Weaknesses
The concept of weakness is described best by John Truby, an American screenwriter and director, who described a weakness as a need. There are two types of needs:
Psychological – These weaknesses only affect the hero in the story and nobody else.
Moral – These weaknesses morally affect the characters surrounding the story’s hero.
He mentioned that the best type of hero has a mixture of psychological and moral needs. Furthermore, he stated that any psychological weakness could be developed to become a moral weakness. Taking a psychological need and elaborating on it to become a moral need is an important technique to implement into your character as it shows development. This means the original weakness that only affected the hero has ricocheted and now affects the characters surrounding them. In contrast, moral weaknesses can also backfire and affect the hero themselves. This is typically done in stories when the surrounding characters view the hero negatively. Within our stories, we need our hero to take immoral actions against our other main characters, as we want our audience to care about the characters being harmed, increasing the weight of the weakness. If our story’s hero was a flat character and had no weaknesses at all, the audience is not likely to care about the hero or the surrounding characters.
Good Will Hunting
What is the film about?
This story is about a young adult, Will Hunting, who struggles to find his identity. He spends most of his nights at bars and batting cages with his best friends. He’s great at solving problems as he’s exceptionally talented at Mathematics; however, he cannot decrypt the one brewing problem deep within himself. After nearly being sent to jail, he gets bailed out by a professor at MIT who decides to help Will only if he agrees to work with him on Maths every week and that he meets with a therapist. Little does Will know that the therapist, Sean Maguire, is about to change his life for the better in many ways.
Why I chose this film?
I chose this film because the whole narrative is based on the protagonist’s character development. Furthermore, this film portrays a true reflection of reality as many people suffer from complacency and find it difficult to express their feelings and thoughts to others, causing them to never progress in life. I also chose this film because I can personally relate to and empathise with the protagonist of the story, as I’ve experienced difficult moments in earlier years.
How does the character change throughout the film?
From the beginning, we witness a few of our protagonist’s weaknesses. We see our hero, Will Hunting, is suffering and wounded by some past trauma that occurred during his childhood. He grew up as an orphan, abused by his foster father, which now causes him to believe that stepping outside his comfort zone will lead to emotional pain. This is one of Will’s psychological weaknesses. However, this weakness becomes a moral need when it causes Will to develop a defence mechanism that he projects onto others. We see this during the sequence where Will attends his first therapy session with his therapist/mentor, Sean Maguire. Will is scared of exposing his wounds during therapy but instead expresses them through his defence mechanisms. He begins the session by mocking the entire notion of what the men are here to do and refuses to engage in the session. Whenever Sean attempts to connect with Will personally, Will changes the subject. Will also flexes his intellect to intimidate Sean into feeling small. However, this doesn’t affect Sean, causing Will to take things further and push Sean over the edge by being verbally negative about his personal life. The entire sequence paints a clear picture of how Will uses his defence mechanisms to escape from dealing with uncomfortable situations.
Will’s most significant weaknesses are the defence mechanisms he isn’t aware of. This gradually changes as multiple characters begin to wear down Will’s defences. Will has fantastic job opportunities ahead of him thanks to his talent in Maths. However, these opportunities require him to leave his comfort zone and take risks, which he is terrified of. Therefore, Will unconsciously uses his defence mechanisms again to justify his inaction. After he turns down a job from the NSA, Will uses rationalisation to justify his decision in a seemingly logical manner to bypass the emotion behind it. However, Sean calls him out and forces Will to see the truth that he’s hiding from.
We see this again when Will’s relationship with his lover, Skylar, gets serious. Skylar asks Will to move to California with her; however, Will’s negative thoughts take over and jump to the worst-case scenario. Instead of allowing Will to get away with rationalising his refusal, Skylar also calls him out in anger, saying he’s too afraid that she won’t love him back, forcing Will to see the truth he’s escaping from. This triggers a harsher mix of Will’s defence mechanisms, causing him to look Skylar dead into the eyes to tell her he doesn’t love her. This is a form of regression as Will is now returning to an earlier safe state before entering an emotionally challenging relationship with Skylar.
Throughout the film, we witness Will use regression to avoid leaving his comfort zone, expressed by his group of mates. They provide a safe spot for Will as he won’t be required to grow or be challenged. During the film, Will continuously tells himself that it’s okay to have sacrificed great job opportunities and his relationship because he’ll always have a home with his friends. This brings us to Will’s last weakness, denial. Will is in denial about what he wants. We see during the sequence where Will’s closest friend, Chuckie, calls him out. Will is talking to Chuckie about his future vision, where he would still want to live in the same town with his best friend as his neighbour, each with their set of children, twenty years from now. However, Chuckie explains to Will that he’s sitting on top of a winning lottery ticket, but he’s too scared to cash it in, and that it’ll be an insult to both of them if he’s still living in the same town and working construction in twenty years. Chuckie forces Will to see the truth he’s hiding from. This scene is a turning point for Will, as he now realises the only person keeping him from progressing and moving forward is himself.
As a result of Will’s tense conversations with the characters surrounding him, his defences are lowered. However, this only won’t do it because the story isn’t about getting close to changing and reverting to your old behaviours. Instead, it’s a story about meaningful change, which requires catharsis. Thanks to the dents made to Will’s emotional armour throughout the film, we finally witness Will release his repressed emotions during the climactic therapy scene at the end of the film. Sean has had a look into Will’s files, containing pictures of the physical abuse he suffered as a child. This leads them both to commiserate about their painful childhoods, giving Sean a way to get through to Will. Sean continuously repeats the phrase, “It’s not your fault.”, causing Will to start going through his arsenal of defences. Will begins by making light of it at first. However, Will claims to have gotten the message, hoping Sean will stop now. Lastly, Will turns to aggression. During their time together, Sean has studied and learned all of Will’s defence mechanisms and refuses to let him escape from this situation until all of Will’s walls have crumbled down. In the final moments, Will grabs Sean and hugs him as tight as possible whilst bursting into tears. Sean takes Will into his arms and holds him like a child. We take a moment to pull back from this image and see two lonely souls being father and son together.
All of the events throughout the movie eventually bring Will to a place where he experiences a psychological catharsis. As we, the audience, have gone on the journey with Will, we also experienced a dramatic catharsis. We have been drawn into Will’s world, allowing us to empathise with his struggles. We witnessed his inner conflict as he avoided the one thing that would make him whole, causing us to recognise the same behaviour in ourselves. We rooted for the characters around Will, hoping they could guide our hero and show him the truth he’s hiding from.
How does the hero drive the story?
This movie is driven by Will’s mental state and his defence mechanisms. The film focuses a lot on how Will self-sabotages his life, again and again, keeping the audience engaged as we’re curious about how this problem will get solved. The momentum continuously builds up throughout the movie the more we see how Will’s defence mechanisms evolve. A character’s mental state will always keep the audience engaged most of the time, as it’s a true reflection of reality, and we all can relate to it in one way or another.
Will’s relationship with his therapist, Sean Maguire, also drives the story. It’s a relationship that starts badly but gets better as time goes on. Their relationship is remarkable as they both need each other to better themselves internally. Furthermore, it’s beautiful to see this sort of relationship progress as it’s between a young man being guided by the father he never had and a man guiding the son he never had to be greater and to fulfil his potential.
Doctor Strange
What is the film about?
This superhero film is about an arrogant but talented neurosurgeon with a massive ego, called Dr Stephen Strange. At the beginning of the film, he experiences a fatal car crash that damages his fingers and leaves him unable to control his hands. A surgeon, his previous lover, tries to help him, but instead, he spends his savings searching for an experimental treatment for his fingers. His quest attracts him to Kamar-Taj in Nepal, where he discovers his new mentor, The Ancient One, who takes him under her wing and teaches him the ways of magic and alternate realities. After gaining special abilities, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between his reality and what lies beyond it to protect the universe.
Why I chose this film?
Besides this film being a favourable origin story, I chose it because I wanted to break down a film that follows the standard three-act structure. Furthermore, it shows drastic character development in the protagonist of the story, highlighting what exactly gives the film momentum and drives the story.
How does the character change throughout the film?
At the film’s start, we get introduced to our hero, Stephen Strange, saving lives and making snide comments. We witness his everyday world, where he’s the smartest guy in the room with remarkably steady hands. These characteristics led him to develop a massive ego, his biggest flaw. At this point, Stephen wants credit for everything and doesn’t care much for anybody but himself. We also gathered that this trait was what destroyed his relationship long ago with his work colleague and the only other person he’s ever loved, Christine. In one sequence, Strange is driving to a charity event where he’s the keynote speaker. During this scene, he pays the minimum attention to the roads as he’s on this phone, scrolling through patients he could potentially save, but rejects most cases because their injuries aren’t spectacular enough to win him any awards. We gathered that the director didn’t want their audience to like the protagonist from the start. However, this changes when Strange experiences a fatal car accident, destroying the one thing that caused his enormous ego, his steady hands.
At the start of Act 2, Strange is humbled by his new mentor, the Ancient One, who stopped Strange’s arrogant trait and got him to realise he doesn’t know everything in the world. Throughout the rest of Act 2, we see Strange’s character development as now he’s consistently willing to learn more and more, compared to his character in Act 1, where he thought he knew everything already. We establish this during the scene where Doctor Strange flees back to his old hospital after being injured. As his colleague, and ex-lover Christine, helps him with his injuries, strange apologises for how he acted and treated others. At this point, he has grown internally and no longer carries around those bad traits, and nor does he only care for himself as he’s now risking his life to protect the universe. Stephen Strange’s character arc is completed by the end of Act 2.
How does the hero drive the story?
I believe Stephen Strange’s character development drives the story. He went from a self-centred, narcissistic, arrogant, egotistic surgeon to the sorcerer supreme and protector of the universe. This film showed a drastic change of character within a small duration, which was most likely intended as it’s an origin story after all. The director threw all of the protagonist’s weaknesses and flaws into the first 15 minutes of the film, portraying how the people around him are negatively affected too. We see Strang’s character development at the end of the second Act when we see how differently he now treats those same people from the beginning. We as an audience always like to witness development in characters, hence why the film’s momentum kept us engaged until the end.
Night Crawler
What is the film about?
This thriller is set in the nocturnal streets of Los Angeles, where a young lonely driven man, Lou Bloom, is currently unemployed and is desperate to find work but eventually discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. After witnessing freelance camera crews filming car accidents, homicides and fires, Lou muscles into and explores the fatal realm of night crawling, where every police siren is equivalent to a possible windfall and injured and dead victims are converted into paychecks. As the movie goes on, he becomes more successful at his job; however, this taste of success causes Lou to do anything and go to extreme lengths to get visuals from the crime scenes.
Why I chose this film?
I chose this film because it’s based on an antagonising character whom we want to dislike due to their actions, but we can’t because we simultaneously empathise with them. We rarely stumble across a film where we’re rooting for the antagonist to win. Alongside this, I chose this film because it can be viewed and discussed in so many ways as many people will have a different perspective. Even though Lou commits specific actions that I disagree with, I don’t entirely believe he’s the real problem in the film. The real problem in this story is the society he’s currently living in, as it’s a society that shapes a character like Lou and rewards them. After all, Lou didn’t create the world of night crawling. He just stumbled across it and saw it could solve his initial problem, which it did, and now he’s no longer desperate for money or a job.
How does the character change throughout the film?
Our hero’s traits and characteristics don’t change much throughout the film; however, our thoughts and opinion about the protagonist change instead as he commits specific actions based on his character traits. Lou is constantly motivated, clever, and a sociopath throughout the movie. Furthermore, Lou lacks empathy but is highly driven to succeed in life, leading him to take increasingly unforgivable actions. However, Lou remains the story’s hero whilst we, the audience, stay engaged. This is because antiheroes carry many traits that our typical heroes don’t, making them likeable. In this case, our hero is portrayed as a sympathetic character who carries multiple characteristics that drive the story.
Hard Worker – We see that Lou is a hard worker from the beginning. This is first demonstrated when he learns how to become a nightcrawler. We witness all the effort he puts in to succeed, and as a result, he becomes good at what he does very quickly. From an audience perspective, we are impressed and respect the character already. Being hardworking is one example of a sympathetic character trait that is separated from morality.
Polite – During the movie, we see Lou express his politeness on many occasions, causing us to like his personality even more. However, we also notice something off about the character when we see him use the same calm, polite manner to threaten people, reminding us of his sociopathic nature. These moments confuse the audience as they’re not sure whether to like the protagonist or not. Politeness is an external behaviour that doesn’t equate to internal goodness, where it’s the deeper character that the audience ultimately connects with.
Empathy – During any movie we watch, the glue of empathy holds our emotional involvement. We, as the audience, like it when we understand and share the same feelings as the character. Even though we disagree with Lou’s actions, we still empathise with him as we understand his motives and reasoning behind them. The irony is that we have much empathy for a character who lacks empathy. We gain empathy for Lou at the beginning of the film when he’s found trespassing, stealing, and attacking a security guard. Despite all of these wrong actions, we get a taste of Lou’s current situation and where he’s coming from in the following scene. We see that Lou desperately needs a job and money when we see him asking an employer if he could start right then. We also see that he’s looking for fulfilment. From this, we already understand why he’s so passionate and fascinated by the world of night crawling. We empathise with how it must feel to discover a well-paying job that you excel at and find fulfilling. This is something that the entire audience can relate to.
How does the hero drive the story?
I believe this story is driven by Lou’s work ethic and his potential. Everything about him evolves throughout the film; his career, the cases he gets involved in, and his relationship with his boss, Nina. This keeps us, the audience, engaged throughout. We want to see Lou put himself in riskier situations, one after the other. We want to see him rewarded more as we want him to reach his true potential and start his own business that he initially wanted at the start of the film. We want to see Lou go from an unemployed lost individual to an owner of a thriving business. To simplify it, Lou wouldn’t be in the position he’s in at the end of the film if it wasn’t for his hardworking trait.