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Lecture 14:Lecture 14:Move Them!Move Them!

Professor Christopher Bradley

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Screenplay by Callie Khouri

Previous LessonPrevious Lesson• Composition

– Unity and Variety

– Pacing

– Rhythm and Tempo

– Progression

• Social Progression

• Personal Progression

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Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

Screenplay by Kimberly Peirce & Andy Bienen

Previous Lesson (Continued)Previous Lesson (Continued)• Ascension

– Symbolic

– Ironic

• Transitions

– …on an object, a word, an action, a character trait, etc.

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Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

Screenplay by Kimberly Peirce & Andy Bienen

This LessonThis Lesson• Crisis and Climax

– As the Obligatory Scene

– Crisis within the Climax

– Filled with Meaning

– Settling subplots

– Satisfying expectations in a surprising way

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Carrie (1976)

Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen

Based on the novel by Stephen King

This Lesson (Continued)This Lesson (Continued)• Resolution and its

Three Uses:

– For the resolution of subplots

– Showing the consequences of the climactic moment

– As a courtesy to the audience

• Assignments5

Choose Me (1849)

Screenplay by Alan Rudolph

Crisis and ClimaxCrisis and Climax

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Lesson 14: Part I

Thelma and Louise (1991)

Screenplay by Callie Khouri

Crisis and Climax (2)Crisis and Climax (2)• Please pause the lecture and watch the

clip from Thelma & Louise.

• While you’re watching, identify the crisis, the climax, and the resolution.

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Thelma and Louise (1991)

Screenplay by Callie Khouri

Thelma & LouiseThelma & Louise• The Obligatory Scene:

– Because these woman have taken action outside the justice system men have set up, they must be brought back under control and be punished.

• The Crisis and the Climax:

– The Crisis happens very close to the climactic moment, when the women choose to “go for it.” The Climax is a straight action out of the Crisis.

– The Crisis is placed close to the Climax, and the Climax is brief. 8

Thelma & Louise Thelma & Louise (2)(2)• Surprise:

– The women are trapped and seem to have no viable options other than giving up.

– In this kind of Road Movie, the protagonist or protagonists are generally arrested or killed by those in power . Here, the protagonists decide their own fate.

• Meaning:

– Whether or not you agree with the action the women take, this scene is deeply moving because you see how deeply committed they are to their new-found freedom.

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Crisis and Climax (3)Crisis and Climax (3)

• Please pause the lecture and watch the first clip from Carrie.

• While you’re watching, identify the crisis, the climax, and the resolution.

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CarrieCarrie• The Obligatory Scene (There are actually

2 Obligatory Scenes in this film):

– 1) Because Carrie does not meet the standards for membership in the community, she must be rejected and ultimately expelled.

– 2) Because the community has punished an innocent girl with gross unfairness, the community must be punished in return.

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Carrie Carrie (2)(2)

• Crisis and Climax:

– This film has an initial climax, and then builds to an unexpected, more intense second climax.

– The Climax begins to build at the moment of Crisis, when Carrie makes a choice– to go to the prom. She reaffirms this choice when she directly defies her mother’s last-minute entreaty. With this choice, she has taken action on BOTH of her goals.

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Carrie Carrie (3)(3)• The Crisis as a Deliberately Static

Moment:

– Tommy comes to Carrie’s door to insist that she go to the prom with him. There is excruciating tension where we wonder if Carrie’ mother will interrupt them, whether Carrie will say yes, and what it would mean if she did.

– In the second crisis moment, there is a long, painful scene where Carrie is chased through the house bleeding before she finally defends herself with her telekinetic powers.

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Carrie Carrie (4)(4)• Carrie has two goals:

1) To be an accepted member of the community

2) To be out from under the control of her mother

• She actually accomplishes both goals, but neither one in the way she (or the audience) expects.

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Carrie Carrie (5)(5)• FIRST GOAL: Carrie’s expectation is that

she will be a fully-accepted member of the community.

• The result is that she actually accomplishes this goal, but because of the actions her enemies, she believes she’s been rejected and tragically goes for revenge.

• The mass murder of her classmates is the first part of the climax, related to the first goal, being accepted by the community.

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Carrie Carrie (6)(6)

• SECOND GOAL: Carrie has given up on her second goal at this point. She wants to retreat into childhood and no longer wants to be out from under her mother’s control. But it’s too late to return to childhood.

• She makes a decision to return home, admit she was wrong and ask for forgiveness.

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Carrie Carrie (7)(7)

• Carrie’s expectation in the scene is that her mother will forgive her if she apologizes and tells her mother she was right.

• The result is a knife attack.

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Carrie Carrie (8)(8)

• The Climax builds further with Carrie killing her mother and ultimately herself. She accomplishes her second goal, independence from her mother, but not in a way she would have ever expected or wanted.

• The Crisis in this film happens 15 to 20 minutes before the Climax. An extended time from Crisis to Climax requires an extended Climax.

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Carrie Carrie (9)(9)• Surprise:

– We expect that one way or another, Carrie will get her goals (to be accepted into the community and to escape her mother’s control).

– We do not expect that acceptance to go as far as her being elected Prom Queen, and for that acceptance to be (seemingly) ripped away from her so suddenly.

– We do not expect that the way she will get out from under her mother’s control will be to kill her with telekinetically flying knives.

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Carrie Carrie (10)(10)• Meaning

– This film is a strong statement about the consequences of treating each other in an inhuman way.

– The only student to survive is the one who treated her fellow human beings with compassion.

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Carrie (1976)

Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen

Based on the novel by Stephen King

Crisis and Climax (4)Crisis and Climax (4)

• Please pause the lecture and watch the first clip from Choose Me.

• While you’re watching, identify the crisis, the climax, and the resolution.

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Choose MeChoose Me

• The Obligatory Scene

– Because Eve is our protagonist, and because Mickey has said he would only marry any woman he would kiss, we know there has to be a climactic moment when we discover if he will marry her or not.

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Choose Me Choose Me (2)(2)

• The Crisis happens when Eve discovers that Mickey has been sleeping with other women.

• This Crisis is a few minutes before the Climax, meaning the climactic scenes will be somewhere between what we see in Thelma & Louise and Carrie, time-wise.

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Choose Me Choose Me (3)(3)

• Surprise:

1. When Mickey pulls out a gun and says he’ll kill himself, too

2. When she says her gun wasn’t loaded

3. When he says his gun wasn’t loaded

• Meaning:

– “Hope and Dreams” are reaffirmed as valuable and attainable

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ResolutionResolution

25Lesson 14: Part II

Choose Me (1849)

Screenplay by Alan Rudolph

ResolutionResolution• There are three uses for the Resolution

scenes after the climax:

1. To resolve subplots

2. To show the consequences of the climactic moment

3. As a courtesy to the audience, who need a moment or two to recover and transition back to real life

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Resolution (2)Resolution (2)

• The resolution moments in Thelma & Louise are of the “courtesy” kind.

• The resolution scenes in Carrie reveal the consequences of the climactic moments.

• The resolution scenes in Choose Me resolve the subplots and reveal the consequences of the climactic moment.

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AssignmentsAssignments

28Lesson 14: Part III

Carrie (1976)

Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen

Based on the novel by Stephen King

ReadingReading

• Read Chapter 13 in Story, “Crisis, Climax and Resolution”

• Do the Reading Review to be sure you’re clear on what you’ve read!

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E-Board PostE-Board Post• Describe the climactic moment in your

screenplay, demonstrating the concepts you’ve learned this week:– How would you describe your Obligatory

Scene? (i.e. “The shark kills the swimmer, so the Sherriff must kill the shark.”)

– When does the final crisis happen? How does this lead to your climax?

– How do you satisfy audience expectations in your climax? Is it done in a surprising way?

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End of Lecture 14End of Lecture 14

Next Lecture:

Sacrifice: Nothing is Wasted!

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