Daily Dialogue — March 12, 2012

Julie: I miss Dorothy.

Michael: You don’t have to. She’s right here. And she misses you. Look, you don’t know me from Adam. But I was a better man with you, as a woman… than I ever was with a woman, as a man. You know what I mean? I just gotta learn to do it without the dress. At this point, there might be an advantage to my wearing pants. The hard part’s over, you know? We were already… good friends.

— Julie (Jessica Lange), Michael (Dustin Hoffman), Tootsie (1982), written by Murray Schisgal and Larry Gelbart, story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is statement of theme, suggested by John Penny.

Trivia: The film’s working title was “Would I Lie to You?”.

Dialogue On Dialogue: One big challenge with stating a story’s theme in dialogue is not making it come off like… you know… a theme. Here they wrap up the exposition in a scene rife with underlying conflict and answering a question the story has posed: What will become of Michael and Julie. That entertainment value provides a nice framework in which to lay in the thematic point: Michael was a better man as a woman.

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