Blog #4: "A Little Push-Push In The Bush!"

Veering off subject from the assignment at hand here, but I just want to say that Adaptation, written by Charlie and Donald Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze, is probably one of my favorite movies ever. It's an incredibly original, bizzare, touching, hilarious, and highly entertaining piece of cinematic genius. I don't think this movie gets enough credit, so I am very glad we got to read and analyze the script in class.

As I mentioned in class last week, nobody can write like Charlie Kaufman can, and it is clearly evident in this script. Adaptation has very little in the form of description of scenery and characters. However, Kaufman more than makes up for it with wonderful dialouge that moves at a briskful pace and a wonderfuly convoluted story. Kaufman has writen a script that not only has an interesting plot, but also wonderful, realistic characters that the audience truly cares for. Kaufman found a great balance between plot-driven and character-driven story, creating a truly amazing script.

The Apartment, by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, was also an entertaining read. Wilder and Diamond seem to care more about the characters involved in the story more than the overall plot of the film. While the plot is a standard love story (low level employ falls for the girl of his dream, who turns out to be his boss's mistress), the characters within the story, especially Bud and Fran, are not 2-D charicatures, but realistic characters, with layers and character arches, in which we see them grow and transform for the better by the end of the story. Wilder and Diamond have created a script that while lacking in overall plot, is filled with rich characters. Ergo, I think Wilder and Diamond have made a great character-driven story with The Apartment.

A Boy's Life, by Melissa Mathison, is also a very entertaining story. Unlike the other two scripts which were more character-based, I beilieve A Boy's Life is more of a plot-driven story. While it does create characters we care for, especially Elliot and E.T., I think Mathison focuses more on the overall plot of unlikely friendship and the quest to take E.T. back home. This is can be seen in the script when the writer describes in detail all the events that occur in the stroy (like the scene when Elliot floats in the principles office), but when it comes to some of the characters, they are thrown in the backburner and not truly fleshed out (Gertie and Michael, for example, not to mention ALL the adults). Mathison, I believe, has created a wonderful plot-driven script.

While each script has an original voice and structure provided by their writers, all three scripts are incredibly entertaining and engrossing in their own unique way.

-Juan Sanchez

Discussion Questions:

1) In Adaptaion, Charlie Kaufman says that the goal of every writer is to create something new, it's a "journey into the unkown." Donald says that every writer has a genre and that "we must find our originality within that genre." Do you agree with Charlie (create something new) or Donald (originality within genre)? Why? (PS: Donald's genre is thriller? What's yours?)

2) What exactly is Weston reffering to when she talks about "The Big Fat Fact?"