Internal Struggle

After watching this year’s Golden Globes, with Big Little Lies winning many awards again like it did at the Emmy’s, I was thinking about how much I really loved the show. It is great because of how well it told a collection of connected stories with complex characters that I related with.

That got me thinking about my other favorite show of 2017, The Crown. Why I enjoyed them so much and felt so connected to both of them is their wonderful ability to show clashing motivations and points of view both between different characters and within each character themselves. These shows did not have clear protagonists and antagonists, but are stories with different people with different perspectives based on the influences in their orbit. They are each fighting their own battles with different entities within their circles.

I think they exemplify what great story telling is, by showing understanded but real struggles in a person’s life, regardless of social, financial, class status or background. There are subtle nuances to a lot of decisions in any person’s life and that’s is very difficult to convey in a story for the screen. Books have inner monologues to express feeling, plays have one to one interaction that by it’s nature must talk what it thinks. But stories for TV and film, are about external forces that has evolved to live closer to reality that any other art form. Because of that, talking about what we are feeling falls flat. Narration falls flat. Because of the camera, we live closer to these characters physically than ever before, but harder than ever to extract what they are thinking and feeling. Subtly rules the day.

Both the The Crown and Big Little Lies work so well, because they decide to focus and show the many layers of each character that feels more true and real. These shows choose to not only tell the narrative of the events unfolding, but express how the characters are effected by the events and the choices they make. This is the next level of story telling in a crowded field of of good television. When TV and film, reach this level of storytelling, I am able to connect with them on a deeper level and have a lasting feeling.

It becomes more apparent when I watch either TV or films where they are generally good, but don’t take that next step to truly connect with me. This is usually because the the layers of the characters and story are telegraphed or told to me. Justice League and Last Jedi are recent examples where I enjoyed their stories and was entertained, but they didn’t have a lasting impression for the reasons just stated. But with a film likeWonder Woman, while not perfect, it works to show me the journey the character(s) go on emotionally. It allows me to connect with an imaginary character with superpowers, because it focuses on what we share, complex emotions to the world around us. It leaves a lasting impression because it gives me a visceral connection to it’s characters (both main and secondary).

What is common throughout these stories that make a connection, that outside of the a main plot struggle, these characters are trying to figure out who they are and where they belong. I see that struggle and relate to the struggle as do most audience members. That is when we really see ourselves in the characters on the screen.

And it didn’t escape me, that my three choices of stories that I connected to the most last year are all lead by women. What this says to me more than anything is that the background of the character(s) does not mean anything. There are greater universal truths that everyone connects to, struggles that we all face, experiences we all share regardless of sex, race, background, and the like.

Being able to show that struggle in characters, show a character that is a human with strengths and flaws is what all stories should look to resemble. In a time when everything is dissected into base form, we can all hope for more stories in 2018 that make the effort to show the complexity of life.