Movie Analysis: “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” — Takeaways
Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of watching movies:
To be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.
But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.
Let me add this: It’s important to see movies as they get released so that you stay on top of the business. Decisions get made in Hollywood in large part depending upon how movies perform, so watching movies as they come out puts you in the same head space as reps, producers, execs, and buyers.
This week’s movie: Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt, based on characters by George Lucas.
Our schedule for discussion this week:
Monday: General Comments
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways
For those of you who have not seen the movie, do not click MORE as we will be trafficking in major spoilers. If you have seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I invite you to join me in breaking down and analyzing the movie.
My big takeaway: Just as Star Wars IV is a perfect example of the Hero’s Journey, so, too, Star Wars VII. I’m not talking so much about the so-called 12 stages (in “The Hero With a Thousand Faces,” Joseph Campbell actually noted 17 aspects of the Hero’s Journey), but rather the whole point of the adventure which is transformation.
Rey has the Force within her. But she has no knowledge of it at the beginning of the story. She is, as I call it, living in a state of Disunity. The separation from her parents, her lonely vigil on a desert planet, her subsistence lifestyle, all of it represents an inauthentic life. She is called to something much bigger and on her journey, she learns some key truths about her background, and along the way becomes aware of her inner power and connection to the Force.
Like Luke Skywalker before her, she moves from outside of the conflict between the forces of Good and Evil to squarely inside. Embracing the Force and learning to control and use it, Rey gets in touch with her Inner Jedi, and by the very end has placed herself in a situation where — potentially — she can learn the ways of the Force from a true master.
From desert urchin to Jedi warrior, Rey goes through a significant transformation. Her metamorphosis serves as a reminder to any of us who write stories which echo the Hero’s Journey that there is a psychological component at work in these tales: The Protagonist goes through a change, typically from Disunity to Unity. The more we understand the contour of the Protagonist’s arc, the more we can explore the story’s Internal World as it relates to the plot as it plays out in the External World.
What takeaways did you have from the movie Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens?
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