The Expanded Ultimate Story Checklist: Does a further setback lead to a spiritual crisis?

The easy way tends to end in a disaster and loss of safe space, but trying again the hard way is no guarantee of success. In fact, it often leads to another failure. The difference, this time, is that our eyes are wide open, and suddenly we can see why we failed. Now we need to come face-to-face with the factor within ourselves that’s causing these failures. 

Most heroes discover they need to change their personalities at this point, but others realize they need to be true to themselves and stop trying to change. This is usually the point at which the hero replaces a false goal with a true goal, and a false philosophy with a corrected philosophy.

• The couple realizes divorce just isn’t fun anymore in The Awful Truth. 
• The parents decide they’ll probably split up in Raising Arizona. 
• After admitting he’s not Italian, Dave in Breaking Away visits his father’s quarry and admits he’s not really a stonecutter, either. 
• Andy in The 40-Year-Old Virgin freaks out about selling off his action figures. 
• The heroes of Blue Velvet and Donnie Brasco realize how far they’ve fallen when they each hit a woman. 
• The spiritual crisis is quite literal in Witness when the cop and his Amish crush finally kiss.

Straying from the Party Line: Rushmore’s Offscreen Catharsis

In Rushmore, at what point does Max Fischer finally turn a corner, get a girlfriend, and vow to make peace with everyone? Well, we don’t know, because we don’t see it. Instead, we see just the opposite.

We do get to see some personal growth: He finally apologizes to Dirk (spontaneously) and Margaret Yang (when prompted), he starts his first new society at his public school, he reaches out to Blume and exchanges medals with him. He reaches out to Miss Cross again with another aquarium scheme. But then, after that falls apart, we see him ordering dynamite and heading off to Rushmore with a rifle: “I have one more piece of unfinished business.” We then see him in a window aiming the rifle at his bully. To our relief, he just shoots him with a potato gun, then gives him a script for a play.

Nevertheless, as the next scene begins, somewhat-ominous drum music plays and we see that Max has gathered all of the characters from the movie, both friends and enemies, in one room for his play. Of course, we soon realize that, while his Vietnam play is far from safe, his intentions are entirely positive and this is a different Max: He’s got a girlfriend, he’s introducing everyone to his father, and he’s implicitly making peace with everyone he’s wronged.

This is tricky. Audiences do like going back and forth, sometimes getting ahead of the characters (we know what’s going to happen to them but they don’t) and sometimes falling behind (we can’t figure out what they’re doing for a few scenes), but this movie features false alienation: Intentionally making us doubt our trust in the main character, only to please us by re-affirming it.

In this case it works: it adds a little tension and excitement to an ending that might otherwise be anticlimactic. Yes, it’s a little disappointing that they have to skip over some of Max’s personal breakthroughs, but it’s a comedy, not a drama, and we’d rather get an nervous final laugh than a heartfelt catharsis.

In other cases, it doesn’t work: There’s a moment in the first season of “Mad Men” when Matthew Weiner decides to create the false impression that Don is preparing to kill his half-brother (instead, he’s going to pay him to leave town, which, as it turns out, causes him to commit suicide.) It’s essential to build identification with anti-heroes: We can’t sympathize, but we can at least empathize. By breaking identification in those scenes, Weiner briefly pushed our already-limited tolerance for Don past the breaking point, and struggled to get it back. When I recommended the show to people after that first season, I warned them about that episode: “At times the show will seem darker than it really is, but stick with it.”

The 40 Year Old Virgin	YES, when Trish jumps his bones on the 20th date on a pile of his boxed up toys, he denounces her and flees.
Alien	Somewhat.  Decides to save the cat, showing that she’s now more empathetic.
An Education	YES.  She finds out that he’s married.
The Babadook	YES. Ditto.
Blazing Saddles	YES. Just a minor one, and it happens offscreen.  Around the time of that an army of villains is rounded up to destroy the town, he realizes that saving this town is also a chance to help his own people.
Blue Velvet	YES.  Well, the real spiritual crisis happens earlier, and continues for a long time, but it does culminate when he sees how his behavior looks in Sandy’s eyes when she finds out.
The Bourne Identity	YES. seeing her family, he says that he doesn’t want to know who he is anymore.
Bridesmaids	YES. Megan stops by and set her straight.
Casablanca	NO. Actually, the opposite of a setback causes the crisis: Ilsa says she’ll come with him, and he realizes that it’s wrong.
Chinatown	YES. Yes, finds out the truth about Evelyn and Catherine (and the glasses).
Donnie Brasco	YES.  hits his wife, feels certain he’ll have to kill someone soon in the mob.
Do the Right Thing	YES. something in him snaps.
The Farewell	YES. …but her mother quickly disabuses her of that notion.  (She can’t cook, clean, or write Chinese.)
The Fighter	YES. It’s not so much a setback as a dangerous bit of success: he takes good advice from Dicky, putting him back in danger of falling into his old ways.
Frozen	YES. Hans betrays her.
The Fugitive	YES. he realizes how naïve he’s been and that he’s been betrayed by his friend.
Get Out	YES. he realizes when he speaks to Jim in pre-op what white people really see in him.
Groundhog Day	YES. He realizes that he’s a terrible person, and if he’s a god, he’s got to be a good god.
How to Train Your Dragon	NO. Not really. Again, the crises are reversed in this movie. He has the spiritual crisis in the first quarter, has no midpoint crisis, then loses everything at the ¾ mark (but not in a way that makes him question his already-corrected philosophy). So then, given the fact that he is on the straight and narrow from minute 20, why doesn’t the movie feel inert? Because there are so many ramifications of that initial crisis for him to deal with, and because he still tries to have it both ways until the loss of everything at the ¾ mark.
In a Lonely Place	YES. but only at the very end when he realizes that his fiancé is leaving him.
Iron Man	YES. He has several spiritual crises in this movie, but yes, he does have an ultimate one here when he has to crawl to claim his old heart back.
Lady Bird	YES. When she ditches Kyle.
Raising Arizona	YES. They decide to split up after all this is over.
Rushmore	YES. Ms. Cross definitively rejects him and he drops out to become a barber.
Selma	YES. He reverses the second march.  That night, one of the white northern priests who’s disappointed by the decsion (“He owes me a return ticket”) is killed while waiting for action in Selma.
The Shining	YES. (Danny re-emerges as sole hero) When Danny assumes his mother is dead, and then his spiritual mentor Hallorann is killed, he finally shakes out of it and goes mano-a-mano.
Sideways	YES. He finds out his novel isn’t getting published, and he admits that he’s not going to make it as a novelist, isn’t a good person.
The Silence of the Lambs	YES. Lecter’s escape questions whether it was worth it to work with him.
Star Wars	YES. This causes him to doubt the force, fall back on his reliance on technology and his original dream of becoming a fighter pilot.
Sunset Boulevard	YES. when he realizes that Betty wants to leave Artie for him.

 

Marvel Reread Club Episode 31: March, 1964, Part 1

Steve and Matt Bird · 031 Marvel Reread Club March 1964 (part 1)

Steve and Matt grapple with the first half of March, 1964, featuring Amazing Spider-Man #10, Fantastic Four #24, Journey Into Mystery #102 with Thor and Tales of Asgard, and Strange Tales #118 with the Human Torch and Dr. Strange. Fancy Dan! Photo collages! Unfabulous crowns! Continued lack of Wizard spandex! Frau Lieber!

The Expanded Ultimate Story Checklist: Does the hero learn from mistakes in a painful way?

It would be nice if we all had enough perspective to spot our mistakes from far away and deal with them coolly, but in reality, we almost never admit our big mistakes until bad consequences have resulted. 

This is frequently where mentors and love interests get killed, where illusions get stripped away, and where lies are exposed.

• Mentors are killed off in Star Wars and The Untouchables. 
• Partners get killed off in Speed and thousands of other cop movies. 
• In most comedies, the hero’s lies are exposed at this point, at the worst possible moment.

The 40 Year Old Virgin	YES. His conversation with Marla, for example
Alien	YES, she almost gets killed by Ash.
An Education	YES. After the reveal, very much so.
The Babadook	YES. she realizes that the only way to save her son is to face her grief.
Blazing Saddles	YES. Right after the midpoint, when the Waco Kid sets him straight about “the common clay of the new west…You know, morons.”
Blue Velvet	YES. He gets caught and beaten up, and realizes that Dorothy is too lost to save.
The Bourne Identity	YES. he almost gets her family killed (and does get their dog killed), and realizes that he can’t run any further.
Bridesmaids	YES. Very much so.
Casablanca	YES. he sees Lazlo’s heroism for himself and realizes he can’t compete.
Chinatown	YES. The truth about Catherine is devastating.
Donnie Brasco	YES.  Outside the mob, he suffers through marriage counseling.  In the mob, he has to cut up bodies.
Do the Right Thing	YES. The killing of his friend and the riot teaches him that his attempts to ease tensions were foolish.
The Farewell	YES. Her uncle convinces her she would have to stay in China to take care of Nai Nai, and she decides to do so…
The Fighter	YES. Watching the documentary is painful for all.  Breaking with Alice is painful.
Frozen	YES. her sister almost kills her, her fiance betrays her, etc.
The Fugitive	YES. Very much so: Emotionally and physically.
Get Out	YES. Very much so.
Groundhog Day	YES. Very much so.
How to Train Your Dragon	YES.
In a Lonely Place	YES. but not until it’s too late.
Iron Man	YES. He literally has his heart ripped out by Stane, has to put in the heart that Pepper gave him.
Lady Bird	YES. Very much so.
Raising Arizona	YES. They realize it was wrong to take the baby.
Rushmore	YES.
Selma	Sort of?  It’s hard to tell.  Is the decision to reverse the second march evidence that he’s learned from the mistakes of the first march, or a blunder that almost wrecks the movement?  DuVernay leaves that open.
The Shining	YES. Jack doesn’t.  Danny and Wendy do.
Sideways	YES. Maya realizes that Jack is getting married, and dumps Miles.
The Silence of the Lambs	YES. See above.
Star Wars	YES. Sees Obi Wan die
Sunset Boulevard	YES. when he realizes that he can’t lead Betty on.

The Expanded Ultimate Story Checklist: Do the stakes pace and motivation all escalate at this point?

At a certain point, when dealing with a large problem, things slip out of our control and we are overtaken by events. This feels horrible, but it’s ultimately necessary for us to have the motivation and urgency we need to solve the problem. 

Again, it’s tempting to overmotivate the hero in this section. Beware of the tendency to prop up a flagging story by tacking on additional motivation, such as revealing that the villain also killed the hero’s family years ago. If you want to strengthen your hero’s motivation, then simplify it instead of multiplying it.

• This is frequently where the “double-chase” begins: The hero is both hunter and hunted now. The heroes of Some Like It Hot and Blue Velvet discover that the bad guys now know who and where they are, and they’re coming for them. 
• This is where the ticking clock sometimes comes in, as in both Alien and Aliens. 
• Or where a family member is threatened: The baby is kidnapped in Raising Arizona and Mary Jane is kidnapped in Spider-Man. 
• This is sometimes where events happen that force a decision, such as David’s marriage proposal in An Education.

The 40 Year Old Virgin	To a certain extent.  The third quarter is a little limp, ironically enough.
Alien	YES, they realize they have to blow up the ship.
An Education	YES. He proposes marriage.
The Babadook	YES. Stakes are now life or death, etc.
Blazing Saddles	YES.
Blue Velvet	YES. there are car chases and his world is invaded.
The Bourne Identity	YES. he’s in love now, and realizes that he must find Conklin and “end it” to protect her.
Bridesmaids	NO. Not at this point. The wedding is approaching but she’s not going so it doesn’t matter. It’s only when finds out Lillian needs her and there’s only a day left that this kicks in.
Casablanca	YES. Lazlo is told he can no longer stay in Casablanca.
Chinatown	YES, the cops are closing in on both Jake and Evelyn, he’s falling in love with her, etc.
Donnie Brasco	YES.  he almost gets made, gets caught up in a mob war, loses family
Do the Right Thing	YES. Very much so.
The Farewell	Sort of.  She confronts her uncle, convinced he’s the ringleader.
The Fighter	YES. he starts winning fights.
Frozen	YES. she’s now dying, the winter is getting worse, Elsa might be killed, etc.
The Fugitive	YES. Very much so.
Get Out	YES. both for him and also for Rod, who now becomes our second hero.
Groundhog Day	YES. He realizes that he only has one day (over and over) to save the old man’s life.
How to Train Your Dragon	YES. His father goes off to the nest.
In a Lonely Place	YES. His marriage proposal creates a crisis.
Iron Man	YES.
Lady Bird	YES. She has to race to Julie before prom ends, sort of.
Raising Arizona	YES.
Rushmore	YES.
Selma	YES. His new army increasingly demands action.  Johnson increasingly demands he stand down.
The Shining	YES. Jack cuts off contact with outside world, Wendy knocks him out.
Sideways	YES. He and Maya have sex, possibly fall in love…
The Silence of the Lambs	YES. They’re running out of time, in danger of being fired.
Star Wars	YES. It becomes very thrilling, cross-cutting between four groups in danger.
Sunset Boulevard	Somewhat.  Artie proposes marriage to Betty.  Norma catches him.