Save the Cat (a fantastic book on screenwriting by Blake Snyder) asks the question - "What is the screenplay/movie about? Can you describe it to a studio executive in one line?" (I'll post about this book next week). I started thinking about which movies sang to me. What sparkled? Which movies can I watch again and again, which books do I read over and over?
I love The Terminator by James Cameron. When the movie was released in 1984 I had no plans to watch, nope – not for me. But the somewhat-significant-other rented the video, he wanted to watch it. So we did and I loved it! If the somewhat-significant-other hadn't been interested in gunfire, I may never have seen the movie.
Why? I searched movie databases. I discovered I wasn't the target audience. The producers and distributors promoted an action movie with the tagline(s), “In the Year of Darkness, 2029, the rulers of this planet devised the ultimate plan. They would reshape the Future by changing the Past. The plan required something that felt no pity. No pain. No fear. Something unstoppable. They created 'THE TERMINATOR'” The movie trailer introduces the movie with the phrase, “In the future a weapon….it feels no pain, no remorse.”
So, was it an action movie? Yes. Time Travel – definitely, and I love the paradox of time travel. Did it carry a warning about war and nuclear holocaust? Yes. Was the description of the movie accurate? Pretty much even though I could have tightened it to read - "Machines rule the planet. They have one goal, exterminate the human race. They have the technology. Can mankind survive?"
But I still think this movie was about something else, something enduring - love. The Terminator is a love story, first and foremost. The release was a success, surprising everyone. If the tagline for the movie had been different, would it have garnered as large an audience? A smaller one? Would it have languished on a dusty shelf in a video store? And did the men watching this movie realize they were in thrall of a romance?
All of the above brings me to the following questions:
1) What is the movie, story about? What one line plot description would you have used?
2) What if The Terminator had been marketed differently? How would you describe the movie? Should we look at the way we package the romance genre and would that increase the reader base to include more men? Our books are often filled with action, time travel and mystery.
3) What made this movie sparkle? Did the movie sparkle for you?
For me the sparkle was the timeless, undying love of Kyle for Sarah. The scene that sticks in my mind is when Kyle tells Sarah, “I came through time for you, Sarah. I love you. I always have.” The film's love scene wasn't graphic (the violence was, the sex wasn't) but this scene was powerful. A brillant flash of sparkle came in the close-up of the clenching of their hands.
Please, tell me what you think? I'm eager for discussion and I can't wait to read your one line plot descriptions.
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6 comments:
Okay, confession time. I've never sat and watched The Terminator from start to finish--I just know of the story and have seen a few bits and pieces. Surprising, I know. Can I borrow it Andrea?
Now I wish I'd seen the movie. I know there are other books or movies out there that had the same suprise effect on me but for the life of me I can't think of it.
I think about how I think things sometimes are marketed wrong too. Darn I just wish I could think of an example.
On the flip side, I hate it when a movie is marketed as a Romance and it ends up sad, with no redeming characters or character growth. Legends of the Fall was that kind of movie for me. Of course when I saw it, it was bc after seeing Titanic I wanted to see a feel good romance. HA!
I think this movie appeals to folks on all different levels.
Yep, it's a shoot-up (western of the new age) Man vs Man
Then it's a man surviving the inevitable end . . . Man vs Nature
Then to me it was also Man against God, with a twist. The machines became God because man gave them so much power.
And yet, I do believe it's a love story. A man who travels through time for one woman, uh-oh, that gets me everytime.
Isn't Linda Hamilton (I think that's right) a great unlikely heroine? She's a just a gal who can't get her life straightened out and suddenly she's the birth mother to the future. I love the unlikely hero/heroine. It's such an underdog thing.
A few apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic movies were released around the same time as The Terminator – Red Dawn and of course 1984 springs to mind. (Does Gremlins count? Maybe not, I dunno.) They say art imitates life and maybe that’s just where our thoughts were at the time.
The Terminator definitely had some romance in it. I clearly remember Sarah Connor’s (Linda Hamilton) intense liquid blue eyes filling with tears and Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) kissing them away. Good stuff, but I still don’t view it as a romance story. Most fantasy and sci-fi stories have an element of romance in them.
My attempt at a plot line: In world where artificial intelligence seeks to gain control, a cyborg assassin is sent back through time to kill the future of mankind. One man is sent back to save it.
It’s hard to say what would draw men to the romance genre. I asked the Consort for his opinion as to what would entice him to read romance. He couldn’t think of anything. Not because he thinks poorly of it. He’s just not interested. For the most part, I think men are just wired differently.
What really made this movie work for me was the whole underdog thing Sandra commented on. I love that. Hope never dies.
Love sent him to the past to save the future.
Oooh, Ardent and Jill - good ones! I love the taglines you came up with. I may have to give you my manuscripts. :)
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