Well yes, of course it does, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about today.
I saw Jurassic World on Friday, and this post comes from that. The movie itself is good enough - I went to see dinosaurs eat people and got that - but there were some serious character issues that I spotted while watching the movie. And trust me, if I can spot problems with a story while I'm experiencing said story, they're significant problems.
I'm going to be talking freely about the movie here, and there will be spoilers, so if you haven't seen it or don't want it spoiled, you might want to come back to this entry afterward.
Still here? Cool.
So the movie starts off with two brothers. One's at most nine or ten, the other's a stereotypically surly teenager, probably about sixteen. These kids deal with some of the story's important characters, get lost when everything goes wrong and have to be rescued, and in general do all the things you expect kids to do in an action movie.
They also add nothing to the over-arching plot and could have been removed with no effect on the real events of the story.
This is not something I should be able to say about any characters in any story. If a character serves as more than just part of the background, they should matter to the tale, they should be undeniably significant, they should change what happens in a way that ensures the story could not have turned out the same without them.
Not everyone has to be the hero, but if you're going to put a kindly shopkeeper into the story, make sure the shopkeeper provides the hero with an item that later becomes vitally important. Don't just put them there to show that the hero shops local.
This goes along with the Law of Conversation of Detail. We assume that if someone is in the story, they're there for a reason. So if a character is in the story, if they appear in multiple scenes and get character development and come out changed in the end, their presence needs to have an effect on the plot. The movie's actual plot - genetic engineering has re-created dinosaurs, genetically-created uber-saurus gets loose, other dinosaurs escape, chaos ensues, Our Heroes bring uber-saurus down - would have turned out the exact same way without the kids. Hell, without them, it would have been a tighter plot with more time for development of the actual protagonists who do things that make the plot move. And some of that screen time could have been used to make the lead woman character's development less of a blatant stereotype. -_-
The exception to this is Chris Pratt's character, who I'm pretty sure knew he was the hero in an action movie and acted accordingly. He didn't get any development, because he was a badass who cared about the dinosaurs from the start, and that was all he needed to be. But I digress.
Part of why I'm talking about this is because I've dealt with it in my own work. Years ago, I cut a character from a plot the day before I started writing the book, because I realized she was unnecessary. A current plot-in-progress has a similar issue, which is why I decided not to write it yet - I'm not sure if I need to expand a character's role or delete it completely. So it's an issue I understand, which is why it stuck out to me so much while I watched the movie.
Have any of you experienced this, in your reading or watching? I realize it's a stretch to call a character useless, but I know it when I see it, and I doubt I'm the only one. Or have you seen this in your own writing, and had to excise a character who didn't matter from your work? 'Murder your darlings' is not supposed to be literal, but it happens. Thoughts?
I think they were there to get Howard's character more involved and to care more, but that could've been done without them. If you've read my review, then you know that was just one of many plot holes in that film.
ReplyDeleteI think they were only there to make her character go from "woman with a career and life of her own, the way she wanted it" to "woman who must get all family-like and take care of kids". -_- Not pleased.
DeleteSkipping the post for now - which is hard, because I was intrigued - but it'll be even better when I read it after I've seen the movie. Have to say, though,the reviews aren't making me feel that excited... :(
ReplyDeleteIf you're just there to see dinosaurs eat people, like I was, then you'll be okay. I enjoyed it while I was watching it, for the most part, but the more I think about it, the worse it is. >_<
DeleteI've chopped plenty of characters. I thought they were important, but it was amazing how much lighter and smoother the story flowed when they were removed. I wan't planning on seeing this movie, and the more I hear, the more glad I wasn't.
ReplyDeleteYou won't be missing all that much. And yeah, I've done that - I've gone through the story in my head, seeing if it worked with a character missing, and decided based on that. If it works, you know. ^_^
DeleteI've had to cut a few characters. I chopped a couple from my current WIP, and then cut another from a side WIP. I have a problem with having a large cast in pretty much everything I write. Heh, it reminds me of one of the reviews we got for The Ancient. As I dug into the first story, my initial thought was that there were too many characters for a short story. Perhaps I should have been careful for what I wished.. and this quickly became and remained my favorite of the lot.
ReplyDeleteAt least it didn't work against me now! But yes, like you said, I do try to make sure my characters serve a purpose, and if they don't, then I try to cut them. One of my friends says I'll never be lonely because I have so many voices in my head. :)
Oh yes, I have way too many people living in or near my head for me to ever be lonely. ^_^
DeleteAnd I used to have problems with creating huge casts for stories. My first few books had tons of characters and three or four running plots each, all tangled together. I managed to keep track of everything, but I know I didn't quite do them all justice. Oi.
I am so excited because -- for once! -- I saw this movie too and actually can join in the discussion of a newly released film. (Instead of catching it years later on Netflix.)
ReplyDeleteI agree. The kids brought nothing to the plot. They were in the movie for marketability -- because all the Jurassic movies need kids, right? And the kid viewers of Jurassic movies need characters that *could be* them.
This is what makes BLOCKBUSTER movies different from books. Jurassic will be a blockbuster, of course, even though when you look at it objectively, there's nothing original or really interesting about it -- it has the same plot as every other Jurassic movie. But people still go to see it. Chris Pratt! Dinosaurs eat people! Heck -- even I went to see it, and I almost never go to see a first run movie.
I don't know how these crazy rules came to apply to movies, but the same rules DO NOT work with books. Books have to reach a higher standard than Hollywood to make the grade.
Unless said book is a celebrity memoir. Then Hollywood rules apply.
Good point about the kids providing someone to identify with. Oddly enough, I never felt like a kid, even when I was one, so that's probably why they annoyed me so much.
DeleteAnd I agree that books need to be held to a higher standard. We can't rely on fancy visuals or attractive faces to make our stories appeal to an audience - all we have is words, so we have to use them in the best ways possible.
I've had to chop some characters too in my WIP. With a big cast, if you can't get characterization right than the reader won't be able to differentiate each and every character. So then there's no point in a large cast if their not adding to the story. I've seen this happen in a few books. A character will pop it, and it throws me off, like who are you again?
ReplyDeleteI've had that happen when I reread old plots and can't remember why characters were significant at all. That's the sort of thing that shows they need to be cut.
DeleteI try to avoid giving characters names unless they're important to the story. That generally keeps me from spending too much time on them, and I'm sure it prevents the reader from attaching too much significance on the unnamed characters.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I have plotted by using character types/purposes instead of names until I figured out who was who, but you've got an interesting method there. I'll have to look into that.
DeleteI liked how the assistant/babysitter's only real purpose in the plot...was to die. But I guess she had to so that the female lead could take a more active role in protecting the young lads. When I kill off my characters, I hope I'm not that obvious.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed that. And what made the whole thing worse was how they stretched out her death for so long. Could she have been dropped and grabbed and dropped and grabbed again a few more times? Yeesh. -_-
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