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Day 4 Assignments
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Eric Humble’s Lead Characters (4A)
What I learned: This lesson really showed the model in stark relief. I never really considered the ideas of the oppression or the betraying character, but after reading this lesson, I have a deeper understanding of how each of these elements contribute to the audience’s emotional reaction to the journey. Adding/modifying the existing characters in my outline to include these elements will change some of the scenes and relationships but shouldn’t affect the plot too drastically; the upside is that the lead character’s transformational journey will be much deeper and more intensely felt than in the current draft. I can’t wait to see how it pans out in the writing of the script.
Tell us your transformational journey logline.
An ambitious chef who only cares about his own success must help disrupt peace talks by smuggling in a group of refugees and discovers he can affect real change by picking a side other than his own self-interest.
Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role. Also, include: – Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:
Natalia.
She’s from Moldova and after Raf betrayed her and took over her restaurant, was forced to return there… where she saw firsthand the price the US’s sanctions against Russia had against the people of the smaller countries. But she also saw the devastation of violence — and what good can come from people willing to keep talking… because the people pressured the corrupt politicians to concede and create a no-fly zone pact with Russia over Moldova.
Her vision is that one ordinary person can affect real change with powerful people.
Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that character or characters fit the role.
Raf.
Raf is a talented chef who is afraid of failure and stagnation—which doomed his dad. So he pushes himself to succeed in ever higher circles… but he’s focused only on himself. Doesn’t believe that a person can change the world, he can just adapt and succeed within it.
Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works in your story.
The dinner —it’s on a strict schedule. Leiber’s security forces are extremely restrictive, isolating, and punitive at the first sign of violation. The cardinal rules: don’t take sides and get the food served on time.
Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.
Joseph.
Joseph is one of the line cooks, an expert in art whose presentation skills are better than his cooking. Joseph is neutral, keeps to himself, goes where the wind blows – which has kept him working during different regimes and under the strictest of leadership. He expresses himself only privately, in art, never publicly. Natalia recruits him to help her smuggle the refugees… but eventually, he caves to the pressure of security and rats out Raf to Leiber, accusing him of being more involved in the schemes going on than he lets on he does – which in turn gets Raf detained and removed from the kitchen.
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Eric Humble’s Analysis of Dead Poets Society (4B)
DAY 4B – ANALYSIS OF DEAD POETS SOCIETY
What is the change this movie is about? What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?
Change: The boys change from timid and operating within the rigid confines of the school to free thinkers empowered to express themselves and stand by their own opinions.
Lead characters:
Who is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the change?
Mr. Keating – he has a vision of what these boys’ lives can be because he was once a student in this oppressive school, but has since moved away and has lived in the world outside its rigid structure.
Who is the Transformable Character (the one who makes the change) and what makes them the right character to deliver this profound journey?
Todd, Neil, Knox, Charlie, and Meeks – they each are trapped within the school’s rigid conformist philosophy and in thrall to the headmaster and their parents. They each need to change in different ways within their lives, but each needs to start with free thinking and “seizing the day.”
Todd needs to find the courage to speak up for himself, to stand up to the establishment and his parents, and to live outside the shadow of his brother’s accomplishments.
Neil needs to escape his father’s domineering insistence that he go to Harvard and become a doctor and instead embrace his love of acting.
Knox needs to find the courage to pursue Chris.
Charlie is the boldest of the group, but he needs to escape the confines of the school.
Meeks needs to escape the rigid thinking that the establishment has drilled into him.
What is the Oppression?
The school itself – a world of rules where the teachers don’t trust the students to have ideas of their own and their parents have planned out the students’ lives without ever giving them a voice of their own.
How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story?
The ways in which the boys are controlled by the school and their families makes each of them relatable at the outset. We see them interacting as ordinary boys, except that they choose to meet in study groups and are constantly working to improve their academic standing – which makes us want to see a change in them.
We’re lured into the journey just as the kids are – by Mr. Keating’s decidedly different, fun, and iconoclastic teaching style. Just as he encourages the kids to seize the day, we start reflecting how we may need this in our own lives.
Looking at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound journey? From “old ways” to “new way of being.” Identify their old way: Identify their new way at the conclusion:
Todd: Old ways – too scared to speak up even among his friends, believing his voice is worthless, living in the shadow of his brother. New way – stands on the desk over the objection of the headmaster and calls out O Captain My Captain.
Neil: Old ways – does whatever his father tells him, strives for the best grades. New way – continues on with the play despite his father’s objections.
Knox: Old ways – defeated when he meets Chris because she’s seeing a popular jock; believes he has no chance so he can’t make a move. New way – marches into her school and reads her a poem he wrote… and gets a date to take her to the play.
Charlie: Old ways – bold among his friends, but won’t buck the system outright. New way – is a smartass to the headmaster at the school assembly; takes the lessons of the Dead Poets Society to a new level by insisting they live by poetry not simply read it.
What is the gradient the change? What steps did the Transformational Character go through as they were changing?
They rip out the introduction to the poetry book. Learn to compose their own poetry and read it aloud.
Neil reforms the Dead Poets Society against the rules of the school.
Todd joins the Dead Poets Society under the condition that he doesn’t have to read or speak.
Todd composes a poem in front of the class with Keating locking eyes with him.
Neil joins the play and forges his father’s signature.
Knox calls Chris.
Knox goes to the party and makes a move on Chris while she’s passed out.
Charlie writes a missive demanding girls at the school and alludes to the Dead Poets Society.
Knox goes to Chris’s school and reads her a poem he wrote about her aloud in front of her class.
Charlie mouths off to the headmaster during the assembly.
Charlie gets paddled but doesn’t rat out the Society.
Neil does the play despite his father demanding he quit.
Charlie refuses to go along with the scapegoating of Keating and gets expelled.
Neil commits suicide now that he’s found his voice and his passion rather than allowing his father to dictate his life.
Todd stands up on the desk and shouts O Captain My Captain. He inspires the rest of the boys to do the same.
How is the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main character to shift their perspective…and make the change?
Keating teaches in an unorthodox fashion, much different than the rigid, “traditional” methods of the other teachers – he leads them out of the classroom, has them march and stand on the desk to see things from a different perspective, has them rip pages out their books, inspires them to compose poetry and read it aloud.
Keating shows them pictures of students from eras past – and makes them realize their mortality, and that to be great, you need to seize the day.
Neil has Todd throw the desk set off the bridge.
Neil tries out for the play against his father’s wishes and discovers his passion for acting.
Charlie brings girls to the cave for the Poets Society.
Knox calls Chris – and discovers she’s thinking about him. His belief that he had no chance is challenged and his boldness is rewarded.
Charlie is paddled.
Neil’s father demands he quit the play and return to the old ways – but Neil decides to do the play anyway… but doesn’t take Keating’s advice to use his voice to convince his father of his passion.
What are the most profound moments of the movie?
Keating teaches them to Seize the Day.
Keating coaches Todd to compose on the fly and Todd creates a powerful poem in front of the class.
Keating has them march in the courtyard and teaches them how easy it is to fall into conformity – then teaches them to stand by their own voice even when the establishment tells them they’re wrong.
Neil delivers Puck’s final speech directly to his father, mirroring what his father told him about making him a liar.
Neil commits suicide rather than submit to his father’s plan.
Todd stands on the desk and shouts O Captain My Captain – inspiring everyone in the class to do the same.
What are the most profound lines of the movie?
“Seize the day.”
Keating’s lectures – each is inspiring in its own way.
Todd’s poem.
How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?
Neil delivers Puck’s final speech directly to his father, mirroring his father’s
comment that Neil made a liar out of him.
Keating’s comment that they’re all “food for worms” comes back in the form of
Neil dying.
The Dead Poets Society huddles in the school attic rather than the cave to
commiserate on what is about to happen to them.
The headmaster reasserts his authority by making the kids sign the document
that gets Keating fired.
The boys call Keating O Captain My Captain and stand on their desks, as they
were taught.
What is the Profound Truth of this movie?
Finding your own voice rather than conform comes at a steep price… but it’s worth it in the end.
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