Film Lecture Series #5 - Character & Storytelling + Film Review.
Characters are a mix of complex qualities that can be hidden or personified to viewers by other means such as through personal nature or through a representation of a concept or quality. Actors are usually the ones to ‘find’ characters and build that characters internal/external dynamics to audiences so they can understand their personality/nature.
So within stories characters are either designed to respond to events within the cinematic (e.g. Speed 1994) or are designed so that the characters cause the events that play out in the film (e.g. 12 Angry Men 1957). Meaning in some cases the audience really get to know the character, but in others they are just there to get the story across so don’t learn much about the character.
Too much Plot?
Some times in film you find
stories to have ‘too much plot’ which can lead to having no character. For example,
in Rambo: First Blood (1982) there are internal and external factors that drive
the character John Rambo, creating a character with depth emotional and physically.
But come Rambo 3 the film becomes more about action driving the story rather than
being character driven.
Another factor to stories having ‘too much plot’ is genericism within films. Which is where we as an audience know little about the characters and we’re not meant to feel too deeply for them. So, these characters tend to be one dimensional and lack personality/ depth. They often also hold low skill level within the cinematic and act as cannon fodder – expendable – to the scenes; often resulting in the characters being anonymous and usually there to fill the scene. An example of this can be seen with the stormtroopers in Star Wars, the audience know immediately that they are on the villain’s side and tend to disregard them as a character to care for. They have been designed to be nondescript so that when one is killed off it seems like a win for the Resistance.
Depth:
Depth within a character is just
as important within a cinematic depending the type of film that is being
created. This seen with the backstory for the character, which provides
everything you need to know about the character before the audience meet
him/her. This would include information such as accent, clothing, actions and
reactions to situations and whether the audience really need to know certain information
about the character in particular. With backstory also comes origin stories
that details a specific event/transition that then leads to change in a
character; for example, in the original Spiderman (2002) the origin story would
be when Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and chooses to help
others using his new found powers.
So, character depth can come from a mixture of places, whether that be from personal history, internal emotions Vs external personas to inherited external words and how they as a individual view the world. Which then help create the Ins and Outs of the character and their response to an event. An example of this would be Superman (kal-el) he comes to earth as an orphan with unusual sense of power due to his heritage and then come the end of the film he comes out being the one to help and protect others. Another example of this would be Norman Bates from Psycho, who coming in is full of hate a violence only to then expel that tension on a unassuming victim and come out calm but a murder.
Character Flaws:
Characters can often have a number
of flaws these ranging from minor to major and tragic.
Minor Flaws can be Physical (eg a
scar, limp), behavioural (eg tick, biting nails) or emotional (eg fear of
snakes). minor flaws aren’t limited to these areas of thought as one character
could have multiple flaws that the audience don’t see initially, but learn as
they watch the film.
Major Flaws often can refer to
the villain’s major flaw which ultimately leads to his downfall. Where as a Hero
typically has to overcome his flaw to ‘save the world’.
Tragic Flaw tends to focus more
on the character own actions that then assist to their own downfall. (also
known as Hamartia).
Characters in Worlds:
Worlds are often inherited, meaning characters are then ‘parachuted’ into situations that then cause then to try to react in manner that is logical. Meaning a characters emotional perception of a world can transform his/her environment, allowing them to can take on literal or imaginary emotional traits and can also be externalised through emotions that are often used as a visual storytelling device and add further dynamic to the scenes (background as character). Objects can also be inherited in a sense as they can be ‘brought to life’ by a character’s interaction with them. This enables the audience to develop an emotional connection to side object based upon the Kuleshov Effect, an example of this can be externalised through ‘Wilson’ in Cast Away (2000) where the volley ball acts as someone Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks) can talk to while he’s stranded on an uninhabited island showing the characters inner monologue (thoughts / feelings).
Protagonist Vs Antagonist: Equal but opposite.
The Protagonist (Hero) is the principle (main) character of the story, with this you also have the Antagonist (Villain) who is a ‘character’ (person/ society) which opposes the Protagonist in there mission. These generally are two separate characters (e.g Hero / Villain stories (Marvel/DC comics)) that fight against one another. However, in character Vs Self stories the two can be parts of the same character. An example of this would be in The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas (2008) where the Bruno’s father is reluctant to acknowledge what he is doing to the Jews is wrong. So hides behind political rhetoric, patriotism, familial obligation, and ambition. Bruno’s father choses to ignore his conscious morals and misgivings about his work until he is faced with the fact his son is now dead due to his ignorance and lack of acknowledgment of what he is doing can ruins lives.
Character Change (Arcs): Emotional
Change
Character change is also key
within the story and its important to see the character growth from beginning to
end. One way to demonstrate this is through character emotion as Internal
character change combined with conflict can leads to emotional change, then
through Internal emotional change can then bring about external change within a
character. This can typically be seen In Hero’s journey stories characters
emotionally change and resolve. E.g. Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
Film Review - The Terminal (2004)
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| Fig 1. The Terminal Cover. (2004) |
Personal History:
- We learn a lot about Viktor Novorski’s father over the course of the film. This being that he recently lost his father and that he had begun a project of writing letters to and collecting signatures from the Jazz musicians in a “Great Day in Harlem" photograph (see below Fig 2.). We learn that is the reason why Viktor is in New York; it is because he made a promise to his late jazz enthusiast father to get the last remaining signature of saxophonist Benny Golson.
- We also learn that Viktor is from
Fig 2. "A Great Day in Harlem" (1958)
Personal World View:
- When we first meet Viktor Norovski in the terminal (fig 3), we find he is escorted to a holding spot after his passport and visa is denied. We then cut to Viktor in Thurman’s office where we can begin to see Viktor doesn’t understand what is being explained to him; this then becomes more evident that he doesn’t understand English when in Frank Dixon’s office (fig 4. See below), where he repeatedly says ‘yes’ to answers and then tries to leave for New York but is met with the remarks of being ‘unacceptable’ and’ America is closed’.
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| Fig 3. The Terminal (2004) |
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| Fig 4. Dixon’s Office (2004) |
- We learn in this scene that while Viktor was traveling to New York
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| Fig 5. Krakozhia at War Pt1(2004) |
Inherited World:
- When Viktor is denied access to the US, he is admitted to terminal Gate 67 and is given vouchers for food since his money is now useless in the US. It is only till he sees the news reports that he becomes aware of the situation he is now in even if he can’t read what’s on the screen. He is left feeling panicked (fig 6 and 7 see below) and alone when no one helps him use the pay phones and is taken advantage of when Gupta (the terminal cleaner) denies him to go through his rubbish to retrieve his food vouchers that were scattered on the floor when tried to help a teenager close her suit case, but ends up breaking it instead.
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| Fig 6. Krakozhia at War Pt2 (2004) |
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| Fig 7. Krakozhia at War Pt3 (2004) |
- While Viktor is in the terminal, he has to adapt to be able to get by in the world he is now stuck in, over the course of the time he teaches himself English through the use of two travel guides, one in English the other in his native language (fig 8 see below).
Fig 8. Viktor Learns English (2004)
Wants (Goals):
Viktor wants to go to the Ramada Inn where Benny Golson is
performing and retrieve the last Jazz Musicians autograph to go in his KP
Peanuts can and full fill his father dream of getting all 57 jazz musicians’
signatures from the “Great Day in Harlem" photograph (fig 2, see above).
Needs:
Viktor needs to be able to leave the terminal to achieve his goal
and fulfil his promise to his late father; but can’t as Dixon hasn’t and won’t
give Viktor the permissions need to leave the terminal to reach his goals. Dixon
even goes to the extent of denying Viktor passage to the US when he brings him
a one-day emergency travel visa that his love interest – Amelia (a flight
attendant) - had brought him so he could go and get his last signature and put
it in the can.
Internal vs External Traits:
- When Viktor settles in for his first night in Gate 67 we get a sense that he is good with his hands in terms of fixing/building things. This seen where he amends the waiting room chairs and removes the middle arm rests so he can lay down comfortably for the night. You also see him turn off the lights and music playing in the background by going to the fuse box/plug socket panel in the wall and pulling wires out to turn them off. You also see another glimpse of Viktor’s handy man skills when he finishes off a wall for the construction workers, seen making construction plans and through the fountain he built for Amelia.
- Throughout the film the audience can gather that Viktor is quite a patient person as you see him constantly saying ‘’ I wait’’, this pops up in a few scenes throughout the film. The most prominent is when Dixon provides a chance for Viktor to leave the terminal by having no guards on the main entrance door for 5 minutes to try and get Viktor to leave the terminal and ‘become somebody else’s problem’. But Viktor is patient as says he’ll wait (fig 9 see below).
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| Fig 9. “I Wait” (2004) |
- Viktor level of patience may have been inherited from his father as
he was patient enough to wait for signatures back from the musicians
Flaws:
- Viktor Norvorski has a few character flaws but ultimately add to his character and the situation he has found himself in. These flaws can be seen from the start of the film where the audience begins to understand he doesn’t know much English and struggles to read the news reports that display his countries current political state.
- Another would be that he is too trusting of those around him; this is because at the start of the film he doesn’t understand much English so is manipulated into booking an appointment with Gupta to ‘look through his trash’ for his food vouchers on Tuesday. Another would be when he’s trying to get a job to buy food for a date and the managers find any excuse to not hire him and lie by saying the position has been filled.
Conflicts:
- Over the course of the film Viktor face main challenges which are usually a result of Dixon’s doing to try and get Vitor to leave so he can become Head of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
- The first conflict the audience is met with is the civil war happening in Krakozhia; which acts as an underlying conflict throughout the film.
- The second conflict is met when Viktor loses his food vouchers and is then left penniless and has to find a way to get food so he won’t starve. He overcomes this conflict when he figures out the luggage cart system and is then able to pay for food from the quarters he receives from the machine.
- Dixon catches on this and then implements Viktor’s third conflict with the new job role of transportation liaison in charge of passenger assistants, which then takes away Viktor’s source of getting money for food. This was another attempt by Dixon to drive Viktor out of the terminal and into the streets of New York to get him arrested for breaking the law by leaving the terminal without his visa. But again, Viktor manages to over come this when he meets Enrique, who offers him food in exchange for finding out about Customs and Border Protection officer Dolores who he has a crush on.
- The fourth conflict is when Viktor tries to get a job to earn money to take Amelia (the love interest) out for dinner. Not of the shops will hire him, so Viktor is then left feeling defeated. As he makes his way back to the Gate 67 lounge where he is stay, he comes across the construction site at the terminal that is being renovated and turns his handy man skills to patching up the wall. The construction managers take note of his skill and bring him on to their team and is given a job that pays him cash under the table, enabling him to now be able to earn money.
- The fourth conflict is met when Viktor is brought into translate for the Russian with bottles of medicine, Viktor at first says the medicine is for the man’s father; but soon alters his translations from father toe goat claiming they sound the similar when he sees the man’s distraught features. Dixon then insists Viktor has been reading the blue form which will permit the medication into the US if it’s for an animal. In Dixon’s eyes Viktor become a bigger problem, but in the eyes of the airport staff and Gupta who retells the story of what he done for the Russian he is now seen as a hero for what he did.
- Soon after this conflict with the medication, Viktor brings a giant sail fish that he won in a poker game when he was first brought into the fold with Mulroy, Gupta and Enrique to Dixon’s office to help patch things up from the medicine incident. Dixon doesn’t want to know and instead asks what’s in the peanut can, only to receive the answer of ‘a promise’. Dixon doesn’t like this response and continues to make a ‘promise’ of his own stating that Viktor will never stap a foot in America as long as he’s there.
- The final major conflict is when Dixon threatens and blackmails Viktor into going home by exposing his new found friends contract breaches/violations they have committed ultimately lose their jobs - Gupta with the need for his arrest in India for assaulting a police officer, Enrique with letting unauthorised personnel into the food preparation area and Mulroy for running an after-hour poker game bringing in liquor and marijuana. (fig 10 and 11 see below)
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| Fig 10. Dixon’s Blackmail (2004) |
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| Fig 11. Viktor’s Friends. |
Value Change in a Scene:
- Viktor starts out as foreigner in a strange country he doesn’t understand, with little knowledge of the English language. He over comes this and learns English to have better understanding of the world going on around him. Viktor also gains confidence and courage come the end of the film to not be blackmailed into going home by Dixon when Gupta stops the plane and yells he’s going home, giving Viktor that final push to leave the terminal and go put his last signature in the can.
- Gupta starts out not trusting Viktor convince he’s some sort of spy, over the course of the film he comes to admire Viktor when he stood up for the Russian with the medicine for his goat. We also learn that he is hiding from arrest beck in India for stabbing a man and scared to go to prison; his view soon changes when he learns Viktor is being blackmailed into going home so that he and the friends can keep their jobs the terminal. This giving Gupta the final push to go home a confront his prison sentence and spur Viktor into going to New York.
- Frank Dixon at the beginning of the film lacks compassion and just sees the people in front of him as a job, sticking closely to the rules and regulations of the US boarder force. It is made evident in the scene where Viktor is brought into translate for the Russian with bottles of medicine, where he insists Viktor has been reading the blue form which will permit the medication into the US if its for an animal. Come the end of the film Dixon let his vendetta against Viktor go and gain a bit of compassion to let Viktor go and get his last signature to put in the can.
Illustration List:
Fig 1. The Terminal
Cover. (2004) [Film Poster, Advertisement] At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/mediaviewer/rm1041398272/ (Accessed: 19/01/2021).
Fig 2. "A Great
Day in Harlem" (1958) [Photograph for Esquire Magazine] At: https://www.namm.org/library/blog/great-day-harlem-great-day-san-diego
(Accessed: 19/01/2021).
Fig 3. The Terminal
(2004) [Film Still] At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/mediaviewer/rm2004737/ (Accessed: 19/01/2021).
Fig 4. Dixon’s Office
(2004) [Film Still] At: Original Film. The Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2
England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 5. Krakozhia
at War Pt1(2004) [Film still]
At: Original Film. The
Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2 England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 6. Krakozhia
at War Pt2 (2004) [Film still]
At: Original Film. The
Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2 England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 7. Krakozhia at War Pt3 (2004) [Film still]
At: Original Film. The
Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2 England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 8. Viktor
Learns English (2004) [Film still]
At: Original Film. The
Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2 England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 9. “I Wait”
(2004) [Film still]
At: Original Film. The
Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2 England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 10. Dixon’s
Blackmail (2004) [Film still]
At: Original Film. The
Terminal, 17:55 27/02/2011, BBC2 England, 125 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0070AF74?bcast=60881742 (Accessed 19 Jan 2021)
Fig 11. Viktor’s Friends (2004) [Film still]
At: http://www.derekwinnert.com/the-terminal-classic-film-review-483/
(Accessed: 19/01/2021).
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