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You know who you are. You're
like me. You leave the husband home in front of Game Four
Hundred Eighty Seven of the World Series and go off to see
a "chick-flick" -- *gasp* -- alone! You take your seat in
the theater away from any happy loving couples and, as the
coming attractions roll, out comes your (with respect to Blue's
Clues) "handy dandy notebook."
I have spent more time writing
illegibly in the dark than I can recall. I go to those romantic
"chick flicks" more for inspiration than entertainment. Don't
you?
Come on. Admit it.
Like all of you, I saw Notting
Hill. And like you, I picked it apart from a romantic perspective.
First we had a hero (shy English shopkeeper) and a heroine
(glamorous movie star). These two are, by virtue of social
circumstance, doomed. We have conflict: the "there's no way
someone like her would be interested in someone like me,"
and the "you are interesting and attractive but you could
never understand my hectic movie star life." We have sexual
tension. We have an appealing setting. We, I mean they, make
love. Then, as expected, the "dark moment" after the lovemaking,
the "you betrayed me" scenario, and so on and so on until
we have the happy "The End."
Do you do this? Pick apart
romantic movies? Then save that ticket stub. It's research.
It's tax-deductible.
I find romantic movies particularly
useful when I'm at loggerheads over which way to proceed with
my story. Take The English Patient. Okay, I heard that collective
groan -- face it, it's because you didn't get to see Ralph
Fiennes's naked backside, rather than the fact that everything
is doomed in this romance. I learned something from that flick:
sexual tension can get really intense if you place the hero
and heroine in a very public social situation. These lovers
danced together at a lavish pre-Nazi invasion party, met in
a Cairo market, and really got down to matters with about
five hundred British soldiers just outside singing "Silent
Night." It gave me the idea to heighten the sexual tension
in my story by placing my hero and heroine in a very public
arena and seeing what happens. Inspiration. I scribbled a
lot of notes in the dark.
Here's another one, if you'll
indulge me. You've Got Mail. After getting over the fact that
Tom Hanks has, um, filled out and there's little likelihood
of seeing his backside in this film, I allowed myself to be
inspired. Out came the notebook and the next thing I knew,
I was filling pages with ideas on how to finish a scene in
my story. My hero started out as a jerk toward my heroine.
I wanted to make him, well, less jerk-y. In You've Got Mail,
Tom Hanks is a ruthless businessman with a heart. We see that
side of him when he easily escorts two kids about town, and
he gets to see Meg Ryan in her "own habitat." Her natural
way of putting those around her at ease really shines out
to him. He begins thinking of her as a person and not a competitor,
little realizing she's the one he's been sending those heartfelt
e-mails to every day. Does love survive when cyberspace is
no longer a barrier? They kiss and walk off into the moment
with his dog, so I guess it must.
So I hope you get my meaning.
Let those movies inspire you. Don't go with the thought they'll
solve your story's ills. Just take your notebook, in case
the Muse taps you on the shoulder. My muse looks like Ewan
McGregor. How 'bout yours?
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