THE SCRIPTWRIGHT

Up until the societal effects of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, the anti-hero never received the kind of accolade that the hero did. Then, Taxi Diver. A psychopath reveals shining qualities (he wants to kill corrupt politicians and save a child from prostitution), the film does well at the box office and suddenly the anti-hero becomes all too real and hero is lost.

Only John Wayne hangs on and actually receives his first and only Academy Award for True Grit. Is the traditional hero lost? If lost, is this a good thing?

The answer is Myth and Mythos. Just in case you thought otherwise, especially if you like to watch “Based On A True Story” films, nothing is true in a film. The only true story is that recorded in the eye of the those who beheld the events themselves. And more importantly, there is no true story that can ever be turned into a good story without modifying at least the chain of events—reality is just too messy. This goes back to the earliest stories, as an example, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Whether because of these stories, or those that followed, we have a sociological imprint that states how a good story is told, and what a hero is. Heroes an ideal…

Can you imagine actually having to live day in and day out the lives of those characters you most admire? It’s hard enough for those we see, or have read about, that have acted heroically to live the rest of their lives in a manner that can even compete with the heroic act. This is one of the reasons war heroes, traumatic memories aside, have such problems living “normal” lives, and why some continue searching for that high they experienced during their act of heroism, or later high of public recognition.

Pardon me if I’ve digressed, so let’s get back to the reality of the film hero, or protagonist. First, the hero, he or she, needs to get us to want to spend 90 minutes to 120 minutes with them. It’s because they remind us of that guy or gal who we liked in school because they were so friendly, or helpful or as of late, so handsome or pretty. We need to be invested in their story: that makes it our story. We want to escape: entertainment is after all escape: comedy, drama. We live through the “what if”. What if I were an astronaut leading a team through mishap in space. What if I were a book mogul who finally falls in love with the owner of a small bookstore that’s being bought out by my bookstore chain. What if…what if…

Yes, perhaps we might be lucky enough as an audience to escape all our normal lives that we might live for a moment a life of daring or incredible wealth or superhuman strength, incredible amorous bliss, and most of all without the risk involved in reality.

A hero in films has those qualities that enable us to like them, but at the same time they have that quality of unbelievability that enables them to do complete heroic acts, such as hang from a chopper with one hand, or shoot a long squad weapon from the hips with total effectiveness. They do what they do so that for one moment, we get the ride of our llife without the reality of responsible and real life cost. If you get a chance to see Tropic Thunder, please do! It was hilarious and really was a good take on the world according to celluloid, a humorous, yet very dark, take on war filmmaking—Jack Black hanging from a chopper with wires was perfect.

Speaking of reality and the contrast to film reality, I’ll tell you a story about a little hike in the jungle sometime soon…