Want and Need

In the Advanced Screenwriting class I’m currently teaching, the first lecture introduced students to my own version of a screenplay paradigm: Narrative Throughline. Here is a follow-up post about another aspect in this concept:

There is another layer to the Narrative Throughline paradigm that can be helpful for the writing process, particularly for those stories where there is a central Protagonist character and they go through some sort of transformation process (as is the case, I would argue, in most mainstream movies). And that is to rethink the idea of the Protagonist’s goal.

Years ago, I read somewhere (or heard a writer say) this articulation of three important questions a writer must ask him/herself about their story:

* Who is the Protagonist?

* What do they want?

* Who is keeping them from that goal?

The value of these three questions is immediately evident:

* By identifying the Protagonist, you start to define the core elements of the story

* By identifying what the Protagonist’s goal is, you provide an end point to the story which helps to shape the trajectory of the plot

* By identifying the Nemesis character(s) who are actively opposing the Protagonist, you set into motion the core conflict of the story

Zeroing in on the second question — What do they want — on the face of it that seems like a legitimate way of framing the exploration process to determine to the Protagonist’s goal. However “want” signifies a goal about which the Protagonist is conscious. As we see in the first act of so many movies, the Protagonist will actually state their goal: I want that promotion / I want that girl / I want to win the big game / I want to catch that bad guy.

But what happens a lot is the Protagonist’s goal seems to shift as a seemingly second goal emerges. I would argue this is not a new goal, but rather the coming to the surface and recognition of a goal the Protagonist innately has in their Internal World — not a want, but a need.

External World — Want
Internal World — — Need

The Protagonist’s Need reflects the sensibilities of the the character’s core essence — that part of him/herself ‘inside’ which has been suppressed or ignored. In Act Two, as it emerges from the darkness into the light of the External World — demonstrated by it bubbling up into the Protagonist’s consciousness — it becomes a partner with the Protagonist’s Want in re-shaping the nature of their goal.

You can see this dynamic in tons of movies — for example, where the Protagonist begins as a work-obsessed character, then transforms into a whole persona by tapping into their creative / loving / human core essence. Movies like:

* Baby Boom (1987): The life of super-yuppie J.C. (Diane Keaton) is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative. She loses her job.
Her Want: To get her job back
Her Need: To accept her role as a mother
Denouement: She turns her back on her old job to do another version of work that allows her to be a mother.

* Working Girl (1988): When a secretary’s idea (Melanie Griffith) is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss’s job.
Her Want: To succeed in business as a white collar woman
Her Need: To embrace her blue collar essence
Denouement: She wins at work by using her blue collar skills.

* Liar Liar (1997): A fast track lawyer (Jim Carrey) can’t lie for 24 hours due to his son’s birthday wish after the lawyer turns his son down for the last time.
His Want: To get a promotion
His Need: To accept his role as a father
Denouement: He has stopped living the ‘lie’ of being a good father by finding the appropriate balance between work and family.

Another movie which takes the work-obsession out of the office environment is Tootsie (1982): An unemployed actor (Dustin Hoffman) with a reputation for being difficult disguises himself as a woman to get a role in a soap opera.
His Want: To succeed as an actor
His Need: To confront his chauvinism by getting in touch with his feminine side
Denouement: “I was a better man with you, as a woman… than I ever was with a woman, as a man.”

With the two world construct of Narrative Throughline — External World (Plotline) and Internal World (Themeline) — there is an interesting way to look at the transformation of the Protagonist character — sorting out what their Want is and what their Need is. As those two motivations merge in Act Three, they help to effect the transformation that leads a Protagonist from Disunity to Unity.

Can you think of other movies where there is a shift from Want to Need?

Comment Archive