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Day 2: Mismatched Allies – GREEN BOOK
Daily Focus – Searching for Breakthroughs:
1. Please watch this scene and provide your insights/breakthroughs into what makes this character great from a writing perspective.
2. Read the other writers comments and make notes of any insights/breakthroughs you like.
3. Rethink or create a scene for your script using your new insights and rewrite that scene/character.
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15 Replies
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These characters are great because they are so far apart, their friendship seems impossible. They are mismatched in race, wealth, class, and education. They have to get over all of these before they can become friends.
The future is created when Shirley hires Tony. Their future friendship is reinforced when the two men must be together in dangerous situations for months at a time.
The drama is set around an interview between 2 very different characters. The audience is curious whether Tony will get the job and what will happen if he does.
Traits:
Shirley
An upper-class snob
Rich
Well educated
Talented in music
Single/ no children
Used to using his brain
Tony
Lower middle class
Needs money
Not well educated
Talented in driving and protection
Married/ 2 children
Used to using his muscles
Able to bargain
Insight: The farther the characters must travel to become friends, the more interesting the script.
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Insights re Greenbook…
The manner in which characters present themselves (physicality and diction) can communicate as much or more than their dialogue, and can also supply subtext.
Breakthrough…
Look for ways to present characters on the page that will speak to an audience other than just through dialogue.
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Bob Kerr – Mismatched Allies – Green Book
First Viewing:
How mismatched are these two characters?
– This is an oil and water combination, Dr. Shirley is cultured, educated and an artist living the artistic life. Tony is a “working class stiff” who is looking for the next job. He has a clear picture of what he is willing to do and what he absolutely will not do. Knows the power of walking away from an interview.
What do they have to get over to be able to work together and become friends?
– First there is a language barrier. Tony is a common man and the language Dr. Shirley uses is unfamiliar to him. Also, Dr. Shirley uses language in a completely different pattern than Tony is familiar with and there are some initial bumps along the way.
– Second they must navigate the unreasonable expectations of Dr. Shirley and the firm boundaries of Tony. No small task for two people on the road together for 8 weeks.
– They must come to a shared and mutual respect. Dr. Shirley had his record label ask around and Tony’s name came up multiple times. Thus Dr. Shirley’s interest in interviewing Tony. Tony has no reference point for Dr. Shirley. But he speaks straightforward and without hesitation. He establishes himself as a man of honor and someone who can be trusted.
Knowing Tony gets the job , how does this mismatch create a future for both characters?
– They are about to embark on an epic quest. It has already been established that they will face problems and potential violence. This does not stop them. Such a journey will create a bond between the two men that will transcend their differences and forge a shared future.
Second Viewing:
The drama is based on the clash of cultures and the knowledge that Dr. Shirley realizes he is searching for a man of unusual qualities who is fearless and honorable. Tony clearly understand what the job is and what his value is to the potential tour.
Right Characters:
The cultural shift of racial stereotypes makes these two characters perfect for conflict, tension and transformation
Traits:
Dr. Shirley: Cultured, elite, biased and unrealistic
Tony: Observant, Purposeful, Plain speaking and curious
Secret:
Dr. Shirley knows he probably has no choice but to hire Tony.
Tony’s pride lets him negotiate upward to preserve his self image for the sacrifice he is about to make
Wounds:
Dr. Shirley has experienced racism before and faced it alone.
Tony has been asked to make sacrifices before and is willing to play the role for the right amount of money.
Future: These two are destined to embark on an epic quest where one becomes the Paladin and the other the rare treasure to be protected at all cost.
The Insights: the details in the costumes, the set decoration and the speech patterns all create an opportunity for rich conflict, tension and the ultimate transformation of both characters.
The breakthrough _ As my script is based on a true story, the details in the minor things like how Dr. Shirley reacts when Tony tells him the conditions under which he will work. The simple lowering of the head is the signal that Dr. Shirley knows he has to redefine his expectations.
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WATCH 1ST TIME FOR:
How mismatched are these two?
– night and day and not just racial difference; Tony’s a lower-class tough guy bouncer, Don is a well-educated classical musician. Tony’s poor, Don is rich and in command.
What do they have to get over to be able to work together and become friends?
– racial prejudice, class prejudice, and a long itiniery
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Knowing that Tony gets the job, how does this mismatch create a future for both characters?
– they will either have to get along or bust up. The struggles they will face in early 1960s Deep South will get them fighting on the same team against the problems there. Tony will come to appreciate blacks and elites; Don will come to appreciate whites and working class folks.
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WATCH 2ND TIME FOR:
What drama is this scene built around?
– Prejudiced Tony needing a job, considers if he willing to “lower” himself to work for a black, though not to the extent of shining his shoes.
– Don considers if uncouth Tony is right for the tough job ahead.
What profile items (right character, traits, secret, wound, future) showed up in these two character’s words and actions?
– Tony is crude, tough, ready to fight, but has to grovel for a job
– Don is aloof, upper strata, refined, famous, into classical music
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WHAT MAKES THIS CHARACTER GREAT FROM A WRITING PERSPECTIVE?
– The relationship and contrast between the crude white guy and the refined, snobbish black. It’s a terrific cliche reversal.
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The reason Doc and Tony need to be together in the beginning is that Tony needs a job and Doc needs someone who has been highly recommended to protect him as he plays his music in the deep south. Doc is concerned him being a black man will not be safe there so he wants to hire Tony.
The tension in the scene occurs when the Doc tells him he needs someone to do his laundry and shine his shoes which Tony says that’s not the kind of work he does. Then he tells Doc that instead of the $100 per week he offers him, he’ll need 125.
Doc is sophisticated, a snob, talented, feels superior.
Tony is working class guy, he’s tough, he’s the opposite of Doc, unsophisticated.
Their future together consists of Tony guarding Doc, but in order for them to survive the potential prejudice they encounter, they are going to have to address their own prejudices to survive.
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At the moment, this video is also unavailable to me – I dont know if Mi has the same problem? If anyone knows the link and can post it here, I’d really appreciate it, thanks. 🙂 Ann Marie
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Hi Ann,
I tried to get it for you, but I am blocked from that site because I completed that assignment and have moved to the other assignments. If you contact Cheryl through her email, she may be able to help.
Take care,
Joan Butler
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Hi Ann, yes for some reason, that video seems to be blocked here too. Had to use a VPN again to change my location to LA instead of France. I’ll see if I can find another link that works here for you.
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Sorry Ann, I’ve been looking for that movie clip for a while but couldn’t find it in our region.
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Hi Ann,
If you give me your email address, I can send you Assignment 5. You could leave it in your email until you are ready for it. Anything earlier is blocked.
Cheers,
Joan Butler
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Instead of mirroring each other like in Tombstone, in Green Book both characters are so different that we’re curious to see how their journey will unfold.
Don Shirley is very elegant, classy, educated, smart and rich (lives in luxury and has a lot of money to pay his personal assistant) whereas Tony Lip is not classy at all, he’s a bit racist (says “colored guys”), doesn’t talk very well in terms of vocabulary (“broads”) and enunciation (low level of education).
The scene takes place when African Americans were not allowed in some places and didn’t have the same rights. Therefore Don Shirley needs someone who can drive him on his tour in the deep South but also someone who can handle troubles they might encounter with racists over there (for his safety). Tony needs that job but doesn’t want to be a “butler” (laundry, shoe shine…). In order to work, they will both have to make some efforts and will have to deal with their pride and prejudices.
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Week 2 Day 2: Mismatched Allies – GREEN BOOK
1st Viewing:
• How mismatched are these two?
They are totally mismatched. Tony is uneducated, street smart, with poor vocabulary. Doc is educated, sophisticated, well spoken. Tony may be racist. Doc feels superior, he sits on a throne and wears an emperor’s robe.
• What do they have to get over to be able to work together and become friends?
Tony has to get over working for a black man. Doc has to adjust to Tony’s unsophisticated, rough ways.
• Knowing that Tony gets the job, how does this mismatch create a future for both characters?
It could well create conflicts and misunderstandings.
As well as driving, Tony will need to protect Doc in certain situations. They will have to come to tolerate, understand and appreciate each other and their differences. Perhaps they will come to respect each other and even become friends.
2nd viewing:
• What drama is this scene built around?
It is built around the mis-matched characters. Neither can truly relate to the other. There is drama as to whether Doc can accept low-class Tony, will Tony accept working for a black man, and will he be offered the job.
• What profile items (right character, traits, secret, wound, future) showed up in these two character’s words and actions?
Tony: poor, uneducated, tough, hard- working, racist.
Doc: intelligent, educated, talented, sophisticated, snob.
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What I learned: how powerful it can be to take a highly emotionally-charged concept like prejudice and show how it can take many forms, beyond what’s most obvious, by having a ‘typical victim’ of one kind of prejudice be prejudiced himself in another way. I guess I’m saying, I need to remember to consider theme from multiple points of view…
How mismatched are these two?
Different diction (words for) e.g. “elephant tusks”/“horns”; “molar/shark-tooth”/“gift”; “Musician”/“What? You mean songs?”Different status, visualized by different chairs (typical versus gilded-throne) Different idea of what an office looks like, what “doctor” means, what an “assistant” does (i.e. polishes shoes, irons clothes—or not, and what activities are demeaning)Different traditional educational/street-smarts level, as evidenced by the way they use words/phrases in dialogue: “In what capacity” “What do you mean?” What did you do there?” And: “Public relations” (when Tony means ‘managing conflict’ as a mafia tough guy)Differing ideas about what makes a person valuable. To Doc it’s ‘golden’ image and performance, how you “appear” to “Old Money/Cultured Whites.” To Tony it’s one’s core values and behavior.Differences in ‘refinement.’ “What, we bringing broads?” Versus everything Doc does and says.
What do they have to get over to be able to work together and become friends?
Come to see their similarities and use their differences to help each other grow.
Knowing that Tony gets the job, how does this mismatch create a future for both characters:
Tony’s future involves losing his prejudice (of blacks), and coming to value/embrace education—indeed benefitting from it in his relationship with his wife—as he’s also personally enriched by a culture that’s previously felt intimidating and beyond his reach (so he’s defensively dismissed). In Doc’s future is a growing appreciation for the beauty and value in Tony’s culture, which includes genuine intimacy with others, something Doc will “grow into” by coming to value himself as he sees himself through Tony’s eyes: as valuable, simply because he ‘exists,’ rather than for his image and performance. Doc will also overcome his own prejudice toward those with less education and “culture”—as he defensively defines it. And find the family he craves.
The scene is built around the drama of a job interview with quiet conflict between two characters who have such profoundly differing ideas about which human attributes and activities are—alternatively— “demeaning” and “of value” that compromise seems impossible. Yet they desperately need each other.
Wound (in subtext)—Doc is “over-the-top” compensating for poor self worth. Tony’s humiliated by his lack of education and wants to be more romantic with his wife, but doesn’t know how.
Traits: Doc: Educated (diction examples above—and, “That’s why I called inquiring about your availability”), Musically accomplished (a doctor of music), Defensively egotistical/elitist/prejudiced; Lonely. Tony: Devoted/kind, Tough, Street-smart (“You. In the deep South. There’s gonna be problems). A Family Guy
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These two characters are mismatched in many ways – jobs, experience, race, family, tone, speech patterns, wealth, class, dress, education, negotiation skills, and street smarts.
They have to get over the master-servant issue, the race issues, the job duties
The future is going to be reversed, where Tony issues the orders to Don in order to keep him safe.
The scene is built around the need for Don to hire a driver/security guard, and Tony’s need for money. Both wish to keep their self respect and honour the other’s desire to keep their self respect. While the future will bring conflict between them and external conflict, the respect for each other will be upheld.
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