Day 5: Undiluted Truth / Monologue – ALI

[Jim]

What makes these characters great from a writing perspective is how their traits are exhibited through their emotional, escalating exchanges. Each exchange pokes deeper into the other’s wound. What happens when you poke a wound? It hurts even more. To stop the pain, you get defensive. You lash out. It becomes an endless spiral of inflicting pain.

[Sandeep Gupta]

This is the only scene and lesson I will remember from the whole set for these 39 seconds taking me more than 39, if not a whole 48 hours to grasp as much as my answer reflects.

One reason is I grew up on the other side of the planet and by the time I could read and where I could read, the circumstances around this scene were politely hidden history. If that was not enough, there is no way to decipher on the dramatic foundation from the scene per se. Especially as many competing narratives about ALI must have reached and lost on me over the years. Helped to listen to the screenplay for clues.

Presuming for the rest of this write up the screenplay version available is at least emotionally factual. Regardless, a ton of the dramatic foundation for the scene for people in the US, especially for those mature enough in or about the history of late 1960s, would come from the apperception mass from the defining and polarizing moment of the scandal, outrage, as well as legend and admiration from seeing it in newsprint, and TV.

The other thing I noticed, given Will can portray a wider range of emotions, Ali, although very emotional and remarkably coherent for such a upsetting and stirring moment, was a little contained. If I am reading this right and not a consequence of a phone screen. His sentiments may seem common-sense to recognize today, his truth was likely a bold insight for its time and an example that the First Amendment is our friend.

And arguably it was a fairly calculated play on his part that could only have helped integration — remarkable as there is no way Ali and Will were not aware of the moment and the other consequences possible in the gambit.

In the screenplay it gets obvious he is as consistent as he declared, he is brave enough and fearless to define it. And “once his mind is made up” he speaks it unambiguously and never wavers. All that is fairly apparent in the monologue, as is (a) his eloquent exposition of the wound, and (b) the possibilities of what he will be living into the future.

Given how polarizing this event was (internet and AI tell me so, that it was) the consequences would have delighted both sides, although his supporters got a fair amount of delay in the gratification. I wish these times were not so politically correct and afraid we will never know how that generation saw this movie today.

Anyone else making acquaintance with this event for the first time? I would love to hear what you have to say, as well as those who “knew.”

Last, but not the least, the insight came from noticing this scene is ten pages before the movie’s midpoint when all begins to fall apart. Clearly the placement of the character’s truth at or around structural points is a tool with many possibilities.

[Deb Johnson]

A well-written monologue can stand on its own. I haven’t seen this movie since it came out – yet I was instantly drawn into the emotion and drama.

Ali is expressing his truth in utter anger and frustration with the system that wants to send him away.

Whether I agree or disagree with his monologue is irrelevant. The fact that I am compelled by what he’s saying and drawn into his emotion is what constitutes a well-written scene.

(Does anyone know if this was something Ali actually said – or was it written for the screen?)

A very enlightening component of this class is the prompt to answer the question “What drama is this scene built around.”

This is a key to what makes each scene so compelling. (Isn’t that what Hal told us in the first class?!?)

When I describe the drama, I often shift focus and ask – what if it wasn’t set up this way?

For example: what if Ali left the meeting and then went out to dinner with a friend and delivered the same monologue? Horrible, right?

What we see is this: With all the cameras and reporters, the whole world is watching. He delivers it as he walks. He points and shouts in anger. Everyone is keeping up with him and clamoring to ask questions.

There are always a hundred ways to write a scene, but well-written scenes always place themselves in drama that is inherent to the characters and all the profile items the writer wants to deliver.

A wonderful tool to use and keep in mind as we shape our stories.

[Lawrence Fraly]

Cheryl,I remember when Ali was drafted and refused to fight. I don’t remember his exact words, but I remember his anger was far stronger and his speech more specific and comprehensive than this monologue portrays. I suspect the producers/writers/etc. toned down Ali’s speech so they wouldn’t alienate or instill violence in their audience. I mean, look who they chose to play Ali.

[Karyn Laitis]

Week 4, Day 5: Undiluted Truth/Monologue—ALI

· The quality of this monologue: It was very well written and delivered—art imitating life. But then Ali was bigger than life. I recall news reports that were snippets on Ali (Cassius Clay) being a “Conscientious Objector”. His diatribe was controversial, to the point and from the heart truth. This is the type of monologue that any actor would drool over.

· The level of emotion and the character’s truth: his monologue is timeless. Tragically calling out his followers as his oppressors; removing the limited freedoms he has to practice his religious beliefs because he was black, a Muslim, and not Judeo-Christian.

· The drama was built around Ali living in “his” truth and not acquiescing to others anymore than he was required. His truth fueled his intensity and the drama.

· The movie was about Ali—all others provide the backdrop to feature his trials, tribulations, and victories to live his truth.

[Lawrence Fraly]

Karyn, I think Ali’s refusal went way past doing the required. He spoke out against the entire establishment. I wonder what he’d say about this movie, and this monologue if he were of the same mental capacity as he was in 1967 at the height of the war and fight for civil rights.

[Karyn Laitis]

I remember the controversy of his actions and the press coverage of his anger at the hypocrisy of “religious beliefs” and the Constitution. A can’t remember verbatim, but that monologue sounded very accurate with the news coverage. There was an uproar when he changed his name from Cassius Clay (named after an abolitionist?) and Muhammad Ali after embracing the Muslim religion.

[Lawrence Fraly]

Week 4 Day 5 Undiluted Truth/Monologue ALI

FIRST WATCH

Quality of this monologue Rhythm, repetition, simplicity of language, turn same words used by “establishment” against itself (irony), pausing between sentences/phrases – classic oratory

Level of emotion and the character’s truth Ali elevates the emotion as he speaks, he’s angry, and speaking to the press as well as to any in the establishment who could hear him.

SECOND WATCH

Drama of this scene Ali was called up as a draftee, and he refused to fight. At the time, there was great division in the country about the Vietnam war and civil rights.

Profile Here’s the greatest fighter in the world in the ring, which makes him the perfect character when he refuses to fight for those who try to take him out of the ring and thrust into the ring of fire. He’s brave in and outside the ring, standing up against improbable odds. Dodging their punches and punching back. His wound are his being black and Muslim. But he embraces his wound as his strength.

What makes his character great from a writer’s p.o.v. is the many layers Ali lived in real life and what he represented to so many people – devil or saint, depending on which side you were on. Most of those issues (if not all of them, including inequities in the military) are still with us. Tapping deeply into those truths could upset a whole lot of folks who don’t get the truths now and any more than the folks did back then. What else makes this character so great from a writer’s perspective is how dangerous he could appear on the screen. You have to pull your punches, no pun intended, or this movie would have never been made. Even Spike Lee understands the business side.

My writing I’ve had to pull my punches on both screenplays I’ve written for courses I’ve taken with ScreenwritingU. And I’ll have to pull even more punches with the one I’m writing now. I learned a lot about toning down the “truths” just from listening to this milquetoast monologue (no offense to Michael Mann).

[J.R Riddle]

Ali was a confident, angry and egoistic young man – as a person, it was easy to see his wounds in this film. He was also a highly successful, talented fighter. This scene was well written regardless of whether it’s all true or compromised for the movie’s emotional effects. The emotional impact of this scene held the audience to empathizing with Ali’s belief of not fighting. When he could beat the pulp out of people he knew for money and fame, but would not, by his own emotional wounds, fight strangers for his country’s cause.

Having lived through those times, however we all could imagine both sides of humanity’s emotions at that point in our country’s history. I met Ali in New York, in later years, as we marched down a main street – he was friendly, funny, intellectually slow but still bigger than life. The disconnect for some people or media in the past, and this movie’s audience was that Ali forgot our “Country” fought a Revolutionary War and later a Civil War to give him that right to speak as he wanted, worship as he preferred and live a life with some measures of freedom. The film shows his emotions, rightly or wrongly; we can’t judge the man, Ali, only this script. The dialogue created a dynamic scene that held our attention and pulled us into his emotional wounds, pain and reality.

[J.R Riddle]

What I learned: This character, called Ali, impels me to revisit every emotional scene in my screenplays and write to a new level. Be bold! Be uncompromising in my character’s truths, wounds and secrets. I loved this class! Thank you, everyone, for your insights.