A massive debate ensued on our ride to dinner last night.
It involved a movie my husband and I both watched (at different times) and why he liked it and I didn't.
The argument centered around the fact that he would rather a story make him feel something than be well-plotted.
My counterpoint was that a story is more relatable and more likely to make us feel something when it follows the laws of storytelling.
There are exceptions, of course, to each of these arguments.
But the timing of this debate is interesting because I'm wrapping up a book on plotting and one of the messages is that just because a story follows a formula doesn't mean it's formulaic. Structure doesn't quell creativity. In fact, storytelling structure helps us wrangle the creativity and put our ideas in the places that they're meant to go to have the most profound effect on the reader.
So my problem with the movie was 1) the believability of the setup, 2) the hero's character arc, and 3) a death used solely as a plot device (it made the guy a better person, but to what end?).
The movie just didn't "scratch that itch" for me (and that's okay--Rotten Tomatoes reviews are split evenly down the middle (49%), so it's just as likely for a viewer to like it as to dislike it.
And this is where my husband comes in. He thought the plotline mimicked real life and because he felt for the main character thought it was a good/successful story.
My argument is that life doesn't make sense, and that even if an author is writing about the "real world," if he cares about the reader at all, he or she is going to structure that story so that it has the best chance to appeal to the intended audience.
Ironically enough, I feel like the movie's intended audience was ME, not my husband, which adds another layer to this debate. I don't really buy in to postmodern stream of consciousness, so if a story mimics "real life"--which is often stranger than fiction, anyway--there's very little rhyme or reason for what goes on (unlike within a story world, which, to some degree, needs to make sense in order to be appreciated).
If you have thoughts about this or want to add something to the debate, hit me up on Twitter or comment on the Facebook post. If you can think of exceptions--where storytelling rules were broken and the story was still a success--I'd love to hear them.
I do see his point, but I also feel like a story without a clear and recognizable structure is more likely to flounder than win over an audience.
But if it makes us feel something. . . .
Be Brilliant!
-Katie~
