allied Stars (the company, based at Sony,
which produced "Chariots of Fire" and "F/X," and which Executive
Produced "Hook.") His previous screenplay was purchased by Columbia
Pictures. Working as either a writer or producer, he has also sold or
optioned feature and television screenplays and stories to MGM,
Paramount Pictures, Castle Rock, Hearst Entertainment, Atlas
Entertainment, Buena Vista Television, David Kirschner Productions, and
many other major production companies.

David is also nationally known screenwriting teacher, creator of
"BEYOND STRUCTURE," L.A.’s most popular workshop in the craft and
techniques of screenwriting and development.

To learn more about the class and register for the next one, click here.