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Lesson 11
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Beverley Wood’s Living Metaphors
What I learned from doing this assignment is that I don’t think I have enough challenges that don’t work and maybe I have to understand this part better.
Old Ways and 5 challenges that should have worked, but didn’t:
Old Way – he refuses to believe in spirits
Challenges that don’t work:
Lauren physically appears in front of him.
Lauren recalls things about their old life.
Kim relates how her grandfather’s spirit came back.
When Lauren finally convinces him that she has to go, he decides he’ll go with her.
Old Ways and Challenges – 5 living metaphors
He won’t live in the now – Kim is always stopping to smell the flowers.
He refuses to let Lauren go – Kim takes him to a sacred native ceremony for letting the spirit go.
He doesn’t believe in an afterlife – but when he drinks mushroom tea, he sees God.
He won’t believe in life after death – in his greenhouse, he has caterpillar cocoons and then chrysalis and then fully formed butterflies – illustrating their metamorphosis.
The moon cycle moves with the butterfly metamorphosis and Lauren’s departure.
After he spills her ashes and the butterflies all hatch, a single butterfly lands on his hand, and he knows now it is Lauren.
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Diane’s Brainstorming
What I learned doing this assignment is to be flexible on ideas and open to replacement ideas when the existing draft falls short. The challenges to the Old Ways are critical to the story and the metaphors can be simple yet powerful, indirect yet provocative.
Five “Should Work, but Doesn’t” Challenges:
1. In the Old Way, Jake plays war/combat video games. He plays them by himself and with his friend Cole (also 10) and can’t wait for his dad, Matt, to get home so they can play these shooting games together. Jake goes along with Cole, his father, and his grandfather to hunt rabbits. Cole gets a rabbit and is congratulated by the older men. Jake gets a chance to shoot and is very excited. He’s expecting to enjoy this. In his old way, he sees no difference between game shooting and real-life shooting. Jake shoots at and hits a rabbit and enjoys the praise from his friend and the men. The challenge comes when Jake runs to pick up his prize to find it still alive and suffering. He also sees that it’s a mother rabbit. Jake is traumatized by the brutality of it. It shouldn’t be this way. The Old Way, killing for fun/sport, is not acceptable to him. The praise he receives is a lot for the young boy to handle. When the others tease him for being emotionally affected by the killing, he forces himself to “toughen up” and not show that the killing has horrified him. This could play out with the Old Way no longer working for him and later he no longer likes to play war/combat games. He could worry that his father would see him as weak, perceiving this as the only way to move forward, and decides that someday he wants to be a soldier like his father. Therefore, this should work, but doesn’t.
2. In the Old Way, Matt would return from deployment but would feel out of place in civilian life so he re-enlisted for additional deployments. He served three tours in combat areas. This time, not only is he determined to not re-enlist but also the opportunities for combat soldiers are no longer there for him. The challenge comes when home life gets too be too much and he can no longer cope and the old ways of drinking, arguing, isolating are clearly going in the wrong direction. Matt must make it work with the New Way of seeking Stewart’s help to figure out a way to make it work here at home. This should work, but doesn’t. (When this New Way seems impossible to reconcile with the Old Way, Matt would consider a different way out which is to take his own life.)
3. In the Old Way, Sara would welcome Matt home without fanfare because he requested a low-key homecoming. She is also determined that Matt come home to his family and be a father and husband in normal civilian life. She figures that this time, the welcome home will be more like she believes is more appropriate for a returning soldier so she does it up big. That’s her New Way of welcoming Matt home. However, his combat trauma is overwhelmed by the party and the other 4th of July celebrations and this New Way does not work for Sara because Matt seeks solitude from the celebration and being the center of attention. The challenge is that she doesn’t understand his reaction. When he presents to her his New Way, she tries to understand his perspective. This should work, but doesn’t.
4. In the Old Way, Claire has been living in her parent’s house (they have since passed on) waiting for Stewart to decide “when the time was right” for her to move back to the cabin with him. She wants Matt, Sara, and Jake to have a home of their own. The challenge comes when she gives them her house (the one that Matt grew up in) so they can have a place to call home. She presses Stewart to accept that “when the time is right” is “right now.” Now she and Stewart make it work to live together again. This should work, but doesn’t.
5. In the Old Way, the townspeople thank Matt for his service (he nods in appreciation), and they toast his heroism and his patriotism. The challenge is that Matt does not feel like a hero, his sacrifice is broader than they are toasting, and he has vivid memories of the horrors of combat so the celebration feels ill-suited to his reality. He has friends who are disfigured, disabled, and some who are dead. Fates he was fortunate to escape. He fears his lasting trauma is a sign of weakness and he just needs to “toughen up.” This should work, but doesn’t.Five “Living Metaphort” Challenges:
1. This one seems to be able to do double-duty. The rabbit that Jake shoots is a metaphor for the enemies society chooses to accept in times of war. The killing of that target and suffering Jake watched as the mother rabbit suffered and died, and her babies that will starve to death challenged Jake’s perception of the fun of shooting/killing/gaming.
2. Hunting becomes a metaphor for training young boys to accept that taking life is acceptable when the conditions are right. This plays out in the generational tradition of passing on this “skill” from grandfather, to father, and then on to son.
3. Drinking to drunkenness is a metaphor for self-medicating. Isolating is a metaphor for the separation between civilian life and post-combat life. This plays out in Stewart’s living alone in his cabin and Matt’s decision to have a few drinks before going to see his father. Both are taken to extremes when society has little room for combat trauma (perceived as weakness).
4. Gavin, Jr.’s death is a metaphor for no way out of the squeeze between societal expectations and hidden realities of combat trauma (ptsd). Gavin Jr. drives his car off the road at high speed. It looks like it could have been an accident due to intoxication, but Stewart knows that his friend did it on purpose.
5. The lighter that Claire gives to Stewart before he goes to basic training is a metaphor for their love for each other. Stewart keeps it with him all of the time. The inscription reminds him that he is protecting Claire while the lighter allows him to feel close to her. -
Napier Living Metaphor
I believed the intent is to add more layering to the scene and create alternative ways of looking at a problem presented. Is the glass half full or half empty? I can argue the glass is actually completely full either way and that even after you drink the content of the water that the glass is still full. Full of oxygen.
***FYI, content I am posting has been registered (as a Treatment) with the Screenwriters Guild and copyrighted through the Library of Congress. When I am done with the script, it too will be registered and copyrighted. I understand what we post here is to be treated as such in the same manner.
Brainstorm at least five of each of today’s challenges that you can put in your screenplay.
A. Go through your story outline or script and brainstorm the following: – 5 Should Work, But Doesn’t challenges – 5 Living Metaphor challenges
Should Work, But Don’t
A. Three Navy S.E.A.L.s: Three (3) Navy S.E.A.L. Snipers [the best, of the best, of the best] on a covert mission to take out an Al Qaeda facilitator at 460 meters; and yet on that day, they could not hit water if they fell out of a boat in the Atlantic.Old Way: Navy S.E.A.L.s never miss; Challenge: Long helicopter flight to base knocks optics off; Plays Out: Used to stop two more efforts by the S.E.A.L. teams and a Case Officer who has bad intelligence that the Al Qaida facilitator has returned when in fact its an older brother they are mistaking for him. It is believed that the CO’s asset is trying to knock off a rival and or is trying to win favor with the CO for money. The Hero has experienced this firsthand himself and put a stop to it. I would include this as one of the points while briefing Congressional Delegation on successes in ACT 2A.
B. Fabricated Ruse: After the embarrassing report to Washington, CIA Station leadership — in retaliation –attempt to accuse the CIA officer of overcharging the Agency $14,000 (a felony) that would normally lead to prosecution but failed. The Agency’s Office of Security who would normally pursue prosecution for even just one hour of unjustifiable overtime anticipated a retaliation and took no measures to question, investigate, charge nor prosecute the CIA officer in the four years that followed.
Old Way: An accusation by Station leadership would normally not be questioned, but carried out; Challenge: The Hero stepping in to grease the skids with Headquarters investigators regarding the case averts criminal charges from being pursued; Plays Out: I would use this as part of the Turning Point in ACT 1.
C. Justice does not Always Prevail: The CIA officer hoped that justice would prevail when he was being Blacklisted, since he had right on his side, but that was not the case four (4) years later as he was shoved into the streets penniless and soon to be sentenced to chronic homelessness for the next five (5) years for doing the right thing.
Old Way: Right does not make mite; Challenge: The system being controlled and directed by his adversaries to focus on the Hero leaves him at a disadvantage; Plays Out: To be used demonstrating the Blacklisting as it unfolds in ACT 2A.
D. Unexpected Twist of Irony and Failure: After the CIA Station in Iraq conducted its diligent investigation to warrant the expulsion of the wrong team member, the CIA officer soon discovers the system fails when he uncovers the facts that not only was Child Pornography involved and placed on two (2) CIA Top Secret computers, but that the Agency historically has not prosecuted predators, let along repeat offenders because of their access to sensitive classified sources and methods that may prove damaging to national security. Under any other government entity, a normal open and shut case, failed.
Old Way: Felonies are normally prosecuted; Challenge: Due to access to sensitive sources and methods their wrongdoing thwarts (shields) from prosecution; Plays Out: During a Congressional Oversight Committee hearing it is raised as well as CIA’s apparent role in the ‘Dasht-i-Leili Massacre’ of 2001 in ACT 3.
E. Effective Program Declared a Failure: In the mountains of Afghanistan along the border, a CIA PSYOP power projection platform (radio station) had demonstrated its effectiveness in the region broadcasting as far as 30 miles away and across the border into Pakistan in support of influence operations. It has demonstrated program verification in supporting the PSYOP efforts so well that insurgents and the Taliban have attacked it eight (8) times. They view the platform as a threat to their operations. Bags normally used to pack 50 lbs of wheat are filled 80% to the top on a monthly basis with letters that are hand delivered to the station requesting music, poetry or express appreciation and praise for the station. Yet, despite all the successes, the CIA Chief of Station orders it shut down claiming it is not affective –a deliberate act of sabotage.
Old Way: Demonstrated success of operation; Challenge: Deliberate sabotage of a program for a personal vengeance and overall efforts by Antagonist to retaliate and Blacklist; Plays Out: The anticipated return of the Hero back into the combat zone is stalled enabling the final curtain to fall on the Hero as he is being Blacklisted in ACT 2A.Living Metaphor
A. Night Letter Operation: In an effort to clean up the Navy S.E.A.L. teams’ botched operation that jeopardized exposing U.S. involvement and created a blood feud that would result in the CIA officer’s asset being killed, the CIA PSYOP officer used ‘a pinch full of convincing lies’ to show the facilitator was trying to defect to the Afghan government using a ‘night letter operation.’ Multiple letters were dispersed throughout the region showing the facilitator’s picture and application to the Afghan government requesting asylum and a pardon. What the surrounding villages on the Afghan/Pak border did not know was that only Afghanis could apply for such sanctuary. The letter called for locals to finish the job. The Al Qaeda facilitator as a result fled the region as a result and the Hero disrupted Al Qaeda’s efforts in the region for two years that followed.
Old Way: Capture or killing is the way to remove terrorists off the playing field; Challenge: Alternative method is to use PSYOP to undermine credibility of a leader to lose his followers and support; Plays Out: The Hero uses a night letter operation to undermine the Al Qaida facilitator’s credibility to the surrounding villagers in his sphere of influence that forces him to flee in fear for his life and disrupts his operations in the region is what will be used as a contributing success point to the CODEL briefing in ACT 2 A.
B. Schools Supplies: Following the Navy S.E.A.L. operation, their presence were observed by villagers calmly exiting from the village school waving goodbye to those who came running after a large volley of shots are heard echoing through the two villages sitting opposite of each other along the border. The CIA Chief of Station later orders the PSYOP officer to ‘hide the hand’ of the U.S. Government given the serious political fallout potential with the Pakistani government. Village elders are convinced that U.S. forces were involved in the shooting of the individual in question. The PSYOP officer calls the elders together to explain that school supplies were the purpose of the American presence in their village and that is why they were chatting with the school master. The PSYOP officer presents $1,000 in receipts of supplies recently purchased and waive that in the tribal elders’ faces for bona fides. They were captivated by this notion. The PSYOP officer explains how “our forces merely heard the shootings and wanted to exit the area than bring harm to villagers.” The PSYOP officer goes on to explain that past experience has shown when using dynamite to widen the roads in the area that the acoustics of the three valleys merging causes the sound to come from a multitude of different directions. All the elders agree. The PSYOP officer notes that most likely the shooting was carried out on the Pakistani side of the border as a result of a blood feud and that base forces were not involved. “After all…did you see our guys running or carrying long barrel sniper weapons? “ Their reply was no. The elders agreed with the PSYOP officer’s explanation, and the U.S. hand was hidden.
Old Way: Flat out denial of U.S. involvement in the cross-border shooting that many witnesses heard and many saw U.S. forces present; Challenge: Using plain truth of our force’s actions at the scene, knowledge of the terrain features, luck on our side that I just purchased $1,000 worth of school supplies just days before, and a pinch full of bull shit saved the day; Plays Out: I would use this as part of the CODEL briefing point on successes for ACT 2A.
C. Rise of the Phoenix: All homeless people are drug addicts or alcoholics who remain on the streets forever is the stigma forced upon them. However, the audience would be like to learn of one who beat the odds. In this case the Hero whose demise forced him into an abandonment of self to survive during a period when not much infrastructure, let alone guidance was in place to support the homeless. Following the Great Recession of 2009, the CIA officer joins the ranks of ‘the walking dead’ (675,000) who were homeless in the U.S.. The Hero adapts to his environment metamorphosizing and adapting to street life. The only opportunity he could find to put food in his hands was strip dancing at Gay bars. As time went on he was able to regroup and pull himself off the streets and eventually run for U.S. Congress drawing attention to the CIA’s policy on predators and forcing change.
Old Way: Homelessness equals failure in life; Challenge: Using the Hero as the example that one can regroup and move forward after homelessness; Plays Out: ACT 2B.
D. Counter-Suicide Bombers: The Taliban and Al Qaida often used video of their suicide bombers carrying out their mission to support their recruitment efforts and propaganda against U.S. and Coalition forces. Apparently, the idea of going out in the blaze in the glory for Allah encouraged many to step forward. In an effort to undermine the terrorists’ recruitment efforts, the CIA officer arranges for the Afghan Minister of Defense to have the media (local and international) come together in a press conference and interview the two suicide bombers the Hero assisted by a Case Officer to defect. Of course, the assistance of 14 other Taliban commanders who had previously defected was required. Nonetheless, the media discovered how the terrorists mainly recruited individuals living in extreme poverty to do their bidding. The victims were normally loaded up with heroin (an extremely addictive drug that takes weeks to wean off) and read passages from the Koran to encourage their victim to carry out a mission. News of the interview spread like wildfire across the neighboring countries bordering Afghanistan and was the topic of discussion for weeks underscoring the terrorists’ recruiting efforts when it was discovering how the recruits were drugged and targeted because they were orphans.
Old Way: Detect and destroy the suicide bomber or identify and take out the bomb maker of the suicide vests; Challenge: Target the recruits and educate the populace as a whole how victims are exploited, recruited, drugged and used by the terrorists who refuse to take on the challenge themselves; Plays Out: I would use this as part of the CODEL briefing point on successes for ACT 2A.
E. A Pinch Full of Convincing Lies: Shortly after the presidential election of Barrack Hussein Obama (Afghanis thought he was America’s first Muslim president) a Democrat Congressional delegation (CODEL) was sent to Afghanistan to interview CIA and senior military personnel. Falcon Base was told to be ready to host the delegation. When the Hero is asked by the CODEL to list his five top successful operations and what makes the CIA officer’s PSYOP operations so successful. He rattles off his top five operations and answers their one and only main question:….“I took a page out of former president Bill Clinton’s Democrat rule book where he once said…””When it comes to selling foreign and domestic policies to the American people….I’d rather have a pinch full of convincing lies than a handful of truth!”” “ The CODEL’s response was a….’harrumph’ followed by laughter and the quick exit from the debriefing room.
Old Way: Provide an honest briefing on successes and workflow process on how PSYOP is done; Challenge: Give the Democrat CODEL a taste of their own medicine using a direct quote from former president Bill Clinton (the video was on YouTube in 2008, but was taken down following the briefing to the CODEL interestingly enough); Plays Out: I would use this as part of the CODEL briefing point on successes for ACT 2A.
With each, tell us the Old Way and the Challenge, and how you think it might play out in your story. SEE ANSWERS in section A above where it is included.
B. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” (place at top of your work). I believed the intent is to add more layering to the scene and create alternative ways of looking at a problem presented. Is the glass half full or half empty? I can argue the glass is actually completely full either way and that even after you drink the content of the water that the glass is still full. Full of oxygen.
C. Post to the forums at https://www.screenwritingclasses.com/forums/
Subject line: (Your name’s) Living Metaphors (place in first line)
***FYI, content I am posting has been registered (as a Treatment) with the Screenwriters Guild and copyrighted through the Library of Congress. When I am done with the script, it too will be registered and copyrighted. I understand what we post here is to be treated as such in the same manner. -
Angela Booth:
What I learned doing this assignment is that my TV pilot will be richer and more layered by creating more “show not tell” moments.Should Work But Doesn’t
Old way – Georgia returns from her conference and expects to continue running the household as before, cooking, organising everything etc.
Challenge – The kids ask for Dad to make “his special dinner” for them
How it will play out – She steps back sceptically but enjoys the meal and watching the kids make it with their dadOld way – Jodie calls Graham on her way back from seeing her mother to tell him she’s running late for an appointment for Ethan and asks him to find the number so she can call to change the appointment time and take him on another day.
Challenge – Graham calmly says he’ll take Ethan to the appointment instead, and not to stress
How it will play out – She puts on some music and enjoys the rest of the drive home, singing along happilyOld way – Tiff takes on an additional 3rd job to pay towards an expensive school camp for her son.
Challenge – She is forced to give up some hours at her other job to make room for it, leaving her no better off
How it will play out – She realises she has to put her foot down to the boys to get their own jobs and bring in some moneyOld way – Anne attends a meeting at work believing she is in for a promotion
Challenge – There is no promotion, it is a trap to get her to lose her cool so they can performance manager her out of her job
How it will play out – She will walk out of the job and follow her passion instead.Living Metaphor
Old way – Georgia comes out of a meeting expecting to shout at the kids to get up
Challenge – Martin has already given them breakfast
How it will play out – she realises he has a way with them that she doesn’t, and leaves morning routines to him, which means she ploughs through work faster and is available for them when they get home from school,Old way – Jodie stresses about all the planning for the kids, sports, clubs etc
Challenge – Graham buys a huge wall planner and assigns them each a colour so they can divide and conquer the family tasks
How it will play out – The kids take responsibility to write down their own activities and Jodie feels that the emotional burden is shared more equallyOld way – Tiff stresses about juggling the different jobs and feels everything is out of her control
Challenge – Finn announces that he has a full time job and Paul gets his first large commission from work
How it will play out – Tiff can let one of the jobs go and concentrate on the ones she wants, plus a secret plan she has to start her own businessOld way – Anne is itching to call her father out of habit and is struggling to keep a distance
Challenge – Her father calls her after three weeks to see how she is.
How it will play out – She realises that he is willing to play his role as a father and no longer feels that she needs to be the one to reach out to maintain their relationship. -
Day 11_Living metaphor
What I learned doing this assignment is that brainstorming about Old Ways and living metaphors that would challenge to the Old Ways is an effective way to develop the story.
5 Should Work, But Doesn’t challenges
1) Russell, local sheriff, brings a Filipino woman (she was the only Asian who was available for his investigation) so that she can talk to the Asian man (Taiki). However, the Filipino woman declares that it doesn’t work even before trying. Russell asks why. She says that he doesn’t look like Filipino. Russell’s intention (Old Way) fails.
2) Russell has attended a Mass every Sunday without fail for the past 30 years and he is proud of it (Old Way). However, one Sunday he fails to attend a Mass because of a phone call from the doctor’s office where the Asian man was taken into custody. Next Sunday, his attendance is interrupted again by a call from the hospital to which the Asian man was transferred.
3) During an everyday conversation with his assistant (or wife), Russell mocks nerdy anime fans who wear weird costumes even though it is not Halloween (Old Way). He is shocked to find out that his daughter is a huge anime fan who enjoys “cosplay.”
4) After his memory returns, Taiki asks his fiancé to come over to the US so that she can escort him back to Japan. She is excited to travel to the US for the first time (thinking about big cities like New York or LA) but is soon disappointed when visiting the local city where Taiki is hospitalized. She even shows some prejudice against other Asian people.
5) Russell has believed that he understood his daughter Katie pretty well (Old way) but that belief is challenged when Katie talks back to his dad for the first time and runs away with the Asian man.5 Living Metaphor challenges
1) All of Asian people including Filipino woman, Chinese man and Taiki (Japanese) are living metaphors in this film. They challenge the knowledge (and ignorance) Russell has toward Asian people.
2) Phone calls that Russell receives every Sunday morning are living metaphors. They challenge the peaceful yet boring lifestyle that Russell enjoys.
3) The anime fandom in the US. It challenges Russell’s depreciation against anime and subcultures in general.
4) Taiki’s Japanese fiancé who is naïve and somewhat ignorant about racial issues. Her behaviors and actions suggest the prejudice that Japanese people may have against other Asians.
5) A photo where Katie enjoys “cosplay.” It challenges Russell’s belief that he knows everything about his daughter.
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