Introducing a Protagonist: Is less more?

In my recent Core I: Plot class, we covered just about all the bases when it comes to screenplay structure. One subject which came up was an emerging mini-trend of movies that jump into action with scant work establishing the Protagonist’s background. Two recent examples: Lucy and Ex Machina. Here is an excerpt from one of our many forum conversations and my thoughts on the matter:

There’s no rule saying a story has to establish a character’s ‘normal’ life before the narrative jumps into action. It is, however, pretty typical and it makes sense why:

* To create a context in which to place the Protagonist.

* To help us understand why and who they are.

* To ease us into the story.

* To establish a baseline where the Protagonist is in terms of their physical and psychological circumstances in order to see how they progress in their journey.

That said, some stories plop us into action straightaway, what is known as in media res. Some advantages of that:

* Gets into the action immediately.

* Creates a mystery: Who is this character? Why are they doing what they’re doing.

Depending on the type of story it is, we either learn about the character’s backstory through a variety of narrative devices such as confessions, revelations, flashbacks, or if the Protagonist is meant to be a mystery character a la The Man With No Name in the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, all we learn about them is what transpires through action in the present.

With Lucy and Ex Machina, we get a smidgen of what the P’s ordinary world experience is. With Lucy, she has a conversation with her kind of boyfriend. We get a sense they haven’t known each other for too long, she’s something of a party girl, and has zero experience in illicit activities. It’s just enough to know she is ill prepared for the shit-storm into which she gets thrust.

With Ex Machina, during the opening 1 minute scene whereby Caleb learns he’s been selected by Nathan, we learn he is a lowly programmer, one of many in a cubicle, he’s well-liked by virtue of the hugs and pats on the back he receives from co-workers, sort of a Millennial John Doe, your basic contemporary young man involved in high tech stuff. This provides enough context so that when he shows up at Nathan’s billionaire compound, we know he is well out of his element.

In Ex Machina, there is the traditional reveal of backstory about Caleb, but we learn virtually nothing else about Lucy other than visiting a friend’s apartment to use her computer.

Minimal content in introducing either Protagonist. Yet both movies work.

As I say, the conventional approach is to provide a more complete Ordinary World context for the Protagonist for the reasons cited above.

But as movies like Lucy and Ex Machina demonstrate, you as a writer have the freedom to do whatever your story requires by way of introducing your Protagonist — comprehensive or minimal — and in all other aspects.

If this (abbreviated Protagonist background) is an actual thing, I believe it’s part of a larger context: The ‘shortening’ of movies. Scenes. Shots. Page count. Plot points. Perhaps contemporary viewers like to get into the action as soon as possible and need less exposition to find their way into the story.

What do you think? Head to comments and give your two cents worth.

There are 8 courses in my Core curriculum, offering a coherent, comprehensive take on screenwriting theory. I only offer these classes once per year and the second session begins on Monday, July 20. The class: Core II: Concept, the most comprehensive class you can take on generating and assessing story ideas. For more information, go here.

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