…and Dark & Stormy Nights

“Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.”
Leo Tolstoy

Yesterday I mentioned having had my shares of Days in the Sun. (The kind of days when you tell everyone on Facebook that life is good.)  But like everyone, I’ve also had my share of dark and stormy nights.

As I type this there are people in Minot, North Dakota dealing with flooding and losing their homes, in Florida there is a different kind of being underwater as many are trying to make payments on a house that is well below their mortage loan, there are people in various parts of the country still dealing with the aftermath of tornadoes and fires, there are people who don’t even dream of buying a house they just want food on the table, and there are people just people hoping and praying they’ll get a job. And those are just a small fraction of the problems in the United States. When our scope goes globally, there is no question we live in a world full of turmoil.

We live in a world of conflict. And conflict is the heartbeat of storytelling. It’s also why people flock to movies. Because movies give keys and clues to life in popcorn-sized bites.

Sure they often entertain, sometime provoke, but at their best movies enlighten. And the way they do that is by show characters struggling with life.

“I would never write about someone who was not at the end of their rope.”
Stanley Elkin 

That’s one thought to print out and tape on your computer. Off the top of my head I can see a wall of movie characters at the end of their rope in the following movies;

Finding Nemo, Seabiscuit, The Verdict, Braveheart, Gladiator, Titanic, On the Waterfront, North by Northwest, Rocky, Winter’s Bone, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rain Man, Erin Brockovich, The Wizard of Oz…

And some of the great, memorable scenes in film history are where characters head into the zone where all seems lost.

It’s Rocky realizing he can’t beat Apollo Creed, it’s William Wallace being offered a chance to recant or be tortured to death in Braveheart, it’s the gang in Toy Story 3 inching toward the fiery furnace. Most of us will never know what it’s like to step into the boxing ring against the champ, or have to stand up to the king, or be put into a literal furance—but we have our demons to fight and hard times to endure.

The area known as the dark night of the soul.

Speaking about the dark night of the soul, what do you think of this idea?:

“The comedy follows a young conservative religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash, decides to go to Vegas to live the life of a sinner, and on her journey finds her way back to her faith.”

That’s one sentence. 39 words.

Do you see the movie? Do you think in light of Christopher Lockhart’s comments in the post Query Letter Strikeout that it “hooks the reader”?

Do you think it’s going to show a person at the “end of their rope.”

If you don’t see a movie in that logline, you’ll be able to see it in movie theaters someday, because that concept/script  (Lamb of God) is Diablo Cody’s next film and her directorial debut.

Enjoy your days in the sun, but write about those dark and stormy nights.

And if you only learn one Latin phrase in your life make it Post Tenebras Lux…”After Darkness, Light”

Related post: Screenwriting’s Biggest Flirt (touches on the spiritual side of Diablo Cody)

Thanks to Karl Iglesias’ excellent book Writing for Emotional Impact for the Tolstoy and Elkin’s quotes.

Scott W. Smith