Hello, Readers! Clevenger here.

As Graham has said, we are circling around to Movies. While we have covered how movies influenced us, and a bit about inspiration, today I get to dig a bit deeper. What can we, as artists, learn from the movies?

Well, Graham stated quite a bit. Gave me tons of “threads to pull,” and hopefully finish weaving the little tapestry he laid out. Watching the movies pick up trends from each other and how some of them “cash in” on knocking off a trope that works. But I don’t judge that. The entire point of media (movies, TV, books, etc.) is entertainment. So if it’s still fun in the end… no worries.

I do, however, love when a movie surprises me, or takes a different approach. I’ve got two examples that I would like to talk about.

The first is Disney’s Onward. Is it my most favorite movie I’ve ever seen? No. But it was enjoyable. So many movies fit in that category. But what stood out about it to me was a specific storytelling element. I’m going to intentionally be vague in some of this, because I don’t enjoy giving spoilers (even though it’s a movie that’s been out for a bit) and if you go watch it you’ll catch on to what this is about… so here we go.

Onward is a classic “Hero’s Journey.” In fact, it’s VERY self-aware of the “Hero’s Journey” and makes several “in movie” nods towards it. Some funny dialogue, decent voice acting, some fun fantasy/pop-culture blends, and it was all smooth sailing for a very straight-shot, but enjoyable kid’s film. Just when we are supposed to get to the heart-tugging end of the journey, the moment we all waited for, it turns. The character has his reward in front of him and makes another sacrifice. He turns away from the reward to give back to his mentor. Suddenly, the entire tone of the movie changed. It was about “this” relationship, and not about the one we thought.

It had a little cheesiness to it, but it was a different take. I appreciated it. It was unexpected, and I think made the movie memorable. Compared to other Disney movies that I watched or rewatched during that time frame (thanks to my kiddo) it stood out in the crowd because of that twist.

Another standout story-telling inspiration movie that I watched (way away from the kid’s list) was Blood Red Sky. A British-German horror movie with a relatively low budget (under $20 mil), I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. What I got was a subtle twist on the “Trapped-with-a-monster” trope. Nothing was “surprising” about the monster. I immediately got to where they were headed within minutes of the opening scene. The part that surprised me was the role of the monster.

I was rooting for the monster. The persons trapped were horrible. They provoked the situation. The suspense came from the fate of innocents, prices paid by the monster, and the threat of a new and EVEN WORSE monster. For a quiet little film on Netflix that threatened to sneak by me, it was a surprise little late night gem.

So how do I channel this into my writing? Well, for Blood Red Sky… not much has made it in. Not telling a horror yet, so I’ve noted some thoughts down and have an idea for other stories. For the Stories of Sainan. Well, let’s just say that I really appreciated the twist on the sacrifice. No spoilers for you… but we will have a character who has a chance to have everything they want… and their decision may surprise you. But if you listened carefully… they told you all along.

Before I go, I have one more “thread” to pull on. I want to circle back to Star Wars. We’ve stated how much influence Lucas gave us with world building. We talked about Kershner’s superb story telling in Empire Strikes Back. But I’m continually learning off of them as the franchise grows. One more lesson that I’ve learned (not sure how to classify it as “What to do” or “What not to do”) and that is how to determine who tells your story.

The prequels came out and I remember that fans were savage. But what I’ve learned was that George Lucas wasn’t telling that story to me. He truly wrote a story that he wanted to tell, tailored it for a younger audience, and gave it a go. Was it my favorite? No. But I now work with 20-30 year olds who LOVE those movies. To them, the prequels ARE Star Wars.

Contrast that to Force Awakens, and I can see what happened. Force Awakens was a story told to “recapture” the love of Star Wars for the OG fans. Now, you have people who LOVED it because it was the story they “wanted” to see, and you had people who were PISSED because it was “uncreative” and a hack-retelling of A New Hope. That’s where the lesson is (kind of).

I don’t know if Force Awakens was the story they wanted to tell, or the one they thought we wanted to hear? That’s the problem I have with the movie. I enjoy it. When I watched it, I walked away satisfied… at first. But it doesn’t hold up to me as well as the others. If it’s the story they intended to tell, then maybe I am not the target. Maybe in 20 years, others will enlighten me. But if it wasn’t… who will remember it later?

So as a story-teller, that’s what I remind myself. Manticore’s Shadow (and the entire Stories of Sainan series) are Graham and I’s story. We must constantly remind ourselves that the story is OURS. That if we only think “What would a reader want here?” or “Readers like this, should we do that?” then we risk losing the identity of our tale. So, we forge on and tell our story the way we would want to read it. And hopefully, you will, too.

‘Til next time…

Be Kind

-Clevenger