I adore Voir on Netflix…
Thoughtful visual essays on why exactly movies matter to us.
Drew McWeeny’s episode about Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the relevance of making a character likable however, raised some questions for me.
Although Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! is my screenwriting bible, I agree with McWeeny that it is not absolutely essential for a lead character to have even a single redeeming trait. There is, for example, nothing remotely likable about Travis Bickle or Max Cady, yet we are still glued to the screen whenever they appear.
The main reason we are spellbound though, is because of one hugely important element that McWeeny doesn’t address – and it is an element that makes all the difference for me.
I find Bickle, Cady and many other deplorable antiheroes completely mesmerizing because of the actors who do a phenomenal job of playing them.
Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Der Untergang (2004) is about – arguably – the most despicable specimen of a human being that ever lived, but I am still utterly captivated by Bruno Ganz’s interpretation of the man.
Agreed then – likability is irrelevant, but probably only when the performer is next-level awesome.
P.S.
Definitely check out episode 5 (Film vs. Television) for a very topical analysis of the advantages that films in theaters still (?) hold over the “small” screen. The scene-for-scene comparison between Michael Mann’s L.A. Takedown (1989) and Heat (1995) is fascinating.
Must get me a copy of Takedown…
In any event…
Seek it out & get your fix.
#thescreenaddict
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