The Hero In A Comedy Versus A Drama by Steve Kaplan Video Lecture | Screenwriting: From Beginner to a Pro - Career Development

Steve can you give me an example of a
hero yeah absolutely
characters absolutely did you remember
Charles Bronson when I was growing up
Charles Bronson was the consummate hero
you know death wish
you know the The Great Escape put
Charles Bronson in a room with 12 guys
with guns who wins
Jocelyn Charles Bronson and why because
he's got a nametag hi I'm Charles
Bronson drop dead no he wins because
he's got all the skills he's the best
shot he's a good strategist he's got
great tactics he's good with weapons he
can withstand pain you know shoot trucks
Bronson in the head he just slaps a
bandaid on it keeps on going shoot the
bad guy in the shoulder there I throw
the whole fight he's psychic Charles
Bronson psychic he you know he walked
into a room and a guy in a trashcan
jumped up women Jose just like that and
and Charles Bronson you know whirls
around before the guy can get a shot off
and plugs him right between the eyes and
I I asked how did you know I mean if a
guy jumped up with from a trash can with
an Uzi I'm gonna dive be infarction
first you know I'm gonna be surprised
I'm not going to know what to do so a
non hero is not somebody who's doing
something ridiculous wouldn't it be
funny if a non hero simply somebody who
lacks some if not all the required
skills and tools with which to win a
hero is not necessarily somebody who in
in my use of the term who fights a
dragon a hero is somebody who simply
evidences is that a word shows great
skill I mean in in soap opera for
instance you know those those people in
soap operas they're kind of perfect
they're supernaturally beautiful right
and they're never surprised by anything
they're you know it's like say say to me
you're you're breaking up with me I got
to take my glasses off because in soap
operas everybody is perfect vision
um Steve I don't think this is gonna
work anymore you're breaking up with me
I just think we should see other people
for David right and you see in a soap
opera I'm not surprised I'm hurt you can
see mine you can see how I'm feeling but
not hurt but in a comedy you'd say
you're breaking up with me
and the response might be before dinner
because you know maybe she'll still cook
me dinner before she leaves so so a hero
is simply somebody who has skills and in
fact the idea of non hero skills is very
useful because in a romantic comedy say
your hero or heroine starts out either
as a jerk like Bill Murray in Groundhog
Day or as a dweeb like Sandra Bullock
and while you were sleeping but how do
you make them romantic figures halfway
or three-quarters of the way through the
movie they start gaining skills
Bill Murray becomes romantic sensitive
aware deeply feeling so he's so he's
transitioned from a jerk a comic figure
to a more dramatic figure Sandra Bullock
becomes aware of her of her loneliness
which which you know just the knowledge
of her loneliness makes her a more
dramatic figure in fact every movie has
that point about three-quarters the way
through you know what what we call the
dark night of the soul and what what
that dramatic even especially in
comedies and what that dramatic moment
is all the time is simply your
protagonists or your main characters
becoming more aware of how desperate
their situation is how really futile
their situation is and that creates a
dramatic moment that creates almost a
tragic moment whereas before they were
ignorant or blithely unaware or just you
know what what Lisa Kudrow used to call
unearned optimism you know if somebody
is just like looks the world and it's
just happy with what they see
that's an idiot that's you know Phoebe
and friends that's coach or woody and
Cheers
and and so you know that's not the only
way to to create a comic character or or
make comedy but but a character could be
very smart but also be very being that's
a lack of lack of empathy and so you
have characters like Danny DeVito and
taxi or David Spade and
everything and and and so they create a
comedy because they simply lack the
skill of being a nice person you know
have being empathetic so you can take
skills away you create more of a comic
moment comic persona you give the
character skills and it creates more
durable more drama
you