Day 13 Assignments

[Heather Hood]

ASSIGNMENT

Heather’s Insights Through Conflict

“What I learned doing this assignment is: I think one can have too much conflict in their work. I went through the whole script, scene by scene. There is conflict in every scene, but not in a good way. The number of times I have someone involved in a physical altercation is astounding. Conflict, yes. Fight, no. Re write after I think about where I want this to go.

With your list of the New Ways / Insights you want audiences to experience, go .through these steps:

Step 1. What is the New Way / Insight you want to deliver?

Old way: people judge others by their age, race, gender, or ability. New way: be accepting of everyone.

Step 2. What kind of conflict could that insight show up in?

I have 2 seniors, 4 main characters from different races and one disabled person among the 4 characters. .

Step 3. Brainstorm ways you might deliver the insight through the conflict.

1. I can place the characters in situations where they would not be expected to ‘win’ eg: an old man winning in a fight against a younger man.

2. Showing how a blind person hunts when someone argues they can’t. (Or light a fire etc…)

3. I would love to craft a scene where Jian Min’s superior diplomacy skills solve a major dilemma, just to prove he’s not some ‘brainless’ Chinese.

4. Not exactly conflict, but showing Seamus roughing up Jordan, or dragging her off below decks would make us understand what’s going on in her world.

5. The conflict between Andrew and Quinn in the second scene makes Andrew’s private world come to life. Suddenly you see it’s not at all what you would have expected from someone of his rank and age.

Come up with at least five (5) different ways
you can use conflict to express an insight.

· Xhuuya is struggling between walking the white man’s road or embracing his traditional heritage. When a young crew member stabs a whale and the whale attacks the ship, he realizes he is the only one who can save them – if he accepts his heritage. It’s an internal struggle, but it’s still valid, because it saves everyone.

· Seamus challenges Andrew to fight him to the death when the Tsimshian have captured the Jesuit priests. If Andrew wins the fight, they can go free but Andrew takes their place as a captive. Seamus expects Andrew to lose, because he’s old – this is revenge, nothing more. Andrew wins, but in winning, Andrew really loses.

· After Meilin is recued from her Tsimshian captors she gets mad at Andrew. She tells him he’s not angry at her, he’s angry at himself because he doesn’t want anyone to see how he feels.

· Ageism: Throughout the script there are various people who tell Andrew he is “just an old man”, “all washed up” etc, intimating that once you’re old, you cease to be useful. That is combated by several conflicts both physical and mental throughout the script, right from the first scene. It’s reinforced once Jian Min gets into the picture: then there are two old men. When the movie gets to the Indians in the last act everything switches and you see how in another culture the highly valued people are the Elders, for their wisdom.

· The conflict between Andrew and Quinn in the second scene highlights the difference between class in the 1880’s. If you had wealth you didn’t associate with those of lower status. In this scene Quinn is forced to acknowledge his guilt in his sister’s death: if he hadn’t abandoned her, she wouldn’t have killed herself.

[Julia Keefer]

What I learned is that I must hypnotize myself to make my precious characters fight even though I hate conflict of every kind in real life.

Arguments must be more original, not just on-the-nose screaming. Lies, irony, flattery, and changing the subject to heighten subtext can help. Or screaming at someone else who is not responsible, or screaming at the mirror. Or doing something as they argue that enhances activities to create visual symbols. Loudness replaces soundness, revealing the cracks in people’s politeness.

– Competition: Rodney Jake and Joe must compete more in the first two novels even though I don’t like competition. Is this for attention from friends and family, girls, grades, money, jobs or what? This competition will make Jake feel guilty when they die.

– Power struggle is different from competition. Ibrahim seems to have no competition for his power but Litonya disagrees with some of his plans and he needs her expertise so this should ignite a power struggle near the end. I am working on another vaccine or drug related to amyloid clearance so there should be a power struggle around this life-saving secret.

– Dilemma: I must stretch out Jake’s dilemmas to tease the audience. One is to give CPR to his Mom or not but that can’t be stretched too long. I tend to solve problems too quickly instead of presenting the dilemma so the reader/audience can solve it first in their minds. A dilemma in the form of a disjunctive syllogism should frame the entire third novel related to will versus fate in the face of death.

– Physical confrontation Jake beats up Keith and plays with boxing but can anyone logically get into a fist fight? The first two novels have more fights when the testosterone is running more freely but as people age, their ability to fight physically diminishes. I have been idealizing the youngest generation, as grandparents do, but perhaps I should stage at least one fight to be more realistic. Damn. I hate fights although I love teaching cardio kickbox where no one is touched.

– Love triangles occur in the first novel and are resolved in the third when Rodney and Priceless have died. Maybe I need one love triangle with the youngest generation but the last novel is NOT a romantic comedy.

– Verbal abuse is on the nose but it works. Not sure who would use it when. It is different from arguments. In the first novel, Jake’s dad abuses him verbally, one reason he runs away. The Feldman trio abuse people verbally causing stress in the community.

– Public humiliation demands a position, political or communal and Ibrahim seems to be shielding himself from any publicity or politics. Sometimes the most powerful people are invisible. In the first novel, Jake’s father feels that if Jake doesn’t disappear, he will be humiliated by having a son who plagiarized. He is chair of history.

– Loss is necessarily part of the last novel of a trilogy but it must be depicted in terms of fate versus will to enhance choices and dramatic actions. Events that are inevitable don’t make readers turn pages.

– Stakes are raised according to the pressures of time, the escalation of harm as death approaches, and the corrosion of values.

– Plan goes wrong. Not sure how plans can go wrong except when nature does things to the bio weapon that weren’t planned. Young and healthy weren’t supposed to die.

– Falsely accused. Samir could be falsely accused of the serial rapes and murders in the first novel, BB or one of the homeless framed for Sam’s murder instead of his daughter Litonya in the second, and in the third novel, Litonya could be falsely accused of the high concept plot when she wasn’t privy to all the details.

[Christopher Carlson]

Christopher Carlson’s Delivers Insights Through Conflict

What I learned during this assignment was a reminder to explore conflict in every scene, if possible.

1) Affirmation of knowledge over ignorance

– conflict: literal hand-to-hand combat when a woman representing Knowledge wrestles a Giant representing Ignorance for a baby, representing Helen, in the cave of Father Time, over the future of Helen’s soul

2) It’s important to tell the truth when depicting a person’s life

– conflict: Teacher argues with the filmmakers over their right to add “adventure and romance” when making a movie about Helen’s life

3) Loving another person means also accepting their frailties

– conflict: Helen confronts John Macy re his decision to leave Teacher and their marriage

4) Live in the present, not the past

– conflict: Kate confronts Peter re whether he should uphold how society views Helen – on a pedestal, representative of the Old Ways – and not marry her, or whether he can bring her into the New Ways — a relationship and marriage

5) Loving another is a positive human expression, which a blind/deaf person can fully participate in

– conflict: Helen in conflict with herself after Peter declares his feelings for her, i.e., whether to accept his advances, or not