Lecture 8:
The Controlling Idea
Harold and Maude (1971)
Screenplay by Colin Higgins
Professor Christopher Bradley
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Previous Lesson
•
Avoiding Clichés
•
Research
–
Biographical and
psychological
–
Physical and
Political
–
Historical
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Screenplay by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg
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Previous Lesson (Continued)
•
Imagination
–
•
The big “What if…?”
4 Dimensions of
Setting
–
Period
–
Duration
–
Location
Jurassic Park (1998)
Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams
–
Level of Conflict
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This Lesson
• Finding Meaning
– Aesthetic Emotion
•
Finding (or creating)
meaning out of life’s
random events
– Premise
•
And the “What if”
question
Donnie Darko (2001)
•
Other inspirations
Screenplay by Richard Kelly
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This Lesson (Continued)
•
The “Controlling Idea”
–
What is it?
–
What will you prove?
–
Avoiding didacticism!
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How do you find it?
–
The Counter-Idea
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Progressions
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Screenplay by Hubert Selby
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This Lesson (Cont.)
•
Identifying Your
Story Type
– What kind of
story is your
story?
–
Idealistic
–
Pessimistic
–
•
Ironic
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Screenplay by Cesare Zavattini & Suso Cecci
D’Amico & Vittorio De Sica & Oreste Biancoli
& Adolfo Franci & Gerardo Guerrireri
Assignments
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Finding Meaning
Silkwood (1983)
Written by Nora Ephron & Alice Arlen
Lesson 8: Part I
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Aesthetic Emotion
• Events have no inherent meaning. They just are.
• While an interpreted meaning of an event may be
widespread in a given society, meaning is not
true. A minority of people might glean a very
different meaning from the same event than the
majority.
• That isn’t to say creating meaning is useless!
Created meaning is the most powerful tool a
society has. The question is, “Into what tool are
we going to fashion the meaning of this event?”
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Premise
• The Premise might be The Big “What If…” question,
but it can come from many sources of inspiration.
• A Premise might well disappear once you’ve gotten
into actually writing the story.
• What do you hope to prove with your story?
Unforgiven (1998)
Screenplay by David Webb Peoples
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Premise (2)
• Storytelling is nonintellectual, but not
anti-intellectual.
• Yes, you are asserting something— you’re making an
argument— but not in the dry form of an essay.
• You don’t have to explain, you demonstrate. The
entire story is the ultimate “Show, Don’t Tell.”
• BE BOLD! You don’t have to baby your
audience. Challenge them. Say something
outrageous if that’s what the story calls for!
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The Controlling Idea
What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
Screenplay by Buck Henry and David Newman & Robert
Bendon, based on a story by Peter Bogdanovich
Lesson 8: Part II
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The Controlling Idea
• All great films have a broader subject matter, a
theme or, as McKee calls it, a Controlling Idea. It
extends beyond the particular story a screenwriter
tells.
• A Controlling Idea is the unifying idea of a story. It
is concerned with a universal concept such as love,
honor, identity, ambition, greed, etc. (but “Love” is
not a theme. You’re saying something about it.)
• The universality of themes ensures that the
audience will relate to a story on a deeper level.
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The Controlling Idea (2)
• Without a Controlling Idea, there is no
purpose or meaning to a work of creation.
• Examples of Controlling Ideas:
– Good triumphs over evil (or vice/versa)
– Love conquers all
– Violence doesn’t pay
– Every human being deserves freedom
– The universe is a place of benign indifference
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The Controlling Idea (3)
• “The most personal stories are, conversely,
the most universal.” --Bob Rosen
Into the Wild (1998)
Screenplay by Sean Penn, based on the book by Jon Krakauer
• “If you’re moved, the audience will be
moved.” --Aristotle
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Avoiding Didacticism
• Subtlety! Your Controlling Idea will lose
impact if you hammer it home.
• Both sides should be presented fairly.
Remember, it’s not good idea/bad idea.
It’s good idea/better idea!
• Let the audience discover the theme for
themselves through what you show them.
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Dead Poets Society
• Please pause the
lecture and watch
the clip from Dead
Poets Society
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Screenplay by Tom Schulman
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Dead Poets Society (2)
• The theme is “Seize the Day”.
• It’s a little heavy handed while it’s still a
good movie, but we could have gotten the
theme without help, without the writer
actually telling us…over and over!
• Think in terms of the rule about exposition.
Conflict first, information second! Give us
your theme through conflict. No one is in
conflict here. There’s no opposition.
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Harold and Maude
• Now, please pause
the lecture and
watch the clip from
Harold and Maude
Harold and Maude (1971)
Screenplay by Colin Higgins
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Harold and Maude (2)
• Why does this scene
work so much better?
• Opposition. Conflict.
She enjoys being
alive, he enjoys being
“dead”.
• Information about the
theme is secondary.
Harold and Maude (1971)
Screenplay by Colin Higgins
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Discovering Your
Controlling Idea
• You may discover your theme as you write,
and it may surprise you.
• Themes grow out of what you believe to be
true. They grow out of your experiences
and discoveries.
• You might change your mind as you
research or explore your own thoughts.
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Discovering Your
Controlling Idea (2)
• A few questions can help you define and
clarify your theme.
– Do I believe that what my Protagonist does in
the climactic moment is right or wrong?
– What parts of my story do I consider to be
universal or archetypical?
– Who loses in my story? Why?
– Who survives or triumphs? Who changes and
grows? Why?
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Discovering Your
Controlling Idea (3)
• Start from the end and move backwards.
• Look at your climax and the resolution.
• Ask, “How did we get here? What caused
this?”
• Put it into a sentence: “This cause brings
about this result.”
– “Hubris in the wild leads to violent death.”
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Discovering Your
Controlling Idea (4)
• Once you have identified your Controlling
Idea, you should be able to state it in one
sentence.
– “Animals have demonstrably human emotions
and they need to be protected in the same way.”
– “American jobs are more important than the
extinction of endangered species.”
– “Yes, money does buy happiness.”
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The Counter-Idea
• You should also hold the Counter-Idea in
your mind and be sure to give it equal time.
– “Animals do not have souls. Animals are food.”
– “Unemployment is temporary. Species
extinction is permanent.”
– “Happiness is an emotion created by what we
tell ourselves about our own lives. It is free. It is
not a function of winning the lottery.”
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Progressions
• Switch the upper hand between the
Controlling Idea and the Counter-Idea, with
each argument’s “voice” getting louder, each
argument growing in the certainty of its
argument until the climax (when your idea
wins).
• Remember— Didacticism is boring! Tell
both sides convincingly.
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Identifying Your Story Type
What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
Screenplay by Buck Henry and David Newman & Robert
Bendon, based on a story by Peter Bogdanovich
Lesson 8: Part III
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What Kind of Story is This?
• Idealist Controlling Ideas (“Up” ending)
– It’s a Wonderful Life
– What’s Up, Doc?
– Wall-E
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Screenplay by Phillip Van Doren Stern
and Frances Goodrich & Frank Capra
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What Kind of Story is This?
• Ironic Controlling Ideas (Up/Down Ending)
– Harold and Maude
– Gone with the Wind
– Donnie Darko
– Choose Me
Choose Me (1984)
Screenplay by Alan Rudolph
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What Kind of Story is This?
• Pessimistic Controlling Ideas (Down ending)
– Unforgiven
– A Streetcar Named
Desire
– Bonnie and Clyde
– Into the Wild
– Splendor in the
Grass
– The Bicycle Thief
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Screenplay by David Newman & Robert Benton
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Assignments
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Screenplay by Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Ira Levin
Lesson 8: Part IV
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Reading
• Read Chapter 6 in Story, “Structure
and Meaning”.
• Do the Reading Review to be sure
you’re clear on what you’ve read!
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E-Board Post
• Post what you see as the theme of your
favorite film.
• Describe whether it has an Optimistic,
Pessimistic or Ironic Controlling Idea.
• Maybe you see the theme of another
student’s favorite film differently? Or you
see it as ironic and they see it as
pessimistic? If so, discuss!
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End of Lecture 8
Psycho (1971)
Screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on the novel by Robert Bloch
Next Lecture: Building the Tension
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