John Vorhaus, Author/Speaker/Artist/Screenwriter: I also am very frustrated with moments where
it seems like an action is being taken either because the writer
is being lazy or the character is being stupid.
Film Courage: Does comedy have the same plot structure as drama?
John: Most of the time the arc of a comic story is this; the hero goes through an arc of change
from denial to acceptance of the theme, the thing he has to fix and he is rewarded with community.
I'm thinking about the movie Liar Liar. Jim Carrey is a pathological liar. He needs to learn to tell
the truth so he undergoes an arc of change from denial to acceptance. He goes from thinking lying
is good to telling the truth is good and he's rewarded with a good relationship with his son,
so he's rewarded with community. If you think about every movie you've ever seen
with the word wedding in the title the arc is always the same. Heroes go from denial
to acceptance of the thing they need to change in order to win true love,
then they were rewarded with true love they're rewarded with entrance into community
in its most profound expression which is couplehood in the eyes of the tribe that's
kind of how we value community at the utmost the difference between comedy and tragedy specifically
in comedy the hero learns the lesson of the theme and is rewarded with community
in tragedy the hero never learns the lesson of the theme and is punished with exile or death
right. Now I'm thinking about God, how many times have I said right now I'm thinking about when I
watch this video back I will knock myself in ahead for having said right now I'm thinking
about so many times examples are great though thank you let's consider The Great Gatsby.
Gatsby never learns that his path to glory is not the one that he thinks it is and he's
devastated in the end or King Lear classic tragedy of King Lear look leer you only have
to do one thing accept your daughter's love if you do that all will be well no I'm a dumbass
I'm stubborn I cannot accept her love therefore I must die in the wilderness blind insane and alone
that's what happens when you don't learn the lesson so what's the difference between comedy
and drama well between the difference between comedy and tragedy is clearly in comedy the
hero learns the lesson in tragedy the hero never learns the lesson drama can kind of end up both
ways you can reach a space where the characters have achieved understanding but still get a bad
outcome that's problematic for audiences I'll give you a great example the movie Thelma and Louise
these characters need to undergo transformation one needs to have a authentic bond with another
human being that's Thelma and one needs to set herself free from her abusive relationship that's
Louise I think I have it right if it's not that it's exactly the other way around they go on a
journey together they achieve their outcome but the way they achieve the outcome in in achieving
the outcome that across the line that society will not allow they kill they murder and so they have
to pay the ultimate price and at the end of the movie in the original screenplay I've read it
it looks like this they fly off the cliff sorry spoiler alert they fly off the cliff and crash
and die the end when they tested that ending in front of audiences the audiences hated it because
they love Thelma and Louise they don't want to see the Thelma and Louise die they want a happy ending
the story will not allow a happy ending so the filmmaker very cleverly creates the expectation of
a happy ending or at least the suspension of the bad ending we now see Thelma and Louise taking off
and freeze frame and we know yeah they're probably going to die but in this moment we can imagine
that they live in eternity and they got their happy ending exact same ending as Butch Cassidy
and Sundance Kid where butcher Butch and Sundance by the way if you haven't seen that class go see
that Butch and Sundance they have their backs to the wall they must die and they run out with guns
blazing and they're shot dead but it's freeze frame so we never see them die they live on an
eternity that's how you bring a character to a tragic but not unhappy ending what are some
of your pet peeves when it comes to plot I was watching a movie last night called Narvik, it's
a…no no no I got a better example. I recently read for the first time in my life Treasure Island,
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of pirates and piracy. I didn't realize
how many of our pirate tropes come from that novel but the plot was very unsatisfying to
me my pet peeve was I was ahead of the narrator I knew what was going to happen even though the
narrator was trying to fool me I could see several steps ahead so that's a pet peeve
for me when the narrative is not sufficiently sophisticated that I don't know what's happening
when that I that I know too easily what's happening that there's not an interesting
puzzle for me to solve interestingly I decided I'm going to cut Robert Lewis even Stevenson a
little slack because when he wrote those plot twists they were brand new nobody had ever
contemplated a move like that in a novel before so and and the 10 year old boys who encounter it
they've never experienced it's spellbinding to them it's a legitimate move we go back to the
big fat middle maybe I'm not the right audience for that book a pet peeve of mine in storytelling
is storytelling that's clumsy unsophisticated makes it too easy for me to problem solve I also
am very frustrated with moments where it seems like an action is being taken either because
the writer is being lazy or the character is being stupid I find those are places where I
check out of a story if I feel like I'm reading something I say to the writer man you could have
done better than that that's just yeah that's it that's only an okay choice I expected better than
you than that of you or more profoundly if the writer gives the character a choice that doesn't
make sense according to my understanding of the character I'm not having that I will not tolerate
I won't root for a hero who doesn't know enough to act in his own self-interest
there's a great example but I'm not sure if I can share it because it has to do with Avatar 2 The
Way Of Water, there's a moment in Avatar 2, the hero has taken his family to safety, they're safe
as long as they don't make any mistakes the bad guys will never find them
they've achieved their mission trouble is if they've achieved their mission that's where the
movie ends it's not very interesting and this is very early in the movie relatively early
character makes a mistake character reaches out to allies in the outer world and unintentionally
tips off the bad guys where he gives himself away is what happens and I say to myself I leave this
movie right here because you just did something so manifestly not in your self-interest either
you did it because you didn't care or you did it because you didn't know and either way I
no longer like you I've checked out emotionally I ran this by a friend of mine and he said you were
watching the wrong movie Avatar 2 the way of water isn't about strategic choices it's about pretty
pictures and if you you'll give yourself a better movie going experience if you take if you meet it
where it lives so to speak and so I realized once again I'm bringing my expectations to the
story I'm losing enjoyment because I'm letting my expectations interfere with the moment if I
just let go of my expectations and let the movie be exactly what it is I'm going to have a better
time the real takeaway from this is don't have pet peeves don't have them at all don't have
expectations and then you won't be disappointed meet the material where it is recognize it's not
a good movie or a bad movie it's just the movie that it is there's a great one that people argue
about all the time it was the the Disaster Artist, James Franco's take on that guy I
don't even remember his name [Tommy Wiseau] but that guy made a movie that people couldn't stand
The Room that people couldn't stand but other people found surprising value in it the ones
who couldn't stand it couldn't stand it because it didn't match the norms they
expected the ones who had had value in it were the ones who met it where it was well this is
this guy's expression he's got something to say he's gone to some effort to say it let's
embrace what he has to say rather than rejecting it because it doesn't fit our
expectations nevertheless writers keep your character smart because audiences will leave
they're not as generous of spirit as you would like them to believe be and they'll
leave if they feel like the character is doing things that they can't get behind.