(questing music) - Characters with strong
opinions are an important ingredient of any story.
They turn the physical and emotional conflicts,
like love, hate, success, failure, life, death,
into abstract ones.
They create a war of values in the story,
a cause, something worth fighting and sometimes
even dying for.
And it's usually these characters' opinions
that permeate into the universe of the story,
causing every interaction to revolve around them.
Consider these two mentors from the Pixar universe,
Dean Hardscrabble and Gusteau.
Monsters University may be labeled as the
"when Mike met Sulley story."
But it's really about how the two of them
dealt with Dean Hardscrabble and her views.
Mike wouldn't scare a baby
as we saw in Monsters, Inc.
yet still believes he is born to be a scarer.
Sulley is a born scarer, which he thinks gives him
a pass to slack off.
Dean Hardscrabble is a slap in the face for both.
She brings Sulley down because he doesn't wanna be
greater than he is,
and she systematically tries to crush Mike's hope
of being a scarer, not out of maliciousness.
It's just what she believes in.
This is the secret of any good villain.
She doesn't hate Mike.
She's not mean to be mean.
She just had a set of values that goes against
those of our protagonist.
If Hardscrabble had Gusteau's attitude to life,
it would make Mike's life much easier,
and essentially nullify Monsters University's story.
She wouldn't be his polar opposite,
which we have talked about in episode one.
But Remy the rat needs someone on his side.
His rat family believed that community and family
are more important than passion,
and the cooking community thinks only certain people
can cook, definitely not Linguini
and definitely not a rat.
Gusteau's encouraging point of view helps Remy
push forward when everything lost,
and he's echoed victoriously in the end,
in the words of snooty critic, Anton Ego,
after Remy has won him over.
- [Voiceover] The world is often unkind to a new talent,
new creations.
The new needs friends.
- Think about the difference between Marli and Gill
in Finding Nemo.
Marlin is terrified for Nemo's safety
and won't let him do anything on his own.
However, in Nemo's first interaction with Gill,
Nemo encounters a different opinion about his abilities.
Marlin always used Nemo's wounded fin as a weakness,
as an excuse to fuss over him.
But Gill refused to give him any allowances,
believing he should learn to fend for himself.
This struggle between values leads to Marlin's arc
of giving his son more independence and space,
and Nemo's arc of learning his own worth.
Opinions and values are important,
because they give us conflict.
They turn our characters into compelling heroes,
villains, mentors, and friends.
Values turn a physical conflict into a meaningful one.
Values give us character arcs, which are usually
what moves us the most.
A lot has been said about knowing the physical world
of your story, but knowing the values and ideas
of this world can be just as important, if not more so.
(playful, whistling music) Alright, guys,
thanks for watching.
On the next episode of Pixar Storytelling
we're gonna talk about character empathy.
Don't forget to subscribe and visit our website
at https://www.bloopanimation.com