- Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left! - Yes, I have.
- Look! - Just a flesh wound.
- In life, when somebody gets injured, it's just a stroke of bad luck.
But in movies, it's never an accident.
An injury's a calculated and meaningful choice by a writer or director
to tell us more about a character, or reinforce certain thematic ideas.
Each injury, whether it's blindness or becoming handicapped, represents a symbolic handicap
and who they are as a character.
And many of the most memorable characters and movie moments were greatly enhanced by this literary concept.
So let's give some characters a diagnosis.
- It doesn't hurt you? - Oh, no. I just keep picking it up and putting it back in again.
- First I have to convince you that injuries are much more than just physical in the film.
So let's say we have a character returning from combat adjusting to civilian life.
How do we show his inner conflict symbolically?
Give him a limp. A limp literally hinders his mobility, reflecting his struggle to adapt to this new lifestyle.
- And I know that your therapist thinks your limp's psychosomatic, quite correctly, I'm afraid.
- So when he gets the thrill of the chase, and the limp finally goes away, we know what that means.
- He said you forgot this.
- The ability to stand and walk normally is a symbol of strength and self-confidence.
Why do you think the Secret Service didn't allow any pictures taken of FDR in a wheelchair?
Walking, or the lack of it, makes for a powerful image.
In Forrest Gump, lieutenant Dan's character arc gets represented through his injuries.
He wants to die a hero on the battlefield.
When he fails, he loses the ability to walk.
His injury directly contrasts Forrest's, who went from handicapped to always running.
In later scenes, liutenant Dan's frustration is always shown through his reliance on others to move
because he can't move himself where he wants to be.
When he finally gets as close as he can to the heavens, challenging the fate he was supposed to have,
that's when he finally moves on his own. And eventually...
[Dan:] - Yeah, I got new legs
Custom-made.
Titanium alloy.
- The fixing of an injury always reflects the way a character's inner self is being fixed, too.
If you want a character to have a crutch in their psyche, give them a literal one.
"There Will Be Blood" starts with eerie scenes depicting the dangerous world of drilling underground.
Daniel Plainview breaks his leg falling into a well
and has to crawl all the way from the well in the middle of nowhere to the nearest town.
Through an injury and how he beats it, we learn about his ruthlessness better than dialogue could ever tell us.
And in a way, it justifies his actions in the movie.
[Quentin Tarantino:] - As much of a bastard as this man proves himself to be,
that...
courage...
that it would have taken to do that, actually, gives him the heroic right
for almost everything that he does throughout the rest of the movie.
- But it doesn't always have to be grandiose.
You can even give a character a fake injury to play with our expectations.
[Applause and cheering]
In "Bonnie and Clyde", Clyde cut off his toe to get out of doing work in prisons,
and this impairment relates directly to his sexual impotence with Bonnie.
In literature and film, a physical ailment can often indicate a sexual ailment for a man.
He's limp in more ways than one.
- I ain't much of a lover boy.
- In "Rear Window", Jeff is physically bound to a wheelchair.
He doesn't want to marry Lisa, and his physical restrictions from his injury
compliment his view that he's perhaps being sexually restricted as well
- And your love life?
- Not too active.
- But what about characters like Professor X and Yoda?
They both have issues with walking, but they're some of the most powerful characters in their worlds.
I think a lot of mentors have physical handicaps because it reflects how they favor mind over body.
They've transcended physical limitations to the point where it doesn't reflect the weakness.
A similar injury is blindness.
This trope goes as far back as "Oedipus Rex", when the blind man can tell the future,
while Oedipus is the one seeing things incorrectly.
In movies, not being tricked by the world around you seems to give you a spiritual wisdom instead.
Also, have you ever noticed that every superhero has a movie where they lose their powers?
They can't shoot webs, they don't have their suit, or they get blasted with kryptonite.
It's because when your life is threatened, or when you're no longer invincible,
then you become relatable.
'Cause what's more human than being mortal?
When two pretty much invincible superheroes fight, it's kind of boring.
Where are the stakes? How can we relate to them?
E.T. was such a revolutionary movie, because for the first time,
the alien wasn't a giant monster, or a huge, impenetrable creature.
He was innocent. And most importantly, he could get sick, making him human.
I think one of my favorite examples of bringing out humanity through injuries is in "Terminator 2".
Arnold Schwarzenegger is an emotionless robot,
but by the end of the movie, he grows on you.
And it comes from his selflessness and how he lets himself get hurt.
Even with no sympathetic dialogue, no discernible emotion and a murderous streak,
the Terminator still gets a hug in the end.
And we empathize with him because he got hurt.
[Michael Scott:] - You know what, here's the thing about "Die Hard 4".
"Die Hard 1", the original, John McClane is just this normal guy.
You know, he's just a normal New York City cop
who gets his feet cut, he gets beat up.
But he's an everyday guy.
In "Die Hard 4", he is jumping a motorcycle into a helicopter in the air.
You know. He's invincible.
- At the end of the day, major injuries remind you of your mortality
and may make you reconsider what's important to you.
In film, the same principles apply.
So the next time somebody gets hurt, remember that it's never just a flesh wound.
- Come back here and take what's coming to you!
I'll bite your legs off!
- Thanks for watching.
♫ Round buckle shoes and dark sunglasses ♫
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♫ His shirts are all a little bit too small ♫
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♫ He told me television's overrated ♫
♫ The only boy I wanna see is David ♫
♫ ♫