“There is no doubt that most of the dullness of our movies is concocted in advance in the so-called heads of the so-called scriptwriters. Not only the dullness: They also perpetuate the standard film constructions, dialogues, plots. They follow closely their textbooks of “good” screenwriting. Shoot all scriptwriters, and we may yet have a rebirth of American cinema.”
– Jonas Mekas, Village Voice (November 25, 1959)
Author, filmmaker and Professor of Film in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison J.J. Murphy has written the kind of book that I’ve been waiting for for a long time. Think of Me and You and Memento and Fargo as an alternative to the slew of “manuals” on screenwriting out there. There is valid information in all of them but like we all know application of knowledge is everything. There is no magic bullet to writing a good screenplay.
What Murphy covers in this book is not a “how-to” for independent screenwriters but case studies of a dozen screenplays that range from the experimental collage of Gummo to the film noir reworking of Fargo (see the list here.) He goes on to say that independent film is a sort of amalgamation of art cinema and classic film design. What degree or side of the track the screenplay falls on is at the discretion of the writer. I wouldn’t say this is a bashing of contemporary commercial films but more a contrarian view. He allows us, through deep analysis, to see the moving parts of these screenplays. In contrast these films are more flattened dramatically, not so dependent on the overworked go-to devices of mainstream American cinema. This is not to say that these films don’t incorporate similar mappings like the three-act structure, most of them do with exception to a couple.
In Me and You and Memento and Fargo, the styles of these films are broken down into four parts with three film examples each part. In Part One we see Murphy dissect what is the Problematic Protagonist. Here he states and illustrates that manual writers like Robert McKee teach us that protagonist have to be goal-driven; ambivalence is boring and does not move the story forward. Here Murphy gives Stranger Than Paradise, Safe and Fargo as examples of how protagonists can take on different qualities and still remain interesting, Fargo probably being the most bold by shifting protagonists almost in mid-stream. Characters float through story damned by circumstance and we are engaged just for the pure enjoyment of watching these charismatic, odd and delusional characters make their way in an unpredictable world.
Continuing with Part Two, Multiple-Plot Films, we see how the use of ensemble pieces can tell interesting stories that get discouraged by the manuals. Trust, Gas Food Lodging and Me and You and Everyone We Know are the films chosen. By far the most interesting point made here comes from the two films that are created by women. Allison Anders, director of Gas Food Lodging flat out says the three-act structure is masculine in nature and that filmmakers should rely on a more intuitive and inventive approach especially if you are trying to put your name out there as a independent artist.
Part Three is where the waters get deep with Temporal Structures. These are films that deal with shifting expectations by altering time and orientation in the mind of the audience. By using Reservoir Dogs, Elephant and Memento Murphy shows us how the filmmakers use flashback, foreshadowing and overlapping time to create complex structures that challenge the viewer and probably ask more of the audience than most films. Just explaining Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s Chinese box film Memento with its demanding exploration of time and memory is an impressive feat.
The collection of the more unorthodox films in this analysis is saved for last in Part Four. Here the films live in a dream state or even possibly a state of psychosis. They are Noncausal Structures. All conventional logic is nonexistent. The film’s world creates its own logic. Mulholland Drive, Gummo and Slacker have no predictable arc, plot points or reversals. Lines of plot drop out sometimes returning much, much later or not at all. It would be easy to say these films have no rules and are a random blurting out of thoughts on a page but upon analysis you can see this is not true. They are a whole creation unto themselves.
“Classical Hollywood narration is not intrinsically superior to either art-cinema narration or the combination represented by American Independent cinema” is the sentiment that concludes Murphy’s book. After reading it and seeing the numerous examples of how these films break the rules one can only ask the question, “why can’t I break the rules?” The answer is you can. The filmmakers discussed are very aware of what the rules are for Hollywood screenwriting, they just choose to not play by them. Screenwriting should have method though. To quote Murphy’s final statement,“Real innovation in screenwriting, as the various independent films in this study boldly attest, comes not from an ignorance of narrative film conventions, but from being able to see beyond their limitations.”
Reading J.J. Murphy’s book was very freeing and I would recommend it to anyone interested in telling a good story for film, not just the independent screenwriter. With emerging technology and distribution models changing the playing field for filmmakers the thing that will never change is the need for fresh inventive storytelling. This is why I think this book is very relevant regardless of where film exhibition is going.
Prior to reading I would suggest renting all the films or at least being familiar with them. The book goes into great detail when explaining the progression of structure of the films. Me and You and Memento and Fargo is an excellent addition to any filmmaker’s library but mostly anyone who has felt tied down by the manuals and in need of a creative punch in the arm.
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