Last week we talked about beating down your protagonist–manipulation of audience emotion through them connecting to your characters. One sure way for them to connect is to have them identify with the character, and then
mercilessly,
relentlessly,
beat them down.
Many movies have done this in many ways. I showed some examples last week that might be instructive to show again:
- Nature or natural forces (Titanic, 2012, Twister, The Poseidon Adventure )
- An antagonist of far greater strength makes life miserable or causes death and destruction(The Devil Wears Prada, The Crow)
- War-time abuse (Schindler’s List, The Deer Hunter, Saving Private Ryan)
- Addiction (The Lost Weekend, Days Of Wine And Roses, Black Snake Moan)
- Mental illness (The Miracle Worker, Sling Blade)
- A crippling or death-dealing accident (Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 21 Grams)
- Brainwashing (The Manchurian Candidate)
- Loss of job or bad economic conditions (Falling Down, The Grapes Of Wrath)
- Religious oppression (Ben Hur, The 10 Commandments, The Rapture)
This list is in no way complete, just a scratch of the surface. Slam the character throughout, grab us by the throat and never let go. Have us not just root for the characters, but live and breathwith them:
- Carrie
Tarantino has made a career on beating down characters in revenge fantasies. Horror movies punish the antagonist in backstory, molding them into that damn hockey mask, then have a bunch of characters that we maybe care about run around trying to survive. With Carrie, they all deserve to die, we’re rooting for it. That’s called 80 minutes of beat down before the final 15 minutes of blood lust revenge.
- 40 Year-Old Virgin
It’s not always drama where the beat down occurs. This poor guy gets it from every side, even himself, in his epic struggle with the opposite sex. Tragedy is my hangnail, comedy is you trying to get laid.
- The Elephant Man
Kills me. Absolutely cannot watch this movie with crying. It’s almost unwatchable, what John Hurt goes through in the title role, or how Anthony Hopkins tries to save him.
- Leaving Las Vegas
You’d think self-destruction wouldn’t get you sympathy. Wrong. This tale of death by booze is one of Nick Cage’s best. What the heck happened to Elizabeth Shue, anyhow? This one killed me too.
- Castaway
WILSON!!! You know you’ve put your protagonist through hell when the loss of a Wilson volleyball elicits tears. The greatest product placement movie in history, but also a great journey, Fed Ex systems engineer survives a plane crash, surviving on a desert island, building a raft and somehow making it back to civilization to discover his chick married to another guy. Dues!
