the hell, man

[travisezell]

You know, I can work on a story for ten years, work up a complicated, sprawling, ridiculous plot with all sorts of conceits, themes, Big Ideas, the works. A friggin' decade on a single story, bloating and trimming and bloating and trimming, and I still can't answer the most basic of writer's questions:

What does the protagonist want?

Comments

[crapjournal]

Kaufman has the same problem. At least in Synecdoche.

[travisezell]

Heh, thanks for the encouragement, but Charlie Kaufman definitely doesn't suffer from this. His are some of the sharpest characters I know of, despite what they'd say about themselves.

[crapjournal]

What's sharp about Caden? Not to be too obnoxious-sounding asking that question. In my opinion he didn't really have any character at all. He was depressed, mostly?

[travisezell]

I need to see it again before I make any definitive points, but Caden's character struck me as consistent, with dramatic wants (to create something meaningful and expressive; to find a happiness in life which is fleeting and unrealistic) and with dramatic flaws which are even harder to pin down from a single watching. I'd say "a lack of perspective" and "morbid fixations" and "self-centeredness"... those aren't very dramatic, but leave it to Kaufman to make that work. Anyway I found the character fully realized and not lacking in a dramatic core, even if he wouldn't agree.

The fact that Caden was solid enough to make a distinct copy of, and a distinct copy of the copy, I think that's demonstrative of something.

[yodiepants]

Your protagonist wants what everyone secretly wants, but doesn't readily admit to anyone.

[yodiepants]

Which may be to enjoy the luxuries middle class convenience without guilt.