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Day 2 Assignment – TERMINATOR
Provide your insights/breakthroughs into what makes this character great from a writing perspective.
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16 Replies
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Insights/breakthroughs – the aftermath of their escape provided a quiet moment to get out most of the back/future story of Kyle, Sarah and John Connor. Kyle’s traits are bravery, admiration (hero worship) and loyalty. He risks his life to go back to future to meet his idol and deliver the message from her son that basically assures that she will follow the plan – she’ll get pregnant, have a son, train him, and he will be the last best hope for the future of humanity in the coming war. Sarah’s vision for herself is the opposite of what she’s told (e.g., she can’t even balance her checkbook, let alone lead a resistance) and this plants all the seeds needed to sustain her motivation. She innately is able to apply a field dressing without any help. Her first one, and it’s perfect. Kyle’s words to her about her son are terse, but precisely what she needs to hear, and she has the same traits she will need to survive – “trust” and “a strength” She trusts Kyle Reece and she is strong enough to stomach applying a field dressing and never look back at who the past Sarah Connor is/was. The set up was very convenient – quiet cave and safe area to layout the entire story. I might’ve tried to initiate this differently, but this is an action movie, not a mystery, so it works well enough. It’s not every day where you can say, “just talk” and the whole premise unfolds in about two minutes. Things like, ‘tell me about the father’ and ‘he has your eyes’ plant the seed for their pending romance are obvious, but not too obvious. This one scene throws a ton of intrigue into the mix, keeping the audience on their toes, looking to spot her transformation and seeing how the known future unfolds.
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nice — i had totally missed J and G snuck in the exposition with “just talk!” subtle. now i can’t unsee it! thank you!
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INSIGHT: To distract Sarah from bandaging Kyle’s wound, his dialogue about her past teases the audience that there will be upcoming action sequences as Sarah teaches her son, John, the skills to fight the Terminators enabling him to survive which gives humanity a
chance to survive. The tantalizing decline to hear about the father raises expectations that we will see a developing romance between Sarah and Kyle. -
What future is Sarah Connor living into?
Thanks for having us watch this scene, because it’s importance has escaped me in the past. I’m also loving this idea of “living into a future,” because it really helps focus my attention on character and script!! This concept alone has made this course already “pay for itself” in my mind. So thank you again…
What’s fascinating about this scene is that Sarah Connor is ALREADY in her future – she just doesn’t know it yet. As she talks, we see she begins to trust Kyle and take in his tales of what’s to come. Her reaction is no longer “you’re crazy,” instead it’s “At least now I know what to name him,” and then “I don’t want this!!” She’s already accepted Kyle’s words as truth, and, as any good Reluctant Hero, the only thing preventing her from taking on her destiny is – herself. So, her ability to trust, and then take action based upon that trust, shows she has everything she needs to fulfill the “prophesy.”
Sarah asks, “Do I look like the mother of the future?,” then equates her lack of seeming skills (“I can’t even balance a checkbook”) with what will be needed when all hell breaks loose and comfortable, rule-filled society as we know it nearly crumbles. Here she asks what turns out to be a rhetorical question – the ability to balance a checkbook will have little use after The Fall, but her resourcefulness, empathy and confident skills will make her a natural leader, and the perfect mother to raise the “savior.”
James Cameron must really love Sarah more than any other character, because she’s strong from the beginning. Behind all the “ditzy” stuff early in the movie is a real powerhouse. More importantly, her sense of EMPATHY is almost off the charts. In this scene she’s almost maternal to Kyle as she finds that he’s bleeding and then snaps into action to (expertly, it turns out) dress his wound. This maternal instinct also shows that she’s prepared for her future as mother to the New Savior of humanity. (Thematic Biblical echoes here of “immaculate conception,” cleverly put into a science fiction piece – a fantastic time conundrum because if Kyle dies in the past, did he ever exist in the future?)
Interesting to me, Sarah finds her male contemporaries uninteresting. It’s a “real man” who has to come from the future to meet her very specific, though still unknown to her, needs. Such smart writing.
What future is Kyle Reese living into?
Fascinating again. Kyle’s future is in the past, and he’s unaware of why John sent him, his own father, into the past, for what will literally be the situation of his own conception. It makes one wonder what the unseen character of John Connor must have felt, sending his father to his own doom… Powerful repercussions even offscreen, yes? And of course, Kyle not realizing his “mission” to seed the savior, but, and here’s another canny thing Cameron does as the writer – he makes this sci fi thriller a LOVE STORY! (so sentimental, and so worthwhile – because without the trust and empathy between Sarah and Kyle – kind of literal star-crossed lovers – we’d be stuck with John sending his own father back in time to rape his mother, no?) So Kyle, unaware of his true “mission,” or of when how and why he dies, is allowed to be past as prologue, and to fall in love with this woman he’s clearly idolized as the legend growing up.
If any of us have ever met someone we idolized, only to witness their flaws and the wonderful things that make them human, then we take that fork in the road – we either are disappointed, or we embrace them even more, faults and all. So Kyle, here, is living his future as the Ultimate Sarah Connor Fanboy – at last sent on a mission he can never return from, with both a sense of duty (to honor John’s wish), and more than just a little eager to meet his hero. This is so damn cool!
What is Sarah’s transformation that is implied by this scene?
I already mentioned it above – empathy, trust, reluctance and then acceptance.
I want to conclude with this – when it came out, Terminator made a lot of money, but it was in no way a blockbuster. It also had a comparatively small budget to other sci fi of the time. This screenplay is a brilliant lesson in the importance of having a killer script, with bulletproof and bombastic ideas and concepts. Because I guarantee, had Cameron not come up with such a strong idea, Terminator would have been a one-off, and no one would be studying it today.
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Nick, thanks for including the gradient, I had totally missed it!
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This is a powerful scene that sets the stage for Sarah Connor’s character. Here she experiences the beginning of a powerful emotional arc that transcends throughout the film. Initially, she is an ordinary young woman going about her daily life, but as she learns about the future war and her significance, fear and disbelief give way to determination and resilience. Her emotional journey begins with this scene and evolves with her evolution from an average person to a warrior prepared to face her destiny.
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Insights: This scene literally showed what Sarah’s future will be. It taught me that I need to clarify/solidify my character’s future. In so doing it will be easier to identify the obstacles and fears that stand in the way.
The ease with which Sarah and Kyle share their understanding of the situation is masterful. I’m not normally drawn to sci-fi pictures because they strain my imagination, yet this scene seems perfectly rational. Kyle projects a prepared, reliable, sincere messenger. Sarah a skeptical, confused, frustrated, yet willing participant in a completely unique situation. The interpaly between the now (Kyle’s injury) and the future (how did you get here) seems like something I might say or do in a similar situation.😀
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Assignment Week 1 – Day 2
Kyle quotes Sarah’s son as saying, “You must survive, or I will not exist.” This encapsulates the profoundly ambiguous, and therefore very confusing, position Sarah is in with regard to her own future.
If Kyle knows even the color of the son’s eyes, then she can be fairly confident that she will survive.
But Kyle says her son also said, “The future is not set.”
What’s a person to think and do faced with such a future? A future that seems to be set (her son spoke to Kyle) but at the same time requiring to make a heroic effort to survive.
The confusion is summed up in Sarah’s words: “You’re talking about things I haven’t done yet in the past tense.”
So, what future is Sarah living into? One that has already happened. And the rest of the film is going to show her fulfilling what Kyle has already seen. Confusing but intriguing, and that’s why we’ll keep on watching.
As for Kyle’s future, we know he is going to have a tough time. He talks about a war that is to happen/has happened. He tells Sarah of the precautions they have to take, such as moving around only at night. It is going to be very tough, but, since he has already met Sarah’s son, we don’t have to worry about his survival.
Sarah’s transformation: One level of her transformation is that she will become a mother. But we can predict other profound changes. She makes it quite clear she cannot even balance her check-book and she is now being called upon to become a heroine, a role she’d rather not have. Her capacity to survive however, is hinted at in the way she bandages Kyle’s wound. She does it in a very professional way and then we learn it was the first time in her life. This suggests a resourceful person who learns quickly, and thus, despite her apparent unpreparedness (she doesn’t even have warm clothes) she will come through in the end.
This scene was built around several elements of drama. It begins with the news report of the biggest police operation in the history of California and continues with the pair having to push the car off the road and taking refuge in a dark tunnel.
The drama increases when we discover that these two people don’t even know each other’s name. Then there’s the sudden discovery of Kyle’s wound, which, judging by Sarah’s reaction could be life-threatening, until she successfully bandages it up.
Finally, there is all the drama that derives from Kyle’s talk of a future that has already, but which might not happen if Sarah doesn’t step up to the plate.
Sarah’s traits: vulnerable yet resourceful (suffers the cold but manages to bandage Kyle’s wound) / realistic about herself, even self-deprecating /
Kyle’s traits: stoical (downplays his bullet wound)/ practical / adventurous (“I volunteered. A chance to meet the Legend.”)/ protective (keeps Sarah warm).
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Very comprehensive Paul, I appreciate it. I have to watch the scene again now. Brilliant interpretation of the eyes line. Now I can’t unsee it.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by Sandeep Gupta. Reason: added two more sentences
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Insights
In one sense this scene is close to the bar scene we just studied. Even if this one is as much past the midpoint as the other one was past the movie opening. And even if it’s emotionally so different, as like Will at the bar, we are getting the first glimpse of Sarah’s would-be-protagonist skills. And in this case, with all her timid and dazed characterization up until this scene which I can’t fully recall — this is probably the first look at how natural and take-charge she is when it comes to taking care of what Kyle caught. In terms of the recent vocabulary¹, they both have breakthroughs and insights. One into the future and one into the past. Kyle does get a validation with a glimpse of more than her eyes, i.e., her spunk and natural skill. Unlike the cerulean scene, there is no power or boundary imbalance (or not any more at this point) so each breakthrough or insight is also validation for the other. For one, that seems useful insight into the modeling for the writing and the acting of a scene.¹ {Insights, Breakthroughs, Validation} adopted by me to also model the character’s emotional trajectory.
Breakthroughs
By SU definition seems I now have three breakthroughs here. For one, I didn’t know the last sentence in Insights paragraph above, so at least for me that counts.Next, even this late we are discovering new traits of each protagonist (even if one is only a projected one at this point and only to those who’ve seen the movie.) Who’d have thunk.
Next, a comparison of cerulean and this one along these lines shows why a two person talking heads scene, even if a most important scene in my own screenplay is only intense in my head and so dull on the page. And that’s my haul for the day. OK kids, off to dinner after that I will go see, whatcha’ll haul!
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It’s also somewhat reassuring also that in the future us guys are probably not so clueless that we would instead blurt, “Well Sarah, I am the …”Afterthought
It seems my focus was only on my newfound IBV emotional structure of the scene for both, and how it begins Sarah’s transformation arc than completely how it relates to and seeds the future. After reading everyone’s I returned to the scene. Kyle comes living into the future knowing what he is doing. Sarah begins to believe there is one very different from what she had expected it to be, and literally doesn’t know what she is doing and how she will do it. In some sense Kyle arrives a hero, Sarah suddenly has a heroic future thrust on her.Most nuances of that transitions have already been noted by students whose answers I have read, so I will just say this. It makes them great characters as (a) Sarah’s wheels are already turning, she has accepted the reality stoically as has (b) Kyle, who knows who he is, who he will become in about 20 pages, and that he will not even make it back into that future with her or to see their son succeed. Interestingly, on the surface level I was not aware of observing all these details consciously. Evidently, I must have at some level. Because I did want to write these three words somewhere in my original post, “What a mensch!”
Dunno if it’s an insight or a breakthrough, that that’s the reason we have to work on these details. Isn’t that an answer to the question I asked yesterday about Matt and Ben’s writing?
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by Sandeep Gupta. Reason: formatting, and the whole "Afterthought" section
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by Sandeep Gupta. Reason: removed html tags unnecessarily html'ing
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Character Mastery: Week 1, Day 2—Terminator
Karyn Laitis
· What future is Sarah Connor living into?
o She is a very ordinary young women who is to become the “Mother of the Future” through her yet to be conceived son John Conor. She will be legendary. It is very biblical.
o Sarah is questioning her worthiness and abilities. Full of self-doubt at the concept of being a strong leader, strategist, fighter, and mentor to a son.
o She strongly declares she doesn’t want any part of this future.
· What future is Kyle Reese living into?
o He knows his fate and volunteers to be John Connor’s messenger to Sarah.
o He will be Sarah’s mentor/protector and more.
o He will provide Sarah with the guidance to become her destiny.
o He is willing to die for Sarah and John.
· Sarah’s transformation implied in the scene?
o Kyle acknowledged her ability tend to his wound with a “well done field dressing” which she recognizes as her first of what might be many in the future.
· Sarah’s Traits:
o Compassionate
o Curious
o Self-doubting
o Capable
o Resistant
o Avoiding her reality
· Kyle’s Traits
o Protective (Sarah and John)
o Committed
o Devoted to Sarah
o Mentor
o Prepared to die
o Perceptive of Sarah’s potential and need for growth
· Drama—Sarah and Kyle are being pursued by the future AI assassin “Terminator”
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Thanks Karyn, what an astute and comprehensive list of traits. Yeah, I see them now.
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This great scene fascinates. Both Kyle and Sarah are living in fear – fear for their lives and more. The character difference is that Kyle has mastered his fear and has become fearless and courageous, saying, “I would die for John Connors.” Kyle knows the big picture of doom and destruction, what needs to be done. He is still courageous and fighting. While ignorant, inexperienced Sarah, on the other hand, is frightened beyond her ability to to even try to be courageous. Until now, she has lived a simple life, working, partying, playing at life. No more, since the seemingly indestructible Terminator continues to hunt them down. Kyle is her savor, mentor/leader, her lover. Kyle takes a bullet and is not concerned. Sarah is, and she kindly treats his wound in spite of wanting to barf – the first sign of moving outside her current insignificant life. She questions Kyle about her son, unknowing that Kyle is soon-to-be father of her hero son. What an enormous and dynamic character arc for Sarah. How exciting for us, the audience, to imagine the person that she’s going to become after this scene when we hear of her achievements and accolades. We hear that she has become “a legend” and hero that everyone admires. In this scene, she is a like a frightened animal who “…can’t even balance her checkbook.” What a ride we, as the audience, are going to experience her changes and growth, as she fights for her life, and the life of her unborn son, John, who’s destiny is to help save the planet with her. This beautifully written scene ends with Sarah calming down, thinking more deeply about what is ahead in her life. What is her unknown future and realizing that she must survive to bring her amazing child into a destructive, futuristic world.
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1st time:
What future is Sarah Connor living into? She’s going to be the mother of John Connor, teach him all the things he needs to know to be a leader and a fighter.
What future is Kyle Reese living into? He volunteered to go back and save Sarah – to meet the “legend”. He comes from a world where everyone must hide during the day and move about at night to avoid the enemy. He must keep Sarah safe and on the right path because “the future is not set”
What is Sarah’s transformation that is implied by this scene? That someone who “can’t even balance her checkbook” is going to become a great mother and raise a son who will save the world.
2nd time:
What drama was this scene built around?
Driven as far as they could – out of gas. There’s a massive manhunt out for them. They hide the car. Then hide under an overpass. It’s cold and they have few supplies to survive.
What traits showed up in these two characters’ words and actions?
Sarah
Compassionate: she’s interested in who Reese is and where he’s from. She’s concerned about his wound.
Comforted by words: She needs Reese to talk to comfort and reassure her.
Curios – wants to know about the future – Asks who the father is – but doesn’t want to know too much.
Competent – Though she’s never wrapped a wound – she does a good job.
Sarah is a reluctant hero – “I didn’t ask for this.”
Reese
Overall – matter of fact – not intense or overdramatic
He’s tough – not bothered by his wound.
Protector – Reese memorized the line to encourage Sarah, wants her to sleep – get some rest.
Aware of himself and his enemy – Sees himself as a soldier – Says he’d “die for John Connor”. Knows that the enemy is dangerous but “not too bright”
Interesting how he explains time travel – Reese says time travel is like “being born”
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I love your attention to detail in this assignment. I’m sure it shows in your screenwriting. Well done!
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Insight – This is one of the best examples of exposition! I love this movie, and this scene is masterfully written to perfection. Once the dialogue takes hold, I found myself wanting more and more exposition. Sarah’s reaction to the exposition is brilliant. She rejects the future characterizations of a transformed hero. Kyle is reverential and willing to warm her from the cold, all the while, he is shot and bleeding and comforts her when she, in turn, is concerned for him.
BREAKTHROUGH – Kyle is her trainer and the first example of what a hero is, and sets Sarah on the path to becoming a hero. Sarah, even though she is cold, frightened, and still somewhat skeptical, has actually already begun to walk down the hero’s journey in this scene. This is also a very necessary scene where we see Kyle’s strength and vulnerability at the same time. He is shot bought doesn’t care. He is humble and servile yet brave and heroic. This scene plays well because the traits each possess are in perfect alignment with where he came from and where she is headed – tremendous juxtaposition! This also is the beginning of their fated love story and the eventual revelation of why Kyle was actually chosen to go back in time, even though he believes he volunteered!
I’m eager to approach my scenes with this level of clarity and intent.
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