Everybody loves movies – the edgy suspense of a psychological thriller, the compelling complexity of a fascinating character or the deranged rage of a good man wronged.
This book puts you in the director’s chair – or on the psychologist’s couch, as the case may be – and illustrates the important theories of psychology using examples from popular movies.
The book walks you through the theories of five major figures in modern psychology (Freud, Erikson, Jung, Alder and May) and one idyllic storyteller, Joseph Campbell. It’s a fascinating read that will give depth to the movies you watch and heighten your understanding of the human psyche.
The key to understanding this little book is to realize that movies are not charismatic actors, breathtaking scenes or compounded suspense. All of these elements are created not by the director or by the actors but by the screenwriter.
Every character begins with a “full jacket” or a comprehensive psych workup that would be the pride of any working psychologist. Every character’s interests, quirks, job, friends, style of taking – every aspect of her archetype or personality.
Then each character is given a “fatal flaw” followed by obstacles and an objective – something that’s truly a challenge for her to overcome. Every scene is outlined from start to finish, then each scene is individually crafted like mini movies, with conflict, drama and personal revelations. The actors merely do, say and act the way the screenwriter says in the script.
The descriptions in the script set up the mood and the tone. Again, the director only does what the script says. Every word is important. A single word can establish the whole atmosphere, which the director follows precisely.
The actors and the director get all the accolades and the big bucks. They’re all really just puppets, empty vessels that do exactly what the screenplay says. Exactly!
Actors play out the emotions the screenwriter gives them, like the Wizard of Oz. The director films one scene at a time, almost always out of sequence – trusting that when it’s all put together in the cutting room it will conjure the right emotions.
It’s the screenwriter who makes all that possible, the person with the vision, the skill and the creativity.
The screenwriter’s secret weapon is psychology, understanding people, how they interact and how they communicate – verbally and nonverbally. Actors are egocentric sociopaths – they wouldn’t know how real people behave in a million years.
Director’s heads are even further up their asses – they only see films as a mirror of their own perfection. They are, all of them, drugged out on cocaine and high on adulation by their coterie of adoring fans. They can’t even comport their own lives rationally.
Here’s your chance to learn how screenwriters make stupid cardboard people into the Technicolor heroes and heroines on the silver screen.
Image courtesy of HollywoodandSwine.com
