Screenwriting, Lyrics, Art, and Investigation
It’s been a while since I looked at a Spongebob Season One episode. I’ll explain at the end why I’m back here again.
ONE
Gary the Snail sleeps.
Spongebob cheerfully wakes him. It’s moving day! We’re leaving home, and Gary must eat ground up clamshells!
TWO
When Gary starts weeping, Spongebob shouts, “April fools!”
THREE
Spongebob prepares dozens of lemonade glasses. He must drink them now. April fools to me!
Continue reading “Fools In April”Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Amy Adams’ Leap Year is a romcom recommendation that surfaces on streaming at this time every year. When I first watched it a decade ago, I was not impressed. However, I recently gave it another try and found it interesting because it lines up with some of my recent thoughts about storytelling. I’ll show you what I mean.
ONE
While the credits roll, establish Anna as a professional stager (for real estate sales) who has applied with her cardiologist boyfriend, Jeremy, for an exclusive apartment. Tease a “special dinner” later between them, including the possibility of a marriage proposal.
TWO
Throughout, we see that Anna likes to be in control and doesn’t like chaos. She meets her alcoholic father, who’s late, in a bar, and we understand why she wants an ordered and planned life. When Dad learns that Jeremy is on his way to Dublin for a convention, he mentions the Irish leap year tradition: the women propose marriage to the men.
Continue reading “Leap Year (2010)”. . . is set to release for Valentine’s Day weekend. Production stills of the shoot have set the purist-minded internet (including me, lol) on edge. The costumes aren’t historically accurate, the casting for the dark-skinned Heathcliff (in a diversity-conscious Hollywood) is baffling, and the portrayal of teenager Cathy by an almost middle-aged actress, regardless of her fame and talent, upends much of the story’s intention.
If you’d like to buff up on the brutal (literally) truth about Emily Bronte’s novel, here’s a plot summary I wrote last year. Spoiler: Heathcliff and Cathy aren’t actually that romantic.
And if you’d prefer to watch a different trope-subverting (and very funny) movie for the holiday, I recommend 1997’s Addicted to Love.
The story misdirects us on Graham’s character. He appears to be a drunken playboy. Later we learn that he’s a widower father of two young girls. He’s a serious person who lets loose when he can, which isn’t often.
He openly admits to being a weeper. He guards information about his daughters because he’s a good father, but any other personal revelations are fair game. He’s not afraid of what he feels. Like his sister Iris, Graham seems to be a Heart Type.
Or is he?
We can’t have him be another Two, like his sister; that would be bad writing. He’s not snarky enough to be a Four. I can’t see Graham as a Three. Although he’s successful, he doesn’t have that Three glow.
Graham is a Nine. He’s a caretaker. (He probably rescued small, injured animals when he was a child, lol.) Amanda’s Four personality reveals Graham’s Nine. Her insecurities are a framework Graham understands. He’s pretty sure he knows how to be in love with her. Because this is a romcom, Graham’s certainty becomes upended in the story’s Five, but the Eight and Nine prove he was right all along. A happy resolution is welcome — upbeat Christmas story is a good choice — but it also feels believable because the Character Enneagrams are well done.
Like Graham, may we all embrace our inner Mr. Napkinhead at this holiday season, bringing joy to family and friends.
This is a very organized, competent, and stressed person. Her professionalism keeps her from relaxing.
Here’s an interesting experiment: Take Cameron Diaz with her beauty and charisma away from Amanda. We’re left with a workaholic. She has a lovely home and a successful business, but no personal life. She doesn’t see herself as romantically attractive and she has constant panic attacks. Actress glamour is doing a lot of heavy lifting to round out this character. On paper Amanda is one step away from being an unlikable heroine.
Possibilities for her Enneagram number include a Four (for the swings in her emotions), a One (for her rigidity about the rules of her career), or a Six (for an inability to find the gray tones in life). Because Amanda annoys me, I suspect she’s a Four. (Personally, it can be a difficult number for me to understand.) Also, she’s just not funny enough to be a One or Six.
A Four also makes sense for Amanda’s crisis: she can’t cry. And we can see at the beginning that she doesn’t really know how to be happy. A Four — someone who feels and knows the full spectrum of emotions — shouldn’t be blocked at either end. She’s living in the middle of the bell curve, a place for a One or a Six but not a Four. Amanda’s lack points us to her Enneagram number.
The story requires that Miles have a broken heart. It’s how he and Iris bond. He’s such a cheerful person, though, that it’s disconcerting to see him feel sad. His spontaneous personality — singing loudly in the video store, offering Christmas fettucine — seems impervious to depression.
Miles finds so much joy in his daily life that I want to call him a Seven. His songwriting and film scoring work bring him pleasure. Being tossed into the middle of Arthur’s dinner party brings him relaxation. Although his girlfriend cruelly dumps him, he finds a way to move past her without lingering or wallowing. Life is too exciting for Miles. He won’t be bogged down by sorrow.
It’s hard to separate Miles from Jack Black. The actor’s real life personality infuses any character he portrays. Dewey Finn from School of Rock is also impulsive and bold. Miles is a dependable adult unlike Dewey (lol), but they share an authenticity. What you see is what you get. Black’s style meshes well with Miles’ happy Seven qualities.
He also meshes well with Iris’ Two. She doesn’t need more drama in her life, and Miles is low maintenance. He’s easy to love: expecting nothing and welcoming everything.
The Holiday has become a Christmas staple over the past 20 (!) years. Wow, has it really been that long? Well, then, it’s certainly worthy of a look at its Character Enneagrams.
When you first meet Iris, our English rose, do you like her? On the one hand, she has a generous and vulnerable heart. On the other, she’s seduced by an obvious and repugnant con artist. She wins us all over, though, when she gets to Los Angeles and takes such pleasure in her vacation.
Unlike Amanda, whose problem is herself, Iris’ problem can be left behind in England. She forms relationships with people — Arthur and Miles — who aren’t toxic. Her routine at home was a prison. Here she’s free. Iris, named after a flower that emerges at the end of winter, blooms in warm California.
This is a Heart Type. Iris is a Two. Her caring nature leads her to overextend her sympathy for Jasper, the cad. The sweetest personality in the Enneagram, a Two, can be manipulated by vultures, and Iris is a textbook case. Jasper expects (and demands) that Iris take care of him. It’s exhausting for her; she’s depleted by their relationship. Arthur, the elderly neighbor, is the opposite. He’s a bit grumpy about any caretaking, but he accepts Iris’ help. Her easy persuading is understood and appreciated.
We’re so happy to see Iris rewarded with the people she meets. She deserves to find true friends and love.
Hogwarts is snowy and cold, but only now do the Christmas decorations go up in the castle and Hogsmeade. Although the UK has no Thanksgiving that marks the beginning of the season, they’ve sensed the appropriate time to bring out the Yuletide festivities!
I learn the fabulous Transformation spell from Professor Weasley. (I can turn enemies into an exploding barrel that I can throw at other enemies. So cool.) Strangely, at this mid-year evaluation, she says the exact same thing to me as she does to another me who has completed all the side missions. I’m excelling!
Finally I can find Amit, a fellow Ravenclaw, in the Astronomy Tower. Amit, bless his heart, is more wizard than warrior. He’s self-taught in the goblin language, Gobbledegook, which is why he’ll be accompanying me. Lodgok has found a goblin mine for me to explore, and there will be some papers and schematics that need translating.
And here comes some backstory: an ancestor of Ranrok’s, Bragbor, left journals that explained how he built magical repositories for a certain group of witches and wizards. (Yes, it was for our Keepers.) Armed with this information, Ranrok seeks any property connected with their names (such as Rookwood Castle). Perhaps this mine has plans that Amit can read. Lodgok will not join us; he can’t be recognized and have his presence reported to Ranrok.
The mine is a fun environment of steam power and accio-pull mechanics. We find a schematic for an enormous drill, helped by Amit’s translations. Although Amit fought well, he hopes to never have another adventure again.
After Amit leaves, Lodgok and I confer. Ranrok hates wizard-kind. At first Lodgok did, too. But then, when he was searching Rookwood Castle for the repository, he met a witch doing research. Without hesitation, she smiled at him and invited him to join her. She showed him a strange goblin metal canister. It was Miriam, Fig’s wife. Her kindness changed Lodgok. When he heard she had been killed (by either Ranrok or one of his minions), Lodgok was sad and wanted no more to do with Ranrok’s mission. However, not all of Bragbor’s journals have yet been found. Somewhere is a gigantic repository, one that will need the enormous drill.
The fabulous Burt Lancaster, nearing the end of his career, plays the corporate mogul in charge of Knox Oil and Gas. Happer is incredibly eccentric; he’s obsessed with discovering and naming a comet. In Scotland Mac is to call him long distance about changes in the constellation Virgo. Lancaster brings instant gravitas to a kooky character. Casting him is excellent.
Happer is impulsive. When Mac, drunk, calls to explain the colors in the aurora borealis to him, Happer skips the pond to see for himself. He’s also wealthy and privileged, talking to Heads of State. In some ways, Happer is dotty. I prefer to see him, though, as an elderly, successful man who can do whatever he likes at this stage. He’s proven himself many times over during his career.
However, these offbeat qualities make him the best negotiator with Ben, the shack-living bum who owns the beach. Happer is excited about the sky, and Ben, who lives under the northern sky every night, is a wonderful resource. The solution they reach suits Happer’s interests, but it will also please the Knox shareholders.
Whoo, boy, the choices for his Enneagram are many. His whimsy could indicate a Seven. His charm and success could indicate a Three. His easy manner with Ben could indicate a Nine.
Lancaster was such a physical man. Remember, his career began as an acrobat. Because of this, I want to choose Nine. In “Field of Dreams” he played an elderly doctor, but we also believed that he was a remarkable baseball player in his youth. Lancaster’s real life personality touched every character he portrayed. Happer can be logically described as a Nine, but I’m picking it because . . . I gotta. It’s freakin’ Burt Lancaster.
Gordon is the local man. Like everyone in the village, he wears many hats: hotelier, bartender, and accountant. He represents the community, negotiating the purchase deal with Mac. He’s competent and a natural leader.
Gordon is a Three. He must be. He’s good at everything he does and everyone like and trusts him. When Mac, drunk, says to him, “I’d make a good Gordon, Gordon,” it’s an admission that Gordon is already the best version of himself.
One thing I like about Gordon’s Threeness: he’s great for the village. His genius is capped by his circumstances. Mac, coming from a more ruthless community, outnegotiates him. We know from the early Knox board meeting that the town and surrounding beach is worth $600 million and that they can go no higher than $60 million in payout. Gordon feels very bold to ask for $6 million, and Mac, stonefaced as always, says he’ll consider that price.
Bonus points if you recognize Gordon’s young Denis Lawson as fighter pilot Wedge from the OG “Star Wars”.