Hi, I wanted to share the screenwriting lessons I learned from Samuel D Hunter's screenplay and film, THE WHALE. I want to share what I feel worked and what I didn't get about the film from a screenwriting perspective.
This is rambling, but is a balm for myself. It's a journal-like activity where I can reflect on what I've learned from recent films and how the lessons may apply to my own writing.
If you'd like to join the ride and share your thoughts - the more the merrier!
WARNING: SPOILERS GALORE!
LOGLINE (imdB): A reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.
As I see it, the EXTERNAL GOAL is protagonist Charlie's (Brendan Fraser) struggle both with his deteriorating health and, as the logline says, his desire to reconnect with his daughter. His INTERNAL GOAL is self-acceptance and recognizing the truth.
For Charlie to attain his Internal Goal, he will have to accept himself for who he is, a man who has given up on himself spiritually and physically. To attain his External Goal, he will have to survive. He succeeds in the former, not the latter.
This, as the film opens, Charlie is in the throes of death and his INNER FLAW of non-self acceptance is depicted as he refuses to let himself be seen by his online students. His EXTERNAL CHALLENGE is depicted immediately thereafter as he experiences a heart attack while masturbating. The CURE to the flaw is also expertly hinted to as he reads an essay which reveals the truth of its author. This calms him down.
So we see the THEME: Acceptance of the truth will cure what ails us, physically and spiritually.
The above theme is personified by the supporting cast and B-story and C-story. The B-story involves Thomas (Ty Simpkins) who is a missionary. His flaw is not evident in act one, but in the next act he reveals that he is estranged from his parish and has stolen from his church. He is on the run. B-STORY THEME: Thomas doesn't accept / reveal the truth.
The C-Story, involving Charlie's relationship with his daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink) has another take on the theme: Ellie cares only about the truth with no facade. She is disrespectful, fully self-absorbed and says what's on her mind.
By the film's end, Charlie reveals his face and obese body online and beseeches his students to write something true. In this sense he succeeds in reaching his internal goal/need, which is to accept the truth about who he is and that truth is the balm we need to attain inner peace.
The B/C Stories also echo this power of truth, as Ellie reveals the truth about Thomas' stealing to his church. Thomas is forgiven by his parish and thus we learn, in the end of the second act, of the truth's ability to heal.
From this I learned that when a protagonist must learn the lesson to cure his inner conflict, he can observe from other characters who share his conflict (in this case, the embracing of truth to heal). By observing other characters, the protagonist can absorb the lesson and apply it to himself.
In the above senses, I felt the story was strong.
I did not see how Charlie's ex-wife, Mary (Samantha Morton) contributed to plot or theme. She appears at the end of the second act to seemingly create a conflict regarding Charlie's allocation of finances. But I didn't feel her story thread contributed at all to the overall themes and stories.
I'm interested to hear what all of you thought of THE WHALE from a screenwriting perspective and what lessons you gleaned from it!
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This movie is pure emotion, nothing to see here but a broken man finally released...and since Brandon got an zillion awards + Oscar, I'd say it's achieved...he coulva just read his lines from a notepad for that matter...
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Darren Aronofsky saw the play in 2012 and that's how it got made.
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I have not seen this movie. In this era of body image bullying, I think the plot line is relevant. It's a fact that all of us are not lucky enough to win the genetic lotto and we must learn to live with who we are. But self destructive tendencies must be avoided, at least for the sake of our health and mental well being. According to Aristotle, abstemiousness in all things, including abstemiousness. Life is an exercise in discipline, but for the sake of sanity, we have to go off the rails once in a while to walk on the dark side.
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I also had the sense that the scene with Charlie's ex-wife connected too weakly with the rest of the story. It seemed to come out of nowhere and lead nowhere. Not sure how I would've fixed it though.