So why is it, that even though we don’t see
it, people really do change?
I don’t believe that characters in film or
tv can be poorly developed, or be a shallow person. You have to place a person
in context, and understand how a real person would be acting in that
circumstance. I have always said that the best stories are about relatable
characters in extraordinary situations, and so whenever I’m reading a book, or
watching a tv show or movie, I’m always thinking about how real people would be
acting in a situation.
Like I said in the last blog, we gain an
impression of real people, a very light surface glimpse of them, that may or
may not actually represent them. As they are a real person, this brief and
flimsy look is just that, a glance into someone much deeper and much grander in
scope. I treat characters the exact same way.
A character will be introduced, and I’ll
get a surface impression of them. But I don’t stop there, I don’t cap off this
surface impression, and fit everything else around it. Just like real people,
they keep presenting new information about themselves, that is just as true
about who they are as those first few moments. So as they show new attributes,
and we learn more about them, I incorporate this. They never stop evolving,
never stop displaying new layers of who they are, and I never stop putting this
together.
Because that’s how real people are. Put
yourself into the shoes of some of the character’s in your favorite films and
tv shows. How would you react? Would you be bursting with personality, or would
be very quiet and subdued. Would you step up, being leader and dealing out life
lessons, or would you hide and take a back seat. All of those are acceptable
options, and all of those make perfect sense for real people.
Critics, and to some extent audience
members, don’t expect real people when they are watching film and tv. They are
expecting that surface impression, something they can easily process and
accept, and that they can easily remember every subsequent time they see them. This
is easy, this is something they don’t have to think about.
It’s true of movies and tv shows, and it’s
true of people in real life.
We get that surface impression of real
people, people who are standing in front of us, in unflattering light, with
imperfect hair, with stained and torn clothing. Real people, as real as you and
me, with their own backstory, their own opinions, their own reactions, their
own likes and dislikes, and most importantly, their own impression of you. We
get a surface impression of them, they get a surface impression of us, and
that’s it. No matter how we see them from now on, if they turn out to be a
model, or a shark catcher, or a professional nuclear psychiatrist, they will
always be the same way. No matter how they see us, we will always be the same
way, and people drive themselves crazy hoping that they leave a good first
impression.
This is why we think that people don’t
change. This is why critics constantly complain about characters in films, tv
shows, books, and even music. This is why we are constantly surprised by the
people we know when they do something unexpected.
We don’t see people as real people, we see
them as an easy to process image. A picture or painting. A perfect still image
of someone, usually with perfect lighting and makeup and costume and shot
composition, and filled with tine little details, but a still painting
none-the-less.
And next week, I’ll look at how we
influence this impression ourselves, and explain how we can, in fact, change
it.
Daniel Lyons.
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