A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

My kids went on a Disney rampage over Christmas. I purchased the Disney Scene It DVD game (worth every penny) for Jacob for Christmas and that jumpstarted a trip down memory lane. We’ve been watching Disney movies round the clock, enjoying listening to the soundtracks of those musicals and playing the game whenever we can.

One of the rabbit trails we followed was re-watching Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. My daughter’s high school is also producing the stage version this spring so we are especially excited about the songs. I had forgotten just how brilliant the lyrics are. What a wonderful chance to look at what songs do to advance plot! The opening scene must establish the narrative arc in three minutes: must show Belle to be from out of town, must show why she doesn’t fit in with the townsfolk, must introduce Gaston as both comic relief and villian, must foreshadow Belle’s encounter with the beast and must leave us sympathizing with her desire for adventure. That’s a tall order in three minutes!

The DVD special edition is also a great opportunity to watch the behind the scenes clips which show the evolution of the story – how the Disney team took the bare narrative from fairy tales and transformed it into the full-bodied story we love today. It’s a great message to give to children that the finished product they enjoy was not fully formed from the start. In this case, the development of the storyboard, the creation of characters, the design of the animated cast, the song writing and more took decades of reflection and attempts before the animators and story-writers felt they had a success on their hands. Think about that. Decades of work for one written product.

If you don’t own the DVD, most libraries have it. So does Blockbuster, Hollywood video and Netflix. Enjoy!

The most recent version of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” features Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. It’s just been released on video in the last month. If you’ve not seen this movie, it would be a good one for kids who don’t mind fantasy and who can tolerate weirdness. (I mention this since as a kid, I couldn’t handle either very well.)

One of the benefits of a newer version of the film is that there is an older version that can also be viewed for comparison! The 1970s version of the same story (which is a novel by Roald Dahl) is called “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and stars Gene Wilder.

If you read the book and watch both versions, you are now practicing a principle that I like to call “multiple exposures.” One of the best ways to increase your facility in the ability to analyze literature, art, music, even nature is to encounter the same story, song, style or setting in multiple interpretations.

How is Johnny Depp’s interpretation of Willy Wonka different than Gene Wilder’s? Which is truer to the book? What characteristics do they each choose to emphasize?

Now consider the actors who plays Charlie in each film. What choices do these actors make in how they portray Charlie that work? Which don’t work?

Which movie is more faithful to the original novel? Do you prefer one to the other? Why does either (both) of them alter the story for the sake of the movie? Does it work?

Notice the artistic conception of the factory and the costumes and Charlie’s home. What do the films have in common with each other and what is different? Do you like the Oompa Loompas better in one than the other?

Don’t turn this into a report. Simply converse using some of these questions as dialog openers. This is the kind of questioning that lays a foundation for skills like compare and contrast. It helps to be intentional about noticing the choices both writers and directors make in telling the same story. Over time, these skills translate into comparing and contrasting ideas, and making critical judgments in writing.

It’s always a good idea to read the novel on which a film is based too. And just so you know: I don’t think it matters one whit if you see the movie before reading the book or not. I never cared to read the LOTR series or any Jane Austen until I had seen them in film. My enjoyment of those books was not diminished at all.

Sometimes film catalyzes an interest in reading and sometimes reading catalyzes an interest in viewing. Both are good. 🙂

Some conversation starters for movie viewing:

Pause the film and ask: What do you think will happen next?

As you are viewing, identify the main character by saying, “I’ll bet Bambi is the protagonist, that is, the main character.”

Ask: “What do you think he wants? Who’s going to stop him?” (plot=a main character who wants something but has to overcome an obstacle to get it)

In Bambi, Bamib wants to lead a natural, animal life that includes maturing, being raised by his mother, falling in love and having a mate and babies.

The obstacle to getting what Bambi wants is MAN. (“Man is in the forest.”) Each crisis advances the plot. In this case, you can notice when Man becomes a problem for Bambi (when is he first aware of Man?). Then you can trace how many crises lead up to the climax (the biggest crisis).

To identify the climax, figure out which scene is the one that you are waiting for – the one that will make or break the protagonist’s goal. Can you figure out what the climax is going to be at the beginning, partway in, or only right before it happens? Is there a mini climax before the ultimate climax?

The climax is usually the last big event (conflict) right before the end where everything is neatly wrapped up. So even though there are always mini crises throughout a good plot, the climax is the event that everyone is worried about that happens right before the story resolves itself.

For instance, in Bambi, the climax comes when there is a fire (started by man) in the forest and Bambi must escape. The climax does not occur when Bambi’s mother is shot. That crisis is called a “complication.” A complication adds problematic mass to the story so that it drives to a climax. Bambi’s mother being shot by “man” is one in a series of times that Bambi encounters the problem that is central to this story: namely, man is in the forest and is a threat to the well-being of animals.

So the climax is that moment when the clash between these two worlds is so threatening that we wonder if Bambi comes out of it okay. I’ll leave you hanging for how it all turns out.

See if you can deconstruct the plot of a favorite movie. I highly recommend anything by Disney. His plots are simple and the climaxes are clear.

Yesterday, we returned to early childhood for our afternoon movie. Johannah (15) is studying French. Caitrin (8) is catching up to her older siblings by watching all the old Disney movies, some for the first and second time.

Here’s how it played out…

J: “Oh let’s watch The Little Mermaid. It has French in it. Caitrin, want to watch?”

C: “Sure.”

J: “Shoot. I always forget that you have to rewind video. I hate that.”

Rewinding, rewinding.

C: “No wait stop there–that’s the beginnning.”

J: “Oh, the color is terrible.”

ME: “That’s because it’s VHS. We need the DVD.”

J: “Yeah that’s true. Every Disney is on DVD now.”

C: “Did you know Bambi is on DVD? And they changed everything. All the colors are changed. It’s so vibrant now!” (Look of amazement on my face at use of quality word.)

J: “Bambi is the stupidest movie. I mean, everyone says they like it. But it’s so boring. No one really does.”

ME: “Mmm. I love it. When you have toddlers, you’ll love it.”

J: “Mom, did you know that in real life deer and rabbits chill? They really do.”

ME: “Chill?”

J: “Mom – they hang together. They chill.”

ME: “Oh! They chill. Kewl.”

The movie starts. Sisters chill in real life too.